Managing Ambiguity: Visitor Perspectives on Risk, Messaging, and Behavior at the Big Four Ice Cav

Abstract

This study examined how visitors perceive and respond to risk at the Big Four Ice Caves in Washington’s Mt. Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest with a history of injuries and fatalities. The research used visitor voice to understand how individuals interpret danger, respond to management cues, and construct behavioral boundaries in a visually open and emotionally compelling environment. Through on-site, semi-structured interviews with visitors who entered or approached the hazard zone, the study identified three central themes: (1) Novelty and Sensory Motivations, which described how visitors were drawn by the visual and emotional appeal of the site; (2) Active Management, which addressed perceptions of signage, trust in agency authority, and preferences for clearer spatial cues; and (3) Decision-Making Heuristics, including a focused subtheme on Ambiguity and Assumed Permission, which examined how visitors interpreted boundaries in the absence of formal guidance. Across all themes, participants described behavior shaped not by disregard but by personal logic, environmental cues, and behavior modeled from others. Findings suggest that interpretive ambiguity—particularly at transition points where formal cues fade—can lead visitors to assume permission. Many visitors supported strategies that clarified expectations while preserving the value from autonomy and sense of discovery. Suggested interventions included symbolic boundaries (such as ropes, rocks, or natural markers) that signal limits without feeling restrictive, trail-end design, and dynamic, emotionally resonant messaging near decision points. The study supports a shift toward layered, visitor-informed strategies in high-risk recreation settings, approaches that integrate spatial design, emotionally resonant interpretive messaging, and co-produced messaging to balance safety and freedom on public lands.