After experiencing the unique aura associated with a thin place we often make it our personal mission to somehow increase its accessibility. To make this place, which we can’t get enough of, easier for someone else to appreciate. And while I think there is likely an innocuous and even helpful component of this innate desire, making a thin place more accessible is often the very cause of it “thickening.”

When viewed in this light, the inaccessibility of thin places becomes more of a defensive feature rather than a troublesome bug. When inaccessibility isn’t immediately written off as a problem to be solved we can see that adversarial conditions—whatever they may be, are actually the keepers of their gardens. A thin place being off the beaten path means that only a certain type of person will go looking for it. A thin place being specifically crafted for this group or that cause means that people who don’t fit the mold have less reason to seek it out and will likely move on when they come across it.

In other words, the inaccessibility of thin places is not an accident. And the trials and tribulations associated with finding one bear the burden of maintaining the aura which first drew us in and subsequently made us evangelists. And while I’m not saying that we should refuse to tell people about our new favorite restaurant, or nature trail, or parking spot, or running loop—maybe we should consider that this location being difficult to come by is part and parcel with it being able to retain the qualities which make it hard to ignore. That, at least in this instance, accessibility is not the solution this place has been looking for, but a wolf scantily clad in sheep’s clothing.