For many of you who live in the Pacific Northwest LNT is not something new or crazy. The concept of Leave No Trace is just that Don’t leave a Trace. There should be no trace that anyone else has ever been there. I don’t want to walk into a camp area and see toilet paper from others scattered around thus, I don’t leave my toilet paper to be scattered around by animals for others to find. We are more of LNT enthusiasts than many others because as an outfitter who runs lots of trips if our group of 10-20 people doesn’t practice LNT it is a big deal and leaves a big impact.
So you might be asking what are some LNT practices you follow? Well let me tell you:
- “Pack it in, Pack it out” Everything you carry in you can carry out. If you don’t want to carry it out don’t carry it in. In the back country this includes everything but it does not include bathroom deposits. For # 2 you dig a hole 6-8 inches deep and bury your ‘deposits’ (It is different on the river but I will get into that later) Always remembering that the community trowel NEVER, we emphatically emphasize NEVER touches anything but dirt. For #1 you go on a rock or on a durable surface. The whole concept of “watering” the vegetation is past. Though you think it makes sense to ‘water’ the plants…. Your pee is not water but is very salty so the deer and other animals will rip up the plants to get to the salt thus killing the vegetation you are working to protect by walking on the trails. So why pee on rocks…. Well you are pretty much creating a salt lick for the animals. Gross, yes but they might as well not kill the plants when they are searching for the salt. Toilet Paper if it is needed is put in a blue bag which is just a plastic bag that is tinted blue. The nice blue bag then goes in your own pocket/pack and never again makes contact with the community trowel/TP/Hand Sani kit.
- Micro Trash: Is not our friend. Even the littlest crumb attracts animals which is not practicing LNT so we are all about micro trash. You have a choice when you find yourself with some micro trash…
o First option is many of our guides favorites and that is to pick it up, dust it off and eat it. Option # 2 If you are not into that then you can put it in with the lunch trash and carry it out but it does not stay on the ground.
- We always hike on the trail there is no cutting switch backs or making a new path. If it is muddy we want everyone to just walk through the mud so that we don’t widen the path more than it needs to be.
- If we are walking off trail you don’t follow each other in a single file instead you fan out so that lots of plants are experiencing a little trauma instead of a few plants facing extreme trauma.
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