Do Public Lands Need a Rest?

Overcrowding isn’t a new problem at the Enchantments and other popular outdoor playgrounds, but it’s become more pronounced since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic spurred unprecedented numbers of people outside. When I reported on the issue in 2021, the public land managers I spoke with seemed a little shellshocked, but were optimistic that, with time, they’d figure out how to manage the crowds. They’d build new toilets, expand parking lots and shuttle buses, and implement more permit systems, like those already in place at Yosemite’s Half Dome, Zion’s Narrows, and other iconic trails. Access might become more restrictive than in the past, but at least we’d no longer be jockeying for space with frat boys hauling in handles of vodka and Bluetooth speakers. Fast forward five years and few of those improvements have come to pass. The federal agencies responsible for maintaining trails, cleaning toilets, and enforcing backcountry regulations have been gutted by budget cuts and mass firings, and the volunteers filling the gaps can only do so much. Rather than implement new systems to protect public lands from overuse, we can barely maintain the status quo. And the crowds keep growing. All of this led Allison Williams, an outdoor writer and editor at Seattle Met magazine, to propose a radical solution: What if we stopped hiking in the Enchantments altogether? What if we voluntarily gave our most-loved landscapes a break?