Earlier today I posted (elsewhere) a photograph of an interesting, unusual, and perhaps somewhat fragile natural bridge located in a part of California that I frequently visit. Although I did not give directions to the feature or even narrow down its location within less than perhaps a 25 mile radius, shortly after posting the image a person replied… and included a photograph of someone standing on top of the bridge.

Sheesh.

I’m astonished at the self-centered behavior of some visitors to the wild world. They apparently don’t realize that their momentary thrill risks the very ability of later visitors to experience the thing that drew them there. Why in the world a person would go to all the trouble to find and visit these sometimes remote sites and then show little respect for them is beyond me.

I was brought immediately back to a conversation I had with my friend Mike earlier this summer. Mike is a retired national park ranger who has a deep love for wild places. He had expressed concern and reservations about the clarity with which I sometimes described the locations of my photographs. Mike’s concerns were several, but among them was the worry that too much information shared with too many people who have too little invested in the protection of these places might endanger them. At first I wondered how my little web site could have any significant impact, but after checking into some internet statistics I began to see that a fair number of people might be reading my descriptions.

The particular feature that I’m thinking of today is a delicate and rare natural arch in a place where such features are not common. Although it seems like a sturdy thing, being made of rock, it is actually quite fragile in the geological sense. There are cracks in the arch at both ends, and any time a person adds his/her weight to the structure stresses are created that can only hasten its eventual collapse.

But people do such things. I’m more inclined than ever to refrain from offering specifics about many of these locations, especially those that are potentially subject to visits by too many people and/or that are by their nature fragile.