Tourons will be tourons, and water is wet.
In yet another example of careless behavior, one Reddit user who posted under r/hiking caught a family of tourists climbing on a million-year-old rock formation in Southern Utah.
"They are trying their best to make sure future generations are not able to enjoy these natural wonders!" wrote one user in response to the post. "Absolutely hate when I see this stuff."
The rock formations, called hoodoos, are tall with varying thicknesses, often described as "totem pole-shaped." Hoodoos are sculpted through millions of years of weathering and erosion from ice and rain. The same process eventually destroys them, but tourists who climb hoodoos can accelerate their collapse.
The National Park Service asks visitors to protect these ancient monuments by keeping to park trails. Even walking on or near the base of a hoodoo weakens the slopes that support their foundations, shortening their lifespans.
Sticking to park trails, following rules, and heeding warnings are ways all national parks and their natural features and ecosystems can be preserved for future generations to enjoy. It is critical that everyone follow these established regulations at all times — because it just takes one person to ruin it for everyone else.
Examples of tourists exploiting the natural world for their selfish purposes happen all too often. From the majestic mesas of the Southwest to the pristine alpine lakes in the North, tourons are an invasive species that permeate every biome.
Last fall, a hiker was filmed going off-trail in one of the Pacific Northwest's subalpine meadows — a delicate ecosystem that can take years to reestablish if trampled. The winter after, a tourist was photographed after he stepped off a designated boardwalk onto the delicate crust around a geyser basin in Yellowstone National Park. At Yellowstone, more tourists have been injured or killed by hot springs than any other natural feature.
Commenters on the original post called out the danger the family of tourists put themselves in by climbing the hoodoos.
"That's rather horrible. Also makes me cringe at the safety risks being taken right there," wrote one.
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