Is this a one-night stand or the start of something meaningful? Developing relationships to place in National Park backcountry.

This paper presents empirical evidence that helps to understand how some visitors develop relationships with Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The paper describes relationship to place as the active construction and accumulation of meaning, which involves both physical and social interactions over time. The discussion is organized around three themes evident in the data and the literature that describe, in part, how relationships to place develop: (a) time and past experience allow place meanings to accumulate, (b) social interactions with companions, and (c) physical interactions with the setting both contribute to how visitors create and assign place meanings. Implications are discussed from the perspective that a segment of visitors are engaged in long-term place relationships rather than seeking to meet short-term needs and expectations.