YES but please for the love of god people, RESPECT NATURE. Pack it in, pack it out. Clean up your damn trash. Bury your (literal) shit. LEAVE NO TRACE. Use common sense. Turn on your lights when driving in the woods even during daylight. Educate yourselves on safety and respect when in nature before going there. Research fire bans prior to your trip. I could go on and on.

King County is currently in Phase 2 of the WA Safe Start Coronavirus response plan:

https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/county-status-and-safe-start-application-process

"Resume non-essential travel" isn't in Phase 2. That's not until Phase 3:

https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/safe-start/whats-open-each-phase

So it would be pretty cool if The Stranger could maybe not run any stories promoting non-essential travel, or at least hold them until King County moves to Phase 3 and publish them then.

Go outdoors, by all means... but please don't travel through and to other communities to do it until our public health experts give us the OK, yeah?

@4 it’s so true. Why do people think it’s okay to leave toilet paper on the ground? IT’S NOT OKAY. I’m out in National forests every weekend and leave with more trash than I came in with. Humans are the worst thing to happen to nature.

@5 If you're filling up your gas tank and driving out to the woods to frighten off the wildlife 50 times a year, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I don't begrudge anyone a few (safe and responsible) camping trips every year, but I've had it with scolding from people who would be putting a lot less stress on what remains of our wilderness if they didn't treat it like a church that confers the greatest virtue on those who attend most frequently.

@6 fair enough, but doesn’t negate the absolute need for everyone to clean up their trash, wherever they may be.