It's more about preserving the fragile ecosystem so everyone can enjoy its beauty. If everyone is walking wherever just to get that perfect Instagram shot, there would be no plants, just dust. Lower portions of Paradise area are in a pretty bad shape from people not respecting the rules.

The trail in the photo is not actually an official trail. People just wander wherever and create these scars. They should stay on official trails. Otherwise, there will be no plants which makes this view so pretty.

Dead horse creek trail, parallel to Skyline trail

I've only driven the roads that I think you talk about once. They are all paved. But, as far as I remember, the road that goes closer to St Helens had a lot of dips, bumps (not potholes), was narrow and was partially overgrown. I don't remember the road closer to Mt Adams so I assume it was better.

Maybe you should ask this question at r/Washington as a separate post to get more visibility.

Today you basically couldn't see Mt Baker at all. It was really really smoky.

View from artist point. You can kind of see the outline of Mt Baker if you squint really hard.

Yesterday. I wouldn't expect to get this view in November though. There's a good chance this area will be covered in snow, although we had some crazy hot weather recently (over 80F today in Seattle!) so who knows...

In general, July/August/September are the best, though snow can linger well into July if winter had a lot of snow. Before July most likely it will be snow covered.

I don't think there's a Skyline peak in Mt Rainier National park. This looks like it's close to High Panorama Point, which is on Skyline Trail, looking towards Mt Rainier summit.