Remote or pristine areas are quite fragile, and it is easy to create long-lasting damage. A horse party heading off cross-country in mountains or timber will often run into many obstacles. The potential for creating new and unnecessary trails is great. If you do travel cross country, take extreme care to minimize impact by you and your horses.

Traveling cross country

The key to preventing the development of trails in a remote area is to spread out and disperse your impacts. It is best not to travel single file. By limiting the number of times hoof prints fall in the same place, the chance of doing long-term damage to the vegetation is greatly reduced.

Durability of the ground surface is the most important consideration in determining exactly where to travel. When traveling off-trail, stay on durable, dry ground and ride around fragile areas such as wet, boggy ground and steep slopes. Spread out and avoid going straight downhill or uphill by traveling in a switchback fashion, each rider taking their own route. Finally, when traveling cross-country, allow other travelers the same thrill and challenge of route finding. Do not mark your route by building cairns, using plastic flagging or blazing trees.

Camping in remote areas

When choosing a remote or pristine campsite, look for a durable surface such as exposed bedrock or dry grassy areas on which to place kitchen and tents. In high deserts, gravely areas with little vegetation are ideal. Forest duff (large areas of dead needles, cones and twigs) is acceptable if it is possible to avoid crushing plants and seedlings. Such sites are quite resilient and capable of recovering rapidly from the effects of one night of low-impact use. Spread out tents, avoid repetitive traffic routes and move camp each night. The objective is to minimize the number of times any part of the site is trampled.

When breaking camp, take time to naturalize the site. Manure piles should be kicked apart and scattered, and pawed ground should be filled in. Extra firewood should be scattered. Cover scuffed up areas with native materials, brush out footprints and rake matted grassy areas with a stick to help the site recover and be less obvious as a campsite. Other travelers will be less likely to camp in the same spot. The less often a pristine campsite is used, the better chance it has of remaining pristine.