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Comment by jartelt | Hacker News Reader

Any one should be able to visit any national park, wilderness area, or other beautiful place and take as many pictures as they want... as long as they follow the rules and regulations.

Park your car where you are supposed to, stay on the trail, don't use a drone if it's not allowed, carry out your trash, don't feed the animals, don't leave your toilet paper under a tree, etc.

Sure I get annoyed when people take too long to snap their photo, but I also get annoyed at people at the grocery store, on the train, etc. You just have to deal with it and go on with your life! Just because some one else likes to take pictures, doesn't mean you should shame them for being a "millennial influencers". But we all should shame the people who don't follow the rules (and these people have been around since before instagram).

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True. At the same time, travel has gotten so much cheaper and accessible that it’s really impossible to go anywhere and enjoy it in peace. I chose to go to Paris in dead winter to avoid the summer crowds - the lines were not any shorter. It feels like a long time ago but only a few years ago I was visiting a few national parks and the hiking trails were modestly crowded. In comparison they are all overrun now. The difference I’d say is AirBNB. My choices used to be shitty motels or campgrounds that never have space. Now, it’s a beautiful home by a stream just outside the park in a ranch. Shared with a few friends the cost is a fraction of a hotel room. Hotels were - not sure fully intentionally - used as a mechanism to enforce visitor counts. With AirBnB that equation is out the window. With low cost airlines making flights cheaper and better fuel efficient cars making driving cheaper and AirBnB making stay cheaper and inexpensive, the tourism sector is exploding. I do not think this is sustainable. As with the other cases, these things are externalising the cost to the cities and the parks do deal with.

Don't forget that the CO2 footprint of these things is immense. Though take growth away and things will be come zero-sum; people will try to take things from each other rather than from growth, and will find petty reasons for conflict which will escalate sooner or later. Either way, we're likely f*ed.

>it’s really impossible to go anywhere and enjoy it in peace

This is only true for a very limited definition of "anywhere". You can go to Yosemite in the peak season and easily find places where you can't even see another person.

I beg to differ about AirBnB. My experience have been shittier than hotel run places bought by a real estate tycoon making a quick buck. I think AirBnb does little to ensure quality and loves making a quick buck too. I have had more terrible experiences than good experiences. Would not recommend

I think calling people in to the conversation instead of calling people out is more effective over time--but I totally get what you mean. It's really hard to sit and watch people ruin things you love. Most of _the outdoors_ are designed to be shared experiences and when people go off-trail in sensitive areas or don't pack out trash it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

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