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With the growing popularity of outdoor recreation and the increasing
number of trail users, popular wilderness areas are in danger of being loved to
death. This section contains specific techniques and procedures designed to help
beginners keep their impact on the wilderness to a minimum.
Minimizing Impact: The Basics
Impact is the physical evidence that people leave behind when they travel
through a wilderness area. It occurs just about everywhere people travel, from
the parking lot to the trail to the campsite. Impact can take any number of
forms, including:
 | Physical - Fire rings, candy wrappers, carved tree trunks, etc. |
| Visual - Brightly colored tents, poorly placed camp- sites, etc. |
| Auditory - Loud music, excessive noise after sunset, etc. |
Unfortunately, everyone leaves some sort of imprint on the land as they
travel through it. Minimum Impact Backpacking is a style of wilderness travel
that attempts to protect the beauty of the wilderness and people's enjoyment of
it by limiting this impact as much as possible.
Trail Impact
Here is a list of basic guidelines that will help beginning backpackers keep
their impact to a minimum along the trail:
| No shortcuts - One of the easiest ways to limit impact along a
route is to stick to the established trail at all times, even if this means
walking through puddles or mud. It can take decades for fragile plant life
to recover from misplaced steps, especially in high elevations or and areas.
Remember: One set of careless footsteps often encourages other
people to follow. |
| Watch for trail rehabilitation - Backpackers
should avoid any trail sections or camping areas that have been blocked off
by trail maintenance crews. These areas are usually protected so that they
can recover from overuse. |
| Watch your step - When forced to travel cross-country (off the
trail), backpackers should stick to durable surfaces like rock or packed
ground whenever possible to avoid damaging vegetation. If forced to cross a
sensitive plant or wildlife area, backpackers should spread out and avoid
walking one behind another. |
| Take care of trash - Wrappers, food and other garbage should never
be discarded along the trail. A sealable plastic bag should be packed in an
easy to reach spot to store trash items until they can be added to the main
trash bag. |
General Principles
| Taking responsibility for your actions - Taking
responsibility for your actions - Every wilderness traveler should take time to
learn the right and wrong way to conduct themselves when traveling in the great
outdoors. |
| Taking time to do it right - Minimum impact techniques may take a little
extra time and effort. But the payoff, a more enjoyable wilderness experience
for everyone is well worth it. |
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