Not hundreds of thousands, the Sierras are about 23,000 square miles, but the point still stands. The Sierras are massive and the majority of it is desolate. I spend about 10-20 days each year (for over 15 years now) exploring these areas and have barely made a dent in covering them.
Even if you just consider Yosemite National Park, the main valley where you mostly see overcrowding, is a relatively small portion of the park. Most of the Sierras are inaccessible to your average weekend camper. Having a few of these hotspots with high tourist activity, in my mind, is a good tradeoff to preserving the vast majority of the Sierra's.
I think if we made it even less accessible to your average Joe, we wouldn't have as much support for preserving these places.
If you really want to see untouched nature, there are many places in the Sierra's where you can drive for hours without seeing another car or hike for days without seeing any trace of humans.
Even if you just consider Yosemite National Park, the main valley where you mostly see overcrowding, is a relatively small portion of the park. Most of the Sierras are inaccessible to your average weekend camper. Having a few of these hotspots with high tourist activity, in my mind, is a good tradeoff to preserving the vast majority of the Sierra's.
I think if we made it even less accessible to your average Joe, we wouldn't have as much support for preserving these places.
If you really want to see untouched nature, there are many places in the Sierra's where you can drive for hours without seeing another car or hike for days without seeing any trace of humans.