Reader Participation Day: Is Social Media Impacting Your National Park Experience?

Do the benefits of social media outweigh the negatives?

With more parks working to expand their cellphone coverage, the question of whether that is good or bad often comes up. Not to be overlooked in that discussion are both how that coverage allows greater social media activity in national parks, and the impact social media is actually having on park resources.

Not too many years ago, my youngest son joined me on a hike to the top of Lassen Peak at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. There at the top of the 10,463-foot peak was great cell reception, and more than a few folks were taking advantage of it to take selfies, post them, and then call their friends to point them out. Solitude and inspiration were not to be found there.

Another time, John Donahue, when he was still superintendent of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, told me about the problems social media was creating for his park.

"Somebody or some organization posts advice to people to go to a particular pond or stream or waterfall and conduct activities which are not allowed," Superintendent Donahue said. "But all it takes is a posting and you go from 15 visitors on Saturday to 250 on Sunday and a thousand the next week."

More recently, Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow recounted how social media seems to be drawing inexperienced visitors into his park, which isn't a great place for newbies heading off into the backcountry.

“Are we seeing social media impacts?” wondered Mow back in 2018. “Last year (2017) was interesting, because last year was the 50th anniversary of the Night of Grizzlies,” he added.

Night of the Grizzlies, for those unfamiliar, is the title of a book that recounted the fatal mauling on August 13, 1967, of two young women in the park’s backcountry by grizzly bears. They were horrific incidents that Jack Olsen recounted in a three-part series for Sports Illustrated, and then as a book.

“It made me think,” Superintendent Mow said, referring to that book, “when I grew up back in the ‘70s, Glacier was probably not considered a first-timer’s national park. Not in that aftermath. There were these grizzly bears, and if you were going to go there you really needed to know what you’re doing.

“And you know, when I see what goes on today, I think social media has sort of stripped that all away, that barrier (of apprehension), as psychological as it was, is just gone,” he said.

On the other hand, social media has been lauded by park staff, notably at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada, for getting safety information out to visitors. And it has been used to apprehend vandals, such as the time at Zion National Park in Utah when a photographer who loved the park came upon graffiti on a rock face, photographed it, and placed the photo on his Facebook page. The post caught fire, and the perpetrator was inundated with hate mail.

"The social media backlash for the perpetrator’s action has been swift and severe, prompting him to admit to the wrong-doing and cooperate fully with the on-going investigation. Criminal and civil penalties are pending," the park said soon thereafter.

Generations of park visitors have enjoyed their visits without a cellphone selfie, and there's something to be said for the quiet that can be enjoyed when the nearby crowd isn't talking on their cellphones to promote their selfies.

What do you think, travelers? There definitely are pluses for cellphone accessibility, probably more than negatives. But how can it be controlled so as not to impact resources or intrude on inspiration and enjoyment?