From secret surf spots to lesser-known bike trails, the adventure world’s sacred places are often the center of controversy in our respective communities. Given the recent rapid growth of our outdoor communities, we feel it’s important to highlight the role these sacred places play in our culture and foster a conversation on how to best protect them without reverting to archaic localism traditions. In this article, we share our experiences with sacred places and interview prominent voices in the adventure world to better understand how to address the complex issues of scarcity, sacred places, and localism.
Mt. Whitney – access is limited by a permit system
Cody Townsend on Respecting Sacred Places and Those Who Occupy Them
Cody Townsend is a professional big mountain skier known for his “The Fifty Project,” in which Townsend documented his quest to climb and ski each line in the book The Fifty Classic Ski Descents in North America.” As a skier and having grown up surfing in Santa Cruz, California, Townsend is well acquainted with many sacred places in the outdoors and has had his share of brushes with localism. Townsend, however, doesn’t hold these sacred places close to his chest. Instead, Cody told us he feels “secret spots” are the products of extractive relationships with a place. Townsend, on the other hand, prefers a type of sacredness focused on how we treat special places, leaving them better than we found them. “When you have a reciprocal relationship with a place, it doesn’t matter how many people are out there because they’re going to all treat that place like it’s a brother. It’s far more important to preserve a place for the place itself, not for our own desires as skiers or surfers.” Townsend points out that preserving these places from development and extractive industry is far more critical. “I don’t have any secrets when it comes to the mountains, and I’d rather share them. Holding on to them feels selfish.”
When asked how he navigates sacred places and localism while traveling, Townsend, who grew up surfing the highly contested waves in Santa Cruz, told us of a recent trip to Hawaii where he decided to paddle out on a rather unremarkable day. Only a handful of guys were out in the water, but Cody kept his distance. He waited on the shoulder for nearly 45 minutes until someone called out, “Hey, you want a wave.” Afterward, Cody and the other surf struck up a conversation and became friendly. They saw each other in the water daily, and when the spot turned on, and it was pumping, Cody got his fair share of waves. It wasn’t until his trip that Townsend learned that he was surfing perhaps the most localized wave on the island.
When asked how we should balance respect for sacred places and inclusion, Townsend responded, “Through education. You’re always gonna have instances where people don’t know to paddle out with respect or go into the mountains without the knowledge necessary to navigate the backcountry safely. The more we educate people on these principles, the better relationship we’re all gonna have with these places.”
Hans Rey has numerous photos riding landmarks over the decades – many of which could not be attempted today due to access restrictions. Photo: Blotto – Jordan, Middle East.
Discussing Preservation with Hans Rey
Our community is well aware of Hans Rey’s exploits as a legend in the mountain bike world. For those unfamiliar, Hans Rey is a multiple-time national and world champion, a member of the Laguna Rads, and a longstanding friend and partner of Fix Manufacturing. Hans is no stranger to sacred places and has a few of his own in his backyard in Laguna and across the world. Despite his reverence for such places, Hans is realistic about the world we live in, saying, “Everybody wants their own little private Idaho. In modern times, these places aren’t so private anymore. But you cannot blame one person. You cannot blame social media, well, maybe a little bit, but people are drawn to beautiful places. And these days, the word gets out easily.” Hans points out that today, you must go deeper to find solitude and those sacred places. He tells us that years ago, he would pour over guidebooks and expedition logs from decades past to glean some secret insight into a place. While today, you can find the same information with a quick Google search. Despite the map being a little less mysterious than it once was, Hans insists it’s our responsibility to “respect and leave [these places] as pristine as it was for future generations.” Hans points out that preservation takes a certain amount of respect, which is not always easy, like when “a state park doesn’t allow us to ride,” but ultimately, it’s a give and take, and we need “to contribute and try to preserve as much as we can.”
Surfrider Foundation was instrumental in preventing a toll road from affecting the ecology of Trestles beach.
Chad Nelsen on Having Reverence for Natural Places
Chad Nelsen is the CEO of the Surfrider Foundation, which exists solely to protect coasts, oceans, and waterways. Beyond his role at Surfrider, Chad holds a doctorate in the economics of coastal recreation and is a lifelong surfer. Nelsen admits that surfing has a scarcity problem and that today, there are really no secrets. Internet sleuths have quickly uncovered what were once closely guarded secrets. So today, maintaining our sacred places is less about secrecy and more about stewardship. “If you love these places and you have a deep connection to them, I think what almost naturally follows from that is this idea that you want to care for them because selfishly you want them to be around tomorrow.” Nelsen quotes Cliff Kapono, a pro surfer and scientist on the Surfrider board who, when asked “’ what should I do about ocean conversation,’” replies, “’ get in the ocean more. Like Kapono, Nelsen is quick to point out that “if you get outside and go to these places and revere them, the natural evolution to that is to care for them.”
When asked what makes a place sacred, Nelsen replies that it’s in the eye of the beholder and points to the Surfrider Ohio chapter’s recent battle in saving a beloved Great Lake Wave from a dredging project. While that wave is probably nothing special, it’s the community built around it makes it worth protecting. From an environmental standpoint, Nelson says, “Almost everywhere that we surf is a reef, rock or coral, a river mouth, or some sort of geographic point or feature. Almost all of those have ecological value. There’s a high overlap between recreation, surfing, and ecological values.” So, protecting these sacred places means more than just saving a surf spot.
It’s clear that our outdoor spaces need protecting and that resources are scarce when it comes to recreating in the ocean and the mountains. While we may not live in a world where secret spots are closely guarded and localism is the preferred method of regulation, it’s clear that through education, community, and reverence for the places, we can keep them sacred just a little longer.
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