You're right, they are, investing time - which you can't make back if things go wrong.

It's like going out for a meal: our family can afford to eat out maybe once in 2 months. That makes the possibility of getting rubbish food, and rubbish service more worrying than if you can just go somewhere else the next night.

With more time (and more opportunity) you can sample more widely with less risk of wasting a large proportion of that time.

Investors in social capital, in conspicuous consumption.

Stereotypically the locals don't visit nearby touristy areas because if the whole point of the activity is to brag that you are in the social class that gets vacation time and can pay a lot for travel, driving fifteen minutes from home proves nothing. Its a human thing not rural/urban... plenty of places in great cities where no locals will visit.

Being sweaty is not high social status, which explains why the parking lots and roads are bumper to bumper but the hiking trails are near abandoned.