7 Principles of Leave No Trace — Beginners Guide

7 things every Beginner Adventurer or Outdoors Enthusiasts should know!

If you are familiar with the outdoors, I’m sure you’ve come across the term: ‘Leave No Trace.’ But if you aren’t, this blog post is perfect for you!

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What are the 7 principles?

1- Plan Ahead & Prepare

2- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

3- Dispose of Waste PROPERLY

4- Leave what you find

5- Minimize Campfire impacts

6- Respect Wildlife

7- Be considerate of other visitors

Leave no trace covers all the areas from before your trip, during, and the impact afterwards! So.. what do these mean? Let me it explain them a little further!

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1- Plan Ahead & Prepare:

-Know your goals

-Strength/Limit of physical abilities

-Research Maps, Trails, and Terrain beforehand

-Gather all essential gear

Always be prepared by checking weather days before your trip. Always reach out to local DEC/Park Rangers for closings, map boundaries, or rules and regulations.

‘Know before you go’ rule is better to be safe than sorry!

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2- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces:

-Number 1 Rule- STAY ON TRAIL

-‘Durable Surfaces’ refers to how much an area can withstand impact to remain stable and living.

-Rock, Sand, and Gravel are THE BEST SURFACES TO TRAVEL

-Avoid stepping on ANY vegetation(Alpine)

-Camp in only designated spots, 200ft away from any water source, respect wildlife and give them distance

This is one of my biggest LNT rules! The start of my journey was in the Adirondack Mountains. The ADK’s have endangered alpine, that is slowly deteriorating. Whether it be from natural acid rain erosion or the biggest and most simple factor, HUMAN VEGETATION TRAMPLING. More or less, Stay on exposed rock and off of plant life. In other but polite words, ‘GET YOUR A$$ OFF THE GRASS’

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3- Dispose of Waste PROPERLY:

If you’re outdoorsy, I’m sure you’ve come across the term- ‘Pack it in, Pack it out’ this is where it comes in hand!

-Have a trowel in you pack

-Bury or pack out your waste

-Never bury Toilet Paper

-Stay 200 feet from water sources or trails while doing your duty

-Feminine waste products and ANY type of garbage (PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT)

Human waste, no one likes talking about it. But in the backcountry, we HAVE to. The ONLY proper way of disposing human waste (yup, poop) is to bury it or pack it out! A trowel, or collapsible shovel, is a main piece of gear! Burying your waste is easier than packing it out. Packing out your toilet paper AND feminine waste products is a must. Multiple shops make hiking ‘waste bags’ that are discrete (non see through) and decrease odor. In order to properly bury your waste, dig your ‘cat hole’ 6-8 inches deep. ANYTIME you need to relieve yourself in the outdoors, MAKE SURE you are 200 feet from ANY water sources or trails. Pollution — No thanks!

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4- Leave what you find:

-Leave areas how you found them(or better)

-Pack a reusable garbage bag, to pack out your own AND trash found along the trails

-Leave all natural artifacts (ex. antlers, petrified wood, colored stones)

-It is illegal to remove any kind of stone/wood/rock from national parks — this applies to state and public land also

-Cultural artifacts are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act

-ALSO, illegal to disturb or move Arrowheads, pot shards, even antique glass bottles!

Simple but direct — It’s not yours, don’t take it. And NO, finders keepers doesn’t apply! Leave the history where it is, so others can learn about it and enjoy it too!

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5- Minimize Campfire impacts:

-Know the fire danger levels before you go

-When setting up a fire keep in mind: The wind, the location, the impact it will have of it becomes unmanageable

-Make sure there are no campfire restrictions in the area

-Enough down/dry wood to collect without impacting the area

-Never cut dead standing or wet/green wood

-Best firewood is drift wood

-ALWAYS put your fire out completely before leaving

-DEC will say, your fire is not out until you can stand on top of the ashes with no effect

-Use water when putting out fires, dirt doesn’t always work 100%

Making a campfire may be one of the most impactful events in the back country. Making an unstable campfire could lead to one of the biggest worries, forest fires. The biggest goal while making a campfire is to find an ‘already built’ fire ring. Mostly located in designated camp spots. Common sense, never leave a campfire unattended and keep all flammable items 10 feet away!

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6- Respect Wildlife:

-Know which animals/threats are in the area before you go

-Never approach wildlife

-Give them distance so they aren’t scared and forced away

-Keep your food in food safe containers

-To minimize disturbance, camp 200 feet away from water sources that animals are likely to go to during the night hours

-Bear Country: This is an exception. DEC says, Its better to create small noises, than staying completely quiet, to not startle the bears. If a bear is triggered, make yourself as big looking as possible(pull your coat up around your head) and make loud noise to try to scare it away. Bear spray if nothing else works.

-Moose Country: If you see a Moose before they see you, Hide behind the closest tree. Do not make noise. Do Not Run.

Sometimes what you see in the wild, is a lone baby. Most times, these babies were abandoned by their mother for being sick. Never approach, touch, or feed wildlife. Contact a Park Ranger immediately, if you encountered any animals acting sick/ or with rabies.

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7- Be considerate of other visitors:

-Have courtesy towards others

-Most come to enjoy nature, Turn off your boom box

-We know pets love the outdoors too, but keep them leashed up (Most parks have a 6ft leash rule)

-Always try to inform others of trail occurrences, warning signs, or wildlife encounters

‘Different strokes for different folks.’ Stay respectful. Not only of the outdoor area that you are exploring, but of others who want the chance to explore too. Nature is beauty. A beauty that everyone should get to explore.

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These are the 7 principles. I hope this quick little guide will help grow the idea of why we need to protect these precious places. Environmental impacts have

created such an issue for our local, state, and national parks. Overuse, erosion, and the most common problem, Trash. These factors not only created a problem for the people that use the land in a respectful way, but these problems are ruining wildlife infrastructure. If we all LEARN & APPLY the 7 principles of Leave No Trace — Maybe we could stand together to make a difference!

Always open to questions or feedback!

You can find more detailed information about the 7 principles on Leave No Trace Website! https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/