Help protect the back country and rivers by remembering that while you are there, you are a visitor. When you visit a friend, you take care to leave your friend's home just as you found it. You would never think of trampling garden flowers, chopping down trees in the yard, putting soap in the drinking water, or marking your name on the living room wall. When you visit the back country, the same courtesies apply. Leave everything just as you found it.

Hiking and camping without a trace are signs of an expert outdoors man, and of a someone who cares for the environment. Travel lightly on the land.

1. Poorly prepared people, when presented with unexpected situations, often resort to high-impact solutions that degrade the outdoors or put themselves at risk. Poor planning can result in improperly located campsites because groups failed to plan enough time to reach their intended destination, or improper campfires or excessive trash because of failure to plan meals or bring proper equipment. Come prepared one of the risks is hypothermia. Pack light layering your clothing is essential.
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces: Damage to land occurs when surface vegetation or communities of organisms are trampled beyond repair. The resulting barren area leads to unusable trails, campsites and soil erosion.

   * In high-use areas, Leave No Trace suggests that people concentrate activity, which makes further damage unlikely.

   * In areas of very little or no use, Leave No Trace encourages people to spread out. Taking different paths when hiking off-trail will avoid creating new trails that cause erosion. Dispersing tents and equipment, and moving camp daily will avoid creating permanent-looking camp sites.

3. Though most trash and litter in the back country is not significant in terms of the long term ecological health of an area, it does rank high as a problem in the minds of many back country visitors. Trash and litter are primarily social impacts which can greatly detract from the naturalness of an area. Thus, Leave No Trace recommends that trash and litter should be packed out. Further, back country users create body waste and waste water which requires proper disposal according to Leave No Trace.

   Waste Water: Avoiding soap and dispersing dishwater far away from natural water sources will prevent contamination. After brushing your teeth, dilute the rinse water to avoid leaving “seagull droppings”. Consider using a kitchen floor tarp to catch drops and spills. Strain dishwater, put the scraps in your trash and broadcast the dishwater above the high water mark.

   Human Waste: Proper human waste disposal prevents spread of disease, exposure to others, and speeds decomposition. Pack out your human waste using one of the many good toilet systems available. A coffee can, small paper bags and some deodorizer can be used for a daytime toilet, or carry a wag-bag; this waste can then be added to that in the regular toilet when you get to camp. Regulations for depositing urine vary depending on the area; the usual rule in higher-volume waters and arid areas is to urinate in the water or on wet sand. Be sure to check out local regulations or accepted practices. Don’t forget to pick up your dog’s solid waste and pack it out too!

4. Leaving rocks, plants, archaeological artifacts and other objects as found will allow others a sense of discovery. Similarly, Leave No Trace directs people to minimize site alterations, such as digging tent trenches, hammering nails into trees, permanently clearing an area of rocks or twigs.
5. Minimize Use and Impact of Fire: Leave No Trace encourages people to use lightweight camp stoves, instead of fires, because the naturalness of many areas has been degraded by overuse of fires and the increasing demand for firewood. If a campfire is constructed, Leave No Trace suggests using an existing fire ring in a well-placed campsite or to use a fire pan or mound fire. True Leave No Trace fires show no evidence of having ever been constructed.
6. If enough people approach or interfere with wildlife, it can be disruptive to animal populations.
7. Following hiking and boating etiquette and maintaining quiet allows visitors to go through the wilderness with minimal impact on other users.