Outrage over photos of ‘entitled’ tourists ignoring preservation sign in Colorado park

‘This is why we can’t have nice things’, the Reddit user wrote

Maroon Bells features several hiking trails and a lake, which a family were seen paddling in despite it being roped off (Getty/iStock)

People have expressed their outrage over photos of “entitled” tourists ignoring a preservation sign in a Colorado park.

Explaining the scene they witnessed, a Reddit user shared two photographs and the caption: “This family completely ignored the ‘closed for revegetation’ signs, hopped over the rope and even got into the water at the Maroon Bells today.”

The area is part of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness and it features two peaks, plus several hiking trails and a lake, which the family is seen paddling in despite it being roped off with clear signs reading “closed for revegetation”.

Fellow users called the family “idiots.”

Revegetation involves redeveloping the soil quality of an area and replanting the native plants usually found there. It protects ecosystems and biodiversity, and if seeds or the ground are disturbed during the process then this threatens the planned regrowth.

This is why we can’t have nice things
by in hiking

The National Park Service looks after the land and undertakes revegetation programmes to preserve the landscape, which can be affected by both human and natural disturbances.

After seeing the post, angry Reddit users were quick to add their opinion in the comments section.

Explaining how complex a process revegetaion is, one wrote: “there are a bunch of volunteers who are painstakingly re-establishing native plants in the trampled off-trail/path areas – thousands of manhours of work to restore and make the park what it once was and should be today.”

“It’s times like these that I wish I had the nerve to tell people off,” a user shared, while another said: “Tell them, make them feel ashamed and observed. You are doing nothing wrong pointing out that what they are doing is bad.”

Meanwhile, someone suggested the sign could have been clearer. “I mean these people suck. But the sign isn’t exactly super visible and obvious. Make it bigger and put several of them around the fence,” they said.

Others recounted experiencing similar situations. “Don’t get me started. I was at Bryce Canyon last week and the most popular short hikes have so many similarly ignored signs,” one person commented.

“This exact same thing happened while I was hiking in Tahoe a couple weeks ago,” another user wrote, adding that there was also an area closed for revegetation there which was sectioned off by a rope. “This family just walked right around it as if it wasn’t even there…there is no way they didn’t see it,” they continued.

“The examples of things like this are absolutely endless these days,” a frustrated user summarised, adding: “Seems like nearly every time I go out hiking now I encounter a group of dipsh**s like these who are totally oblivious to their actions, the environment, and other people around them.”