How social media videos are changing the experience of national parks
Across the American West, influencers— both people in search of the ultimate selfie and promoters of park landscapes—broadcast their experiences to tens of thousands of followers. But at what cost to parks?
Below Mather Point, one of the most accessible outlooks at Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim, lie curving layers of 200 million-year-old sedimentary stone, and the Colorado River, which helped carve them. Also below Mather point? A golf ball and 20-year-old Katie Sigmond’s driving club.
In October 2022, the social media influencer recorded herself hitting a golf ball into the abyss, using the canyon’s cathedral-like walls of exposed rock as a backdrop to entertain her 7 million TikTok followers, promote her brand, and leave her own mark. “I was thinking in my head…‘I can make golf content. Like, it’s such a pretty view. Let me just golf into the Grand Canyon,’ Sigmond told fellow influencer Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg in a podcast interview.
“America’s best idea” meets the “dumbest idea” Grand Canyon National Park administration reacts to a golf stunt at Mather Point. Facebook
