Wanderlust and stolen land: how to mindfully explore the American outdoors

Tips for the socially and environmentally responsible traveler

In her book An Indigenous History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz argues the US romanticizes outdoor travel to hide its colonial roots. Many Americans were raised on the belief that our heritage was wanderlust. Chasing wilderness" was our right. But lost in this lore is the acknowledgment that our national park system was built upon stolen land.

As a travel writer, I believe deeply in our human nature to explore. But historically, the way we take advantage of our national parks has often caused harm: the genocide of Indigenous communities to make space" for outdoor recreation, the unmanageable waste that accumulates from large crowds of tourists, the scarcity of resources for people living near parks.