[markweth]

Another well-written and thought provoking article in the most recent issue of High Country News: "Your Stoke Won't Save Us: the idea that outdoor recreation leads to meaningful conservation rest on a big 'if'" https://www.hcn.org/issues/50.8/recreation-your-stoke-wont-save-us Interesting, and a bit distressing, to reflect on the thesis of this article with the increasing numbers of hikers out there, as noted by this article from a month ago: "Instagram effect? Number of Seattle-area hikers has doubled in less than 10 years, data show" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/instagram-effect-number-of-seattle-area-hikers-has-doubled-in-less-than-10-years-data-show/ I recall that during discussions of the Seattle Times article, and in general conversations about increased numbers of hikers and the impact of social media on the outdoors, there was a common refrain that "more people outside means more support for public lands". After reading this article, it seems like the jury is still out on that one.

[Ski]

This subject has been pretty well beat to hell here a number of times already. Do more people out in the woods mean more potential stewards for our public lands? Or does it just mean that there are more people out in the woods? We hope for the former, and are reluctant to admit the reality might be the latter. If you started hiking prior to "Instagram" and "selfies" and GPS and cellular phones and "online", you learned about places and routes from stuff written by Harvey Manning and Ira Spring and Robert Wood, and their descriptions of places and routes were prefaced and interjected with reminders (some less subtle than others) about stewardship and ethics. "Instagram" and "Facebook" and the other social media programs seem to either not have that capacity, or give it a pretty low priority. Our society as a whole has become accustomed to and accepting of mediocrity. We no longer celebrate excellence. We reward the mundane. Strip malls full of "Olive Gardens" and gift shops full of made-in-China schlock are just fine for the majority of the public. Kim Kardashian manages to keep herself in the headlines as much as Donald Trump. George Carlin was right:

A couple hours ago a guy almost ran over me in the parking lot in front of Ace Hardware. I guess the three fluorescent-blue bags of "Miracle Grow" potting soil I had piled on top of the cart weren't quite visible enough. I knew somebody was going to try to kill me yesterday because it was my birthday. I guess I was just a day off, or that guy just didn't show up on time.

[wanderwild]

Before I got banned from the WA Hikers & Climbers Facebook group for suggesting that it may be unsafe for a solo individual to confront a group of carjackers at a remote trailhead without cell service (dead serious - it was interpreted by one individual user as me being "creepy", so sayonara it was for me, no questions asked), I regularly had angry and entitled comments coming from tech worker types complaining about lack of driving directions accompanying photos: "Next time post driving directions!" "This post is of no use to me without location listed!" "Kindly put directions if you post next time" Gonna go out on a limb here and assume that stewardship is not a huge priority for these types.

[Damian]

Yea I really miss ol Harvey's subtle "reminders about stewardship and ethics". The good ol days weren't that good either. Some areas are still recovering from decades of abuse and over use from the days when us old guys ruled. I remember many areas from my early days of hiking that were completely strewn with trash and trampled to shreds. Chiwaukum lakes, Chain, Doelle, even the Robins and Enchantments. Much worse than now, and decades before social media. Guess it's tradition to blame the newer generations and their communication tools be it books or social media. Dylan and Cash wrote about it. It gets old hearing folks my age and younger sounding worse than my grandparents.

[Ski]

^ The "burn, bash, and bury" method that RandyHiker has referred to here a number of times pretty much went by the wayside by the time 1970s rolled around. A somewhat different ethos came into play. Manning constantly raved about what he saw as problems in his early guide books. (Wood to a lesser degree - he was more focused on providing trail information.) There have always been clueless people in the outdoors. The advent of "social media" has simply put more clueless people in the outdoors than were there before.

[Cyclopath]

[Cyclopath]

[cambajamba]

[wanderwild]

[RumiDude]

It really helps if there is a president like Teddy Roosevelt to champion these sorts of things. But people like Aldo Leopold, who birthed the non-utilitarian ideals of conservation, are the ones needed as well. Sadly, though his name is often invoked, his core ideas have been shuttled aside. Edward Abbey voiced a lot of the same sentiments in an obvious different style. Rumi

[RumiDude]

[AlpineRose]

In my crabbier moments, I view the newer masses of selfie hikers as "consuming" hikes, just like they "consume" other forms of entertainment.

[cambajamba]

[markweth]

[Ski]

Not sure how relevant this is, but considering there are currently two threads addressing the impact of "social media" on outdoor recreation, what do you suppose is the impact and effect of a young man out doing "stunts" in National Parks and uploading them to YouTube for his 17 million subscribers?

(for the record, it should be noted that Mr. Paul was cited and asked to leave Yosemite National Park)