This is true for a lot of things like restaurants, but hiking is one of the few areas where I don't think this is the case. People don't just casually decide to summit the tallest mountain in the contiguous US. Everyone there has likely trained on lesser known trails. The thing is, there is only one Whitney, but there are a couple dozen Langley's, and hundreds of even lesser known hikes of similar rigor. If all these become saturated, that's also good because that means Americans wouldn't be so fat!
It's only really a downside for the casuals who will go on Google and hit up one of the top 5 results on Tripadvisor.
As long as it's not not top-ranking or there's a barrier to entry then it will be limited.
Ultimately this is just the new hyper-culture we live in where leisure is now available to tons of people thanks to economics, combined with population growth. The hobbyists who are dedicated will always find new high quality options... just like restaurants/bars/fashion/etc.
Which is probably why having a more liberal system to develop recreational places for the more...casual/friendly audience could be a good thing. At least for getting people to enjoy the outdoors in peace and get out of traffic.
I find this discussion quite interesting. From a German perspective there's almost infinite amount of space in the US for hiking, compared to Germany. You find a lot of great trail in Germany, but if you go to Neuschwanstein (AKA the disney castle) you will find huge American and Chinese tour groups. But most other trails are perfectly fine. I can't imagine with the wide selection in the
US to have any problem if you're not going to one of the top 5 search results.
You get a lot of tourists in the US at the top parks as well. It's gotten so bad, many national parks are requiring reservations to get in, something they've never done before.
