Over the last few years I kind of took it on myself to try to protect the Narrows. I saw the impacts from so many people trampling the resource and ruining the experience for many others. I spent many days in there blocking social trails and cleaning up human waste. Well, with Jacqueline and I moving to Oregon in a few weeks, it was time to pass on that duty to someone else. In the winter, Zion flew a position for someone to fix up the social trails. I applied for it, but unfortunately, so did a veteran who got the extra points and I was never even considered. It was slightly frustrating and the entire process of applying for Park Service jobs was frustrating to me because here was a job that I was definitely the most knowledgeable about in the park and yet I was not even considered for it.
But here I was taking him up through the Narrows and showing him all the common places where people liked to take a poop and use as social trails hoping that he would do his best to eliminate these and bring them back to their natural habitat. He was a nice enough guy, a little quiet, but he seemed to take everything in that I was telling him. I just hoped that the trails would begin to look better. A couple of days later, I was lucky enough to take Cindy our chief ranger up the Narrows. I was able to point out all of the troublesome spots and the Narrows was nice and busy so that we could really see the impacts of a massive amount of humans all at once.
I really respected the fact that Cindy took an entire day to come with me in the Narrows and I felt like this was something that was definitely on her radar as far as too many people being in Zion. We just are not built to handle the amount of human traffic that our trails, canyons, and rivers have impacting them every day. It also just does not feel like a National Park when there are so many people around all the time. Try finding a quiet place to just urinate in the Narrows. Good luck. You more than likely are going to have an audience. That is why so many social trails are created. People need to find a quiet place to take a pee or a poop.
What are you going to do, but a toilet in a wild and scenic river. Not likely. The only thing that can be done to save this ecosystem is to find a way to limit the number of people that get their opportunity to trample it every day. This will disappoint some, especially those that do not plan ahead, but will improve the experience for many others. I know I would have paid a fee or come back another day just to see the Narrows and see it protected in a way that it felt natural the first time I saw it. After being in there dozens of times, it still is an amazing place, but the impacts of too many humans just can not be denied. Zion is a place for all, but it doesn't mean they all have to be there at the same time.
Over the last few years I kind of took it on myself to try to protect the Narrows. I saw the impacts from so many people trampling the resource and ruining the experience for many others. I spent many days in there blocking social trails and cleaning up human waste. Well, with Jacqueline and I moving to Oregon in a few weeks, it was time to pass on that duty to someone else. In the winter, Zion flew a position for someone to fix up the social trails. I applied for it, but unfortunately, so did a veteran who got the extra points and I was never even considered. It was slightly frustrating and the entire process of applying for Park Service jobs was frustrating to me because here was a job that I was definitely the most knowledgeable about in the park and yet I was not even considered for it.
But here I was taking him up through the Narrows and showing him all the common places where people liked to take a poop and use as social trails hoping that he would do his best to eliminate these and bring them back to their natural habitat. He was a nice enough guy, a little quiet, but he seemed to take everything in that I was telling him. I just hoped that the trails would begin to look better. A couple of days later, I was lucky enough to take Cindy our chief ranger up the Narrows. I was able to point out all of the troublesome spots and the Narrows was nice and busy so that we could really see the impacts of a massive amount of humans all at once.
I really respected the fact that Cindy took an entire day to come with me in the Narrows and I felt like this was something that was definitely on her radar as far as too many people being in Zion. We just are not built to handle the amount of human traffic that our trails, canyons, and rivers have impacting them every day. It also just does not feel like a National Park when there are so many people around all the time. Try finding a quiet place to just urinate in the Narrows. Good luck. You more than likely are going to have an audience. That is why so many social trails are created. People need to find a quiet place to take a pee or a poop.
What are you going to do, but a toilet in a wild and scenic river. Not likely. The only thing that can be done to save this ecosystem is to find a way to limit the number of people that get their opportunity to trample it every day. This will disappoint some, especially those that do not plan ahead, but will improve the experience for many others. I know I would have paid a fee or come back another day just to see the Narrows and see it protected in a way that it felt natural the first time I saw it. After being in there dozens of times, it still is an amazing place, but the impacts of too many humans just can not be denied. Zion is a place for all, but it doesn't mean they all have to be there at the same time.
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