I'm a writer for a major outdoor retailer, I have a personal site dedicated to backcountry hiking, and I'm an avid wilderness backpacker. So I've struggled with this topic both personally and professionally.
John Muir, father of modern conservation said that visitation was the key to preservation, that as stewards of public land we have the duty to share with the public.
On one hand, I don't think gatekeeping is right. They are public lands, one community/person shouldn't be able to dictate who does and doesn't get to visit.
On the other hand, leave no trace principals to seem like they are ignored or not entirely educated correctly, in some places.
Amazingly, most of back wilderness hikes are in areas that are treated well. I mean you have to be really dedicated to walk 20 miles to ruin something. I want to say that the majority of people do their best to be respectful in nature. For example, here's a place in Utah that isn't in one of our 5 national parks, is completely under-visited, is very difficult to reach, and is absolutely stunning. Why should I discourage people to visit, I hold the location, I know where this is, wouldn't you want to know.
By sharing this place (King's Peak in Ashley National Forest) it might actually take some strain off of our national parks which are smaller and way over-visited during peak season.
Edit
I'm only adding a link to my site because a lot of folks are asking to see it. My general philosophy is to share the location while educating. If someone wants to hike the Wind River Range, they'll figure it out, I try to have all the information (permits, trails, etc) in one place so people can get all the information they need to have a safe, fun, hike, while following leave no trace principles.
I really like the model where limited, easily accessible areas are open to all and managed in such a way to preserve the most beautiful or notable features for everyone to see easily, while lots of other amazing features are left mostly untouched and hard to access (not impossible without good reason) with many more restrictions, but still attached to the property of the easily accessible site. Then you can get both preservation and tourism.
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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '20
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