Katherine P.
Yelp
This is a park in need of some serious help.
The Eternal Flame is really quite cool, and something that everyone should see, but the whole way this park is managed is something of a disaster, and some money really needs to be invested into this park to make it a good park, and a safe park, that people can enjoy safely.
Now, I'm not an inexperienced hiker. I have never seen trails this poorly maintained in a park, except for perhaps the erosion problems on some of the trails at Sugarloaf in Maryland. The upper parts of the gorge should have fencing to protect hikers from going over the edges. There should be better blazing for sure. We had decided on a longer hike than just to the Eternal Flame this day, so we started at a further end of the park, on the Boy Scout Trail. I get the impression that this trail was built by Eagle Scouts and then never fully maintained thereafter. There's one spot where there should be steps built into a long steep grade, but there's heavy erosion and a rope, which is really contributing to further erosion.
And the Eternal Flame Trail itself is a disaster. The trail and the Flame are being loved to death. We went on Columbus Day weekend, and there were a constant stream of people heading up the creek to the flame. A new trail needs to be cut, or some sort of causeway built, because the amount of environmental damage being done to the creek is pretty brutal. There's trash littering the area, tons of people practically shoving their way past you, and a general sense of crowdedness.
The roads are in disrepair, the bathrooms are something out of a creepy horror film, and the trash is overflowing. This park has some great potential, but it needs more attention.