PLAN AHEAD TO AVOID IMPACT

Avoid holidays and weekends

Travel and camp in small family-sized groups

Carry horse feed, picket ropes, hobbles

Repackage food to reduce containers

Take a litterbag to carry out all refuse

Carry a stove and foods requiring little cooking

Buy only gear in subdued forest colors

Check with Ranger Station for low-use areas

TRAVEL TO AVOID IMPACTS

Walk single file in center of trail

Stay on main trail even if wet or snow-covered

Never short-cut switchbacks

Travel cross-country only on rocky or timbered areas

Look at and photograph, never pick or collect

Avoid popular areas

MAKE NO-TRACE CAMPS

Seek ridgetop or timbered campsites

Choose well-drained, rocky, or sandy campsites

Never cut standing trees

Avoid leveling or digging hip holes and trenches

Make only small safe campfires in safe areas

Carry small firewood from timbered areas outside 

camp

Make camp 200 feet away from shore areas

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. . . my personal answer

to the wilderness challenge

I WILL I DID

Use lightweight, soft shoes - avoid trampling vegetation

Wash 100 feet away from water sources

Use biodegradable soaps

Bury human waste or fish entrails 6 inches deep

Picket and hobble horses 200 feet from camp or water

Rotate horses through grazing area

Avoid even temporary tying of horses to small trees

Stay as quiet as possible and enjoy the quietness

Leave radios and tape players at home

Leave my dog at home

LEAVE A NO-TRACE CAMPSITE

Pick up every trace of litter

Erase all signs of a fire

Scatter horse manure, fill in pawed holes

Replace rocks and logs where they were

Pack out litter, mine and theirs

Report significant information to Ranger Station

Look for signs of my passing. Did I leave traces?

Apply the no-trace ethic elsewhere

Signed

A concerned Wilderness visitor

United States Forest Intermountain Ogden,

Department of Service Region Utah

Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and 

activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, 

sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) 

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 

720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, 

Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 

720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

23.02.400.05/80

revised/reprint 2000

I WILL I DID

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...you remember

how it used

to be?
WITHOUT A TRACE

In years past we used to speak of wilderness survival as the ability of man to 

survive the wilderness. Now we speak of 

wilderness survival as the land’s capability 

of surviving man.

What can we all do to protect the wilderness?

In this example, many permanent traces of 

man’s use are depicted. Can you think of 

some other, all-too-common scenes that 

you have observed, maybe contributed to?

After you pass, will the wilderness remain 

as it was? Will you make the No-Trace 

Ethic your personal challenge?

over-used trails becoming deep troughs

toilet paper popping

 out from under rocks 

 like springtime

 flowers lack of

vegetation in camp

area due to

overuse

hacking at dead

snags or sawing

off limbs for

 firewood

building

 structures

latrine

too close

to water

large fire pits

camps too close

together

. . . so much for the

wilderness

yeh, there goes

the neighborhood

unburnt logs,

 aluminum foil

 and other trash

 left in fire pits

digging tent

 trenches

camping too close

to lakes and streams

burying tin cans,

garbage, and

 glass

soap suds and

scum in water

SIGH