Hikers ignoring trail closures
I was camped at Little Elbow this week, near the Nihahi Ridge trailhead. Park rangers had the main trailhead taped off due to the river and water conditions. I talked to the ranger that was putting up the sign and map with alternative route (Nihahi ridge trail was still accessible via the alternate route), and she said there were risks with the river, and that they had been so busy with emergencies that they wouldn't be able to to monitor this section of trail and were asking people to take the alternate route that stayed away from the river (the alternate route was roughly 300m longer when going from the trailhead parking lot, so really not that much extra).
Granted, the trail looked ok, but the large majority of day hikers just ignored the sign and went under the tape, without knowing the actual condition of the trail ahead. Is it unreasonable to expect people to respect signs/trail closures when there is an alternate route available? Do people do the same thing if an area is clearly closed due to bears?
As someone who took the effort to go the alternate route, it was really disappointing to see how people reacted to the closure.