If you鈥檙e (un)lucky enough to be alive 100 years from now and your grandchild asks you what the United States was like before global temperatures rose by 6 degrees, just tell them about the couple who landed a helicopter in the middle of the exploding poppy fields of Antelope Valley, California, on Monday, March 25, during the 2019 super bloom.
People aren鈥檛 content to see a beautiful thing; they feel the need to ruin a small part of it in the process.
We know nothing about these two chopper-bound sightseers, other than that they fled the scene before rangers could identify them. On another weekend, they might be driving up the coast with a 鈥淟ive Simply, So Others Can Simply Live鈥 bumper sticker on their Model X. Or maybe their 7,000-square-foot house in the hills has a living room full of safari trophies and a card on the fridge from their dear friends the Mercers.听
Whatever they听do when they鈥檙e not landing helicopters in poppy fields doesn鈥檛 matter. This couple, whoever they are, just dropped in to become the worst example of people bahaving badly in the middle of the Mojave bloom boom.听
Most听visitors abide by the rules, but others have ventured off the trail and destroyed part of what听they came to see. But even those scofflaws weren鈥檛 directly endangering the safety of others. 听
鈥淲e never thought it would be explicitly necessary to state that it is illegal to land a helicopter in the middle of the fields and begin hiking off trail in the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve,鈥 officials from the reserve, which is part of the California State Park system, .
A super bloom usually occurs once a decade, but this is the second one in the last three years. The area was overwhelmed during the 2017 bloom, the first one of the social media era. Park staff were more prepared to direct the crowds this time around, but that hasn鈥檛 alleviated many of the problems that come with the massive influx of visitors.
Throngs of people鈥攄escribed on the Lake Elsinore, California, official Instagram account as 鈥濃攈ave swarmed super bloom sites in California听like Antelope Valley and Walker Canyon this month. Lake Elsinore听 and shut down access to Walker Canyon on March 17, after the town was inundated with 150,000 visitors in a single day. Traffic jams have turned area roads into something more akin to the 405 in Los Angeles. , and local officials have had to ask visitors not to park their cars on the interstate.
The most common offense has been leaving the trail. Someone steps off the path to get that perfect selfie and . Another person comes along and pushes off the trail just a little further at that spot, killing more flowers and threatening wildlife in the process. Then another, and another, and so on.
Others have skipped the trails altogether and and straight into the poppy fields.
Getting off the trail also听comes with its own听risks. At least one visitor and a dog have been . Another was hit by a falling rock after venturing off the path听in Walker Canyon.
A few of the overeager flower stompers this year听received an extra souvenir from rangers in the form of a citation. That鈥檚 a less effective deterrent than a snake bite or a boulder to head, but it is at least more punishment than what the helicopter couple received.听听
Telling people to stay away from super blooms and packed national parks isn鈥檛 exactly realistic. But there are other ways to alleviate the problem, like creating more parks and monuments, increasing the number of park staff on hand, and being more thoughtful tourists.
Most of us aren鈥檛 rich or stupid enough to consider landing a helicopter in the middle in a field of poppies, but it shouldn't be听too much to ask anyone to bring just a little self-awareness when they visit these places.