Climbers find upside-down American flag signaling ‘distress' on Tahoe summit
Tadd Perkins of South Lake Tahoe and Nicholas Schwab of San Francisco climbed the peak on June 10, initially noticing the flagpole from a distance. As they neared the summit, they saw the flag was flying upside down — a symbol of distress under the U.S. Flag Code.
Visible from Meyers (El Dorado County) and the Echo Lake trailhead into Desolation Wilderness, the flag appears to be part of a broader wave of symbolic protest on public lands.
In recent months, upside-down flags and large banners have been used to criticize cuts to environmental and emergency services carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency, a federal group led until recently by Elon Musk.
In February, an upside-down U.S. flag was unfurled on Yosemite's El Capitan during the park's annual firefall spectacle. In May, a 1,925-square-foot Transgender Pride flag was draped over the same cliff face, prompting Yosemite officials to ban banners larger than 15 square feet in designated wilderness areas.
Perkins, a retired Federal Emergency Management Agency official and firefighter, said he wasn't involved in the Flagpole Peak display but empathized with its message.
'Even prior to recent DOGE cuts, public lands staffing was in decline while recreational visitation was at or near all-time highs,' Perkins said. 'Most of us can see why this is not a good equation for the health of the resources over time.'
He warned against the long-term impact of slashing public service jobs that support outdoor infrastructure. Last month, 16 AmeriCorps members in the Tahoe Basin were laid off mid-term due to canceled federal grants — a decision tied up in litigation.
Although a U.S. District Court has ordered some AmeriCorps funding restored, the Trump administration is expected to appeal by August.
'We can't use a chain saw against the places that sustain us and the agencies and workforce that support them,' Perkins said, referencing Musk's widely publicized appearance wielding a chain saw at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. 'These public lands are so great because they have had tireless public servants dedicated to them.'
The U.S. Forest Service, which manages Flagpole Peak, acknowledged the display and noted it could be considered abandoned property under federal regulations. However, no national policy prohibits such symbolic expressions.
'We are aware of the public attention surrounding the display of an upside-down United States flag at this location,' said Lisa Herron, a spokesperson for the USDA Forest Service's Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. 'On the national level, there is no policy prohibiting hanging of banners, flags or signs, and it is considered a protected form of speech.'
Perkins pointed out that outdoor recreation contributes an estimated $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
'When I'm climbing and hiking, I admittedly am not thinking about the economic benefit from time outside,' Perkins said. 'I am thinking about the person it's helped me become and how it has brought me the best experiences and friends in my life.'
He added that this is why 'someone might want to hang an American flag on public lands, to signal the distress we are in.'
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