Social Media Promoting Our "Hidden" Hikes
Posted: Oct 19 2016 6:48 am
Cats out of the bag for many hikes due to social media. Now that I'm running the gear rental counter at a local shop I see first hand the lure of Havasupai and R2R for not only Arizona locals but for people all over the world flying in to do them. This week on Facebook and Instagram someone started posting pics and descriptions of doing the Four Peaks MotherLode. To their credit they tried to go out of their way to dissuade the casual or inexperienced hiker from even attempting the hike. Based on the many comments and shares it will be interesting to see how many people attempt the hike in the next few months.
Do we have a responsibility to warn people about going to certain locales or do we just sit back and let the Darwin Affect do it's job? I remember doing my first R2R back in the mid-90's and only running into a handful of other people attempting it. Plus ran into a NPS ranger who thought we were crazy to attempt such a feat and tried to talk us out of it. Now 20 years later there are literally 100's of people doing R2R every day during the prime months of May and October. What was once thought to be an extreme hike is now an every day occurrence.
Do we have a responsibility to warn people about going to certain locales or do we just sit back and let the Darwin Affect do it's job? I remember doing my first R2R back in the mid-90's and only running into a handful of other people attempting it. Plus ran into a NPS ranger who thought we were crazy to attempt such a feat and tried to talk us out of it. Now 20 years later there are literally 100's of people doing R2R every day during the prime months of May and October. What was once thought to be an extreme hike is now an every day occurrence.
