Leave No Trace, 2026 Edition: The 7 Principles in Plain English

The 7 Principles of Leave No Trace were updated in 2024 with new guidance for high-use areas, social media, and wildlife. Here's the modern version, stripped of jargon.

1. PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE — research regulations, weather, and group size limits. Overprepared hikers don't cause emergencies. Bring the right gear so you don't have to improvise (and damage) on trail.

2. TRAVEL AND CAMP ON DURABLE SURFACES — stay on the trail even when muddy (walk through, not around — that's how trails widen into ten-foot scars). Camp 200 ft from water on rock, gravel, or established sites.

3. DISPOSE OF WASTE PROPERLY — pack out ALL trash including food scraps and toilet paper. Bury human waste in a 6-inch cathole 200 ft from water/trail/camp. In high-alpine and desert environments, pack it out using a WAG bag.

4. LEAVE WHAT YOU FIND — no cairns, no carved initials, no picked wildflowers. Leave artifacts and natural objects for the next person to discover.

5. MINIMIZE CAMPFIRE IMPACTS — use a stove. If a fire is allowed and you must, use an existing ring, keep it small, burn only down-and-dead wood smaller than your wrist, drown it cold before you leave.

6. RESPECT WILDLIFE — 25 yards from most animals, 100 yards from bears and wolves. Never feed wildlife, including 'cute' chipmunks. Store food in approved containers.

7. BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHERS — yield uphill traffic, step off-trail on the downhill side for stock animals, keep voices and music low. Geotagging fragile spots is the new littering — share regions, not pins.

Bonus 2024 update: 'authority of the resource' framing — instead of citing rules, explain why a behavior harms the place. People comply with reasons better than commands.