Mountains Without Handrails[ellipsis]Wilderness Without Cellphones

Joseph Sax's anthropocentric view of the value of nature is described, which holds that wild places provide us with ideal conditions for contemplative or reflective recreation, and both the continuing validity and the limitations in Sax's thesis are explored by surveying the changes in outdoor recreation that have occurred over the past several decades. The intellectual roots and present manifestations of the position that nature has intrinsic value are described, and both the appeal of the position and its limitation are explored in light of the consumption of wilderness. It is argued that, to bridge the gap between the Saxian argument and the ecocentric assertion and to achieve greater comprehension of the consumption of nature, we must look more closely at how society and culture mediate our concept of nature.