One of the regular readers sent me a link to a video that Joan and I enjoyed.
“The issue with outdoors overcrowding” makes for an interesting documentary that prominently features Moab and its struggle with gateway communities (housing crunch, employment, what it does to a community) as well as the pressures of keeping our wild spaces wild by looking at accessibility and connectivity issues, its strain on SAR, and the impact that social media has on the wilderness experience. Baxter State Park, and the challenges it faces, are also portrayed. The controversial Appalachian Trail FKT of Scott Jurek gets discussed quite a bit.
The documentary looks at many of the topics I’ve covered over the years and, in many ways, makes a condensed version of the book Wilderness Ethics, that’s a favorite of mine.
Overall, a fascinating watch about the challenges faced in the outdoors and the questions posed.
PMags, thanks for sharing the video, I’ve passed it forward to my friends. As a PA guy, I do wrestle with my impact on these beautiful, yet fragile, places when I go west with friends or family. I think every hiker & backpacker should read the Watermans’ “Backwoods Ethics” and “Wilderness Ethics” books.
Joan and I struggle with it too. We are about to go on a family vacation (my in-laws), where our visit may significantly impact us. OTOH, we try to live a more minimal lifestyle overall. Finding the proper place on the spectrum is a balance between “fly every weekend” and “never travel anywhere by bike.”