Concentrating use on durable surfaces is a simple and effective method of reducing the impact of your backcountry visit. Main travel corridors and popular destinations typically have well-established trails and campsites. Make decisions and choose practices that will cause the least amount of damage and leave only short-term impacts.

Stay on trails.

Traveling on constructed trails that, in many cases, have been designed to accommodate heavy use can minimize impact on wildlife, soil and vegetation. Ride single file on the designated path. Do not shortcut trails or switch backs. Muddy stretches and most snow banks should be crossed, rather than skirted. If you carry a saw, you can help local land managers by cutting and removing deadfall in the trail. Rerouting trails around obstacles causes vegetation damage, erosion and development of multiple paths. Horses in a string cannot be perfectly managed. The attentiveness of the horse packer, length of the string and traveling pace are all factors affecting string management. If extremely difficult terrain must be negotiated, loose herding may be best while negotiating such terrain. Animals that are free to place their feet around obstacles are less likely to cause damage to the ground, to themselves and to their handlers.

Pull off for rest breaks.

When taking rest breaks, choose a site well off the trail so that others are not forced to leave the trail to go around you. When possible, pull off on a durable surface such as dry grass or sand. For short breaks, you may be able to hand-hold your horses; however, if you must tie up, choose live trees at least 8” in diameter and wrap the lead rope around the trunk twice before you tie the knot. For extended breaks, use hobbles, highlines or pickets. Tend the horses often. Nervous horses that trample or paw the ground while tied can be hobbled to prevent damage to the tree roots. Manure piles should be kicked apart and scattered and any pawed ground should be filled in.

Choose an established campsite.

Selecting an appropriate campsite is an extremely important aspect of low-impact backcountry use. A decision about where to camp should be based on the amount and type of use in the area, the fragility of the vegetation and soil, the likelihood of wildlife disturbance, and assessment of previous impacts and your party’s potential to cause or avoid more impact. In most areas, camps should be at least 200 feet from water or trails. Even in popular areas the sense of solitude can be enhanced by choosing a more out-of-the-way site or a site with natural screening. This also benefits other users and wildlife that often utilize the same trail systems. Be sure to obey any local regulations concerning campsite selection. Allow enough time to select the appropriate site so that tiredness, bad weather and lateness of day won’t force you to cut corners and choose poor or fragile campsites. In popular camping areas, the minimum-impact choice is to use existing legal campsites within and area. These sites are usually obvious because they are already “hardened”; have already lost their vegetation cover. Careful use of such sites will cause no additional damage. It may also be possible to find a site that naturally lacks vegetation, such as gravely soils or sandy areas. Place tents on already hardened areas. A site with a slight slope has good natural drainage, eliminating the need to “trench” around your tent. Lightweight nylon tents have their own poles, eliminating the necessity to cut trees for tent poles. Do not break off tree limbs or pull out vegetation to make a spot more comfortable. If you need to remove rocks or bits of wood, put them back where you found them when you break camp.

The kitchen is a place where people tend to congregate. This area will usually receive the most impact, so put the kitchen in the most resilient and impacted location available. In any campsite, especially with large groups, traffic between the kitchen, tent sites and tack area is bound to create trails. Stay on paths that are already established. The objective is to confine your impact to areas that already show use and avoid enlarging the area of disturbance. The use of Scrim, an open-weave cloth, can lessen impact in such high use areas and stock containment areas. Used as a ground covering, it lets air and moisture through, allowing vegetation to breathe and grow, and buffers the grinding action caused by boot heels and hooves.

Leave a clean campsite.

To ensure that other visitors arriving at popular destinations use existing campsites, it is important to leave each site clean and attractive when you leave. An existing site that has litter scattered about or food scraps lying in the fire ring is not appealing.

As you break camp, make an effort to leave it cleaner and more natural than you found it. If you cleared an area of surface rocks, twigs or pinecones, replace these items before leaving. Dismantle or remove inappropriate user-built facilities such as multiple fire rings, nails in trees, trenches and constructed seats or tables. Properly located and legal facilities, such as single fire ring, should be left. Dismantling them will cause additional impact because they will be rebuilt with new rocks and thus impact a new area. Alternative methods for fire-site construction are discussed under “Use Fire Responsibly”.

Kick apart and scatter piles of manure. If manure is in the central camp area, carry it well away for dispersal. This will hasten its decomposition and lessen the aesthetic impact on the area for other users. Pawed places must be filled in not only for visual impact, but to prevent deeper holes and further damage. Practicing good Leave No Trace techniques will help set the right example for others. It will also improve the odds that you will find the camp inviting on your next trip into the backcountry.

Destination camps.

Some parties ride into the backcountry with only one destination in mind. You can reduce impact in destination camps by sending out extra horses for the length of your base camp stay with a friend or member of your party.

When a group spends multiple nights in one campsite, much more care is needed to protect the area from overuse. More forage is required for the horses. Picket pins and electric fences have to be moved again and again in order to prevent overgrazing and trampling. Only with considerable determination and commitment can you keep the area of disturbance from growing larger.

Some area cannot withstand this type of use. Other areas have been set-aside in hopes that surrounding campsites will not be so heavily impacted and damaged. Make it a group effort to leave the camp in excellent condition so it can sustain decades of such use.