Look at the first picture for this post. What do you see? I see Mount Rainier. I see a meadowed ridge high in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness descending to a handful of spectacular lakes still chilly with the remains of the cold season's snow. I see a place I love dearly that I want to protect so my grandkids will have the same experiences I've had when I visited.
Look again.
I see the lands of the Coast Salish and the Wenatchi peoples, taken by force. I see Tahoma. A mountain that impressed a British naval officer so much he named it in honor of his naval buddy who never even saw it. And even though you can't see any people in this picture, I can assure you the adventurers reveling in nature's beauty are disproportionately white.
Don't worry. I didn't see any of the second paragraph until a friend asked why I had geotagged a picture "Tag Responsibly, Keep Washington Beautiful." Why didn't I post the location? Or perhaps the general location?
My immediate response was that I don't share locations to protect the fragile places. But wait. Who am I protecting this place from? And who appointed me the gatekeeper for this public land?
According to Leave No Trace in 2018, we should think carefully before we reveal a location to wide audiences on social media because over exposure is a threat.
Back when I started hiking, there was no social media. There was hardly an internet. There certainly wasn't a concern about geotagging. We learned about the best place to go from books like 100 Hikes in Washington's Alpine Lakes. I still have my copy and almost all the hikes are crossed off and the margins are full of notes. Nobody complained about a book spoiling all the best places to go because a book might sell a couple thousand copies. With so few people and so many trails, what's there to worry about?
What about an influencer with a hundred thousand followers? That could be a threat. People will be running all over the place causing all manner of trouble. You know... just like I did when I was just starting.
Hmph. I learned LNT principles thanks to more experienced adventurers that took me under their silvered umbrellas. Over years and through chance encounters I learned of many of the special places in the mountains. My privilege gave me the opportunity to spend time wandering and developing my skills. What about those without my privilege? How will they experience our, their public lands?
I won't pretend I have more than a handful of followers on social media or that my choices will make a big difference. At the same time, it's incumbent on all of us to do what we can, however minor, to address the inequities of our society.
So I'm not going to use the "Tag Responsibly" locations anymore and if someone asks where a pic was taken, I'll share it with them through a private message. When one of my friends talks about geotagging, I'll do my best to share what I've learned. If they want to learn more, I'll share these links, too, because they helped a lot as I tried to wrap my head around all this.
The 7 Principles
New Social Media Guidance
The Miseducation of Leave No Trace - Policing Black and Brown Bodies in the Outdoors
5 Reasons Why You Should Keep Geotagging
What about you? Will you share your spots? Would you tell people this trip was Alta Mountain?
