Hiking & Trails
Understand the seven Leave No Trace principles in plain English and learn simple, practical habits to protect trails, wildlife, and other hikers on every outing.
The trails we love stay beautiful because most people who use them try not to wreck them. Leave No Trace is the simple, widely shared framework that turns that good intention into specific habits. It isn't a rulebook handed down to scold you; it's a practical set of principles that keep wild places healthy for the wildlife that lives there and the hikers who come next.
Wild places are more fragile than they look. A single shortcut across a switchback starts an erosion scar. One fed animal learns to beg and may eventually be put down for becoming aggressive. Multiply small careless acts across millions of visitors a year, and even vast landscapes degrade fast. Leave No Trace exists because the cumulative impact of many well-meaning people is enormous.
The seven principles were developed to give hikers clear, memorable guidance grounded in land-management research. They scale from a casual afternoon walk to a remote multi-day trip. You don't need to be perfect to make a difference; you just need to internalize the habits and apply them consistently every time you head out.
The first principle is to plan ahead and prepare, and it quietly underpins all the others. When you know the regulations, the weather, the terrain, and what to pack, you make fewer desperate decisions that harm the land or put you at risk. A well-prepared hiker doesn't need to build a fire ring for warmth they failed to plan for, or cut a new path because they got lost.
The second and third principles govern how you move and rest. Travel and camp on durable surfaces: established trails, rock, gravel, dry grass, or snow rather than fragile vegetation and soft soil. Walk single file through the middle of the trail even when it's muddy, because going around the edges is exactly how trails widen into scars.
Good stewardship is mostly invisible. The best-cared-for trails look like no one was ever there, and that quiet absence is the whole goal.
When you take a break or set up camp, choose spots that are already hardened by use, and keep camps a good distance from lakes and streams to protect water quality and shoreline life. These choices cost you almost nothing and spare the landscape a great deal.
The third principle most people already know by name: dispose of waste properly. If you carried it in, you carry it out, all of it, including food scraps like apple cores and orange peels that don't belong in the ecosystem and take far longer to break down than people assume. Bring a small bag for trash and leave the place cleaner than you found it when you can.
Human waste needs care, too. Where facilities aren't available, the standard practice is to bury solid waste in a cat hole dug six to eight inches deep, well away from water, trails, and camp, and to pack out used toilet paper and hygiene products. In some fragile or heavily used areas, you're expected to pack out solid waste entirely, so check local guidance before you go.
The fourth principle, leave what you find, asks you to let the place keep its character. A few habits cover most situations:
The fifth principle covers campfires, which carry real risk. Where fires are allowed, use established rings, keep them small, burn only dead and downed wood, and put them dead out, cold to the touch, before you leave. In dry, fire-prone seasons, a lightweight stove is the safer, lower-impact choice, and you should always honor fire bans without exception. A single escaped campfire can destroy what took centuries to grow.
The sixth principle is to respect wildlife. Observe animals from a distance, never feed them, and store your food securely so they can't get it. Feeding wildlife, even unintentionally through dropped snacks or unsecured food, harms their health, alters their behavior, and can make them dangerous to future hikers. Give them especially wide space during sensitive times like nesting or raising young.
The seventh principle, be considerate of others, keeps the trail pleasant for everyone. Yield thoughtfully, keep noise and music down so people can enjoy natural quiet, control your dog, and offer a friendly word at a passing. Part of going further outside is making sure the experience stays good for the next group coming up the trail.
None of these principles demands heroics. They're small, repeatable choices: staying on the trail through the mud, tucking a wrapper back in your pack, stepping off the path to let wildlife pass, skipping the fire on a dry night. Done once, any of them is trivial. Done by every hiker, every time, they're the reason these landscapes still exist for us to enjoy.
That's the encouraging truth at the heart of Leave No Trace. You don't have to be an expert or an activist to protect the places you love; you just have to carry these habits with you and apply them quietly, hike after hike. Treat the trail as something you're borrowing from the hikers and wildlife who come after you, and you'll leave every wild place a little more likely to stay wild.
Rowan grew up with a pack on their back and has spent two decades on trails from local greenways to long-distance routes. They founded Ulvoryx because the outdoors shouldn't feel like a members-only club — good information, honestly given, is what gets people outside and keeps them safe. They still get lost occasionally, and say so.
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