To help the world’s most beautiful outdoor areas stay wild and pristine for many generations to come.
No matter how you’re enjoying the wilderness – on foot, by bike, camping, or paddling, the goal is simple to say and harder to live: leave every place you visit as wild as you found it – ideally wilder.
Imagine if every single one of the millions of people who hiked, camped, paddled, biked or otherwise spent time in nature left a tissue behind, or an orange peel, or a water bottle, picked just one wildflower, carved just one tree, or took just one stone home with them.
TripOutside promotes only human powered adventures to reduce the impact our outdoor activities have on our natural environment and ecosystems. Activities like kayaking, hiking, snowshoeing and biking tread lightly on the earth and are known as “silent sports” because of their minimal impact to our natural world. Motors are noisy, fossil fuels are polluting, and equipment like ATVs and jet skis also heavily disturb wildlife.
There are seven basic principles to the Leave No Trace doctrine. Whether you want to know the protocol for pooping in the woods, how the principles pertain to cooking outdoors or how to deal with dishwater while backpacking, here are the specifics of the Leave No Trace outdoor code. Follow these basics in order to recreate responsibly in our beautiful natural places.
Leave No Trace Principles for Outdoor Recreation
1. Plan Ahead and Be Prepared
No matter your outdoor activity, planning ahead and being prepared means researching where you’re going and having all you need to get there safely (appropriate gear, clothing, water, snacks, etc.). You should also check the weather forecast and be aware of the unique challenges you may face in the area. For example: most mountain bike trails should not be ridden while wet, because it can cause extensive damage to the trail – ride dirt not mud!
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
This means protecting all of the potentially fragile life on the ground around you. It means staying on the trail and camping in designated areas. Cutting trails causes damage and erosion, so staying on the trail is important. In high-use areas, concentrate your impact on established sites with fire rings or evidence of camping. In pristine areas, disperse use so no single spot gets overused. If there is no trail or campsite where you are, make sure your chosen route takes you over dirt, gravel, snow and dry grass (avoid stepping on plants and foliage) and always camp at least 200 feet from lakes, streams and rivers.
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
Trash
Every item you bring should also leave with you. Snack wrappers, cans and bottles as well as items you may deem “natural” or “biodegradable” (apple cores, orange peels, banana peels, dog poop, etc.) must be taken with you and disposed of properly in a garbage receptacle, recycling or compost bin. Additionally, waste should never be put in a campfire – even items like paper can release toxins into the environment. \
Human Waste
If you are embarking on your first multi-day camp or backpacking trip and thinking it will be impossible to pack out several days of human waste, you probably want to know how to poop in the woods. You should make every attempt to pack out all human waste with you, but if you must bury it, human waste should be buried at least eight inches deep and at least 200 feet from water sources. Burying poop should only be done in forests and wetter environments where it can biodegrade, and toilet paper must always be packed out (bring an extra bag to take it with you). Desert note: In arid environments, buried waste doesn’t decompose. Always pack it out – a WAG bag or similar is the standard tool.
Dishwater
How about dealing with dishwater while backpacking? Soap of any variety (even the most natural, oil-based) is harmful to fish and aquatic species, so if you must use it, do so at least 200 feet away from any water source (lakes, rivers and streams). The most environmentally friendly way to wash dishes (or do any kind of washing) in the woods is not with soap but with hot, boiled water and a scrub brush or sponge. Filter food remnants through a strainer or bandana and pack them out with the rest of your trash. Spread the remaining dirty water in the dirt around you and save the big, soapy scrubs for when you get home.
4. Leave What You Find
“Take only photographs, leave only footprints.” This goes back to the earlier point. If everyone took just one small wildflower, there would be no more wildflowers. Take photos instead and leave rocks, plants and flowers where you find them. Also, do not carve on trees or break off branches. Carving into trees breaks their protective layer and leaves an open wound, very much like us getting a cut on our skin. This increases the potential for disease and pests invading the tree.
The big exception is if you come across trash left behind by someone else. It’s always good karma to help keep nature clean, even if you weren’t the one to do the sullying.
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
As evidenced by the smoky skies that sadly infiltrate the American West every summer, fires present very real dangers with impacts spanning for thousands of miles, sometimes even from coast to coast. The vast majority of U.S. wildfires – roughly 87% – are human-caused, and campfires are a significant contributor. All summer and fall, many counties throughout North America outright prohibit campfires. Before camping, check the current fire regulations in the local area and abide by them. All it takes is a single spark or a tiny smoldering ash to set hundreds of acres ablaze. If there are no fire bans in the area, be sure to set up your campfire only in designated, protected areas (in a fire ring or pan) and make sure when you put out the fire that it doesn’t continue to smolder. Fires need to put “dead out” and drowned with water to ensure this. Before you leave the site, churn the ash around and be certain no hot pieces remain. As a rule, use lightweight, propane stoves for cooking and electric lights and lanterns.
6. Respect Wildlife
Catching sight of a wild animal can be one of the most memorable, magical aspects of an outdoor adventure. Whether it’s a moose, a rattlesnake or bumblebee, do not approach or try to touch any creature you come across. Always keep your distance and photograph wildlife from afar. A good rule of thumb: if an animal changes its behavior because of you – stops eating, moves away, turns toward you – then you’re too close. Back off. Wildlife is most vulnerable during mating, nesting, and winter. Give extra space in those seasons.
Never feed birds, squirrels or any other animal as it can have irreversible impacts on the animal’s ability to forage for itself. Feeding wildlife isn’t kindness – it’s the fastest way to get an animal killed. A habituated bear gets relocated. A habituated bear that keeps coming back gets shot. ‘A fed bear is a dead bear’ is a saying for a reason.
Always keep dogs leashed when on wild lands. We love our dogs too – but off-leash dogs chase wildlife, stress nesting birds, and can disappear into trouble fast. Leashed isn’t about control — it’s about respect.
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors
We are all out there to enjoy ourselves. We sometimes have to share trails and campsites with other adventurers and it’s key that we yield to those moving faster or trying to pass by on a trail and are courteous to those around us. Trail yielding rules:
- Bikes yield to hikers and horses
- Hikers yield to horses
- Downhill yields to uphill (usually)
Keep your voice at a respectful level so we can all hear the sounds we came for – birds chirping, water gurgling over rocks, wind blowing through the trees. And nobody hikes to hear your playlist. Earbuds are fine; speakers aren’t.
Practice, Not Perfection
One of the things the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics emphasizes, and that gets lost in most write-ups of the 7 Principles, is this: Leave No Trace is a practice, not a pass/fail test.
Nobody gets everything right on every trip. You’ll forget a trash bag. You’ll realize too late that your campsite was a little too close to the water. You’ll pet the dog you shouldn’t have, or yield on the wrong side of the trail, or bury something in the desert you should’ve packed out. That’s not a reason to feel bad — it’s a reason to be better next time.
The real issue in our outdoor places isn’t any single person’s mistake. It’s cumulative impact. One hiker stepping off the trail doesn’t hurt anything. Ten thousand hikers stepping off the trail, over the course of a season, is how meadows turn to dust and wildflowers stop coming back. Your choices matter because they add up – yours plus everyone else’s. Which means every time you do get it right, that adds up too.
Don’t aim for perfect. Aim for better than your last trip. Over a lifetime of time outdoors, that’s how these places survive.
TripOutside and Leave No Trace
We believe the future of the places we love depends on who teaches people how to visit and protect them.
Every outfitter and guide on TripOutside is human-powered by design – no ATV tours, no jet skis, no guided off-roading. Our local partners take Leave No Trace as seriously as we do. It’s part of what we look for when we decide who makes it onto the platform. When you book a kayak lesson, a guided hike, a mountain bike tour, or a bike or paddleboard rental through TripOutside, you’re working with someone whose livelihood depends on these places staying healthy.
That matters for you, too. One of the fastest ways to internalize the 7 Principles isn’t to read about them – it’s to spend a day on the water or on the trail with someone who already lives them. A good guide will show you how to read a landscape, where to step and where not to, how to pack a lunch that doesn’t leave a trail of crumbs, and how to move through wildlife country in a way that doesn’t disrupt it. You’ll pick up more in six hours with the right outfitter than in six weekends of trying to figure it out yourself.
If you are interested in becoming Leave No Trace certified or how to teach Leave No Trace to youth, there are numerous courses and training opportunities offered at the Center for Outdoor Ethics.
If you’re newer to the outdoors and the 7 Principles feel like a lot to manage on your own, booking a guided experience is one of the best ways to start. Browse human-powered rentals, tours, and lessons from our vetted local outfitters →
Post contributed by Shauna Farnell. Specializing in adventure sports and the human experience, her writing can also be found in publications such as The New York Times, ESPN and Thrillist.
