Magnific

National parks are often associated with peace and quiet. Enjoying nature and silence. That’s understandable.

But does enjoying that peace mean everyone else has to whisper their way through the wilderness?

A woman, her husband, and their friends were on a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, but during a backcountry hike in Yellowstone, the group chatted normally as they made their way down into a canyon.

Well, another couple suddenly appeared complaining about their chatter.

Things got really tense, and now she’s wondering if they committed a legit faux pas.

Would you be silent the whole way? Or is talking okay?

Read the full story below.

AITA for refusing to be silent on a hike?

My husband, our two best friends, and myself recently went on a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National park.

On one of the last days of our trip we were doing a short hike in the backcountry of Yellowstone down into the canyon to see a cool suspension bridge.

As we hiked down into the canyon we were all engaging in conversation that seemed like a pretty normal volume to me.

No one was being excessively loud or yelling, but we also weren’t whispering as we were outdoors hiking and it would’ve been hard to hear each other if we were speaking extremely quietly.

It was just… Normal. So far.

The entire way down we only saw 2 other people so it was a pretty empty trail.

Once we got to the bottom of the canyon and to the suspension bridge we stopped to take a few pictures, there was absolutely no one else on the bridge or in the area.

On our last picture we did a fun pose and let out a little “woo” to celebrate the hike and our trip, it was definitely louder, but it was brief and only 1x.

As we’re getting ready to leave the bridge and hike back up this older couple comes down the path and onto the bridge.

Things took a turn really fast.

The man walks right past us but then this woman gets extremely close to my husbands face like 6 inches a way and starts lecturing him about this being her temple and how we are disrespecting their trail by being so noisy.

Also how they come into nature so they don’t have to deal with noise and people like us and if we’re going to use their park we need to show more respect.

English is not my husband’s first language and he definitely was not expecting this random scolding so he was caught very off guard and couldn’t really process what this woman was saying to him at first so he just kept like nodding and saying “okay”.

She had to intervene.

But then finally once this lady kept going I loudly said “we don’t need to listen to this, we’re allowed to talk on our hike and enjoy just like them, no one was screaming or being overtly disrespectful” and motioned for my husband to follow me away from the couple.

We hiked back up and continued talking at a normal volume as we had on the way down but I was just left with this sour taste in my mouth and now I am questioning is there some unspoken rule in national parks that you can’t speak that I was unaware of?

I always knew that they are meant to be peaceful and you shouldn’t play music or be excessively noisy but this seemed crazy to me.

AITA?

Even if she was right, she was extremely rude and out of line. What did Reddit think?

A reader shares their thoughts.

This is a good point.

Yup.

That’s a possibility.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who deliberately kisses his newborn nephew while sick with a cold, going directly against the parents’ explicit wishes.

Another reader chimes in.

Even if they were at a library, lecturing people like this is simply not civil or acceptable.

It’s also foolish, as you don’t know what strangers are capable of or who they are.

But based on OP’s account, this group wasn’t doing any of that. They were having a normal conversation on a relatively quiet trail, and their one celebratory “woo” was brief.

The woman’s desire for peace and quiet was completely understandable, but that doesn’t automatically make it everyone else’s responsibility to provide it.

Also, her getting six inches from his face to scold them probably wasn’t the peaceful nature experience they were hoping for either.