Over the years, social media has done great things in connecting people all around the world, but in turn has made huge amounts of damage from overuse to delicate environments.

We all love to be outside in this wonderful state and more people are finding that to be the only option in today’s Covid-19 era. Washington hikers & climbers is a great way for new hikers to learn proper etiquette and skills to recreate responsibly outdoors.

However, the use of geotagging locations has made a huge impact to many areas of state and federal land. The rangers and public land employees are stretched thin to what trails can get proper maintenance such as cleaning bathrooms, removing human waste near lakes and camp areas, trash and the all too common, doggie bags left on the side of the trail. More people are trying to find ways to escape daily life in the backcountry and it doesn’t seem to end anytime soon.

Removing Exact locations from the group and generalizing (example: Using ‘alpine lakes wilderness’ instead of saying specifically ‘snow lake’) will help drastically with overuse and at the same time offer people options to learn to find their own adventure whether that be looking at satellite maps on google earth or doing a search on Washington Trails Association. Let’s help stop the use of location naming so we can prevent mass amounts of damage to these beautiful places that can only handle so much love. 

Here is a link to the Leave No Trace Centers call to action on this matter for those wanting to understand more on the matter.

https://lnt.org/new-social-media-guidance/