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A single narrow dirt trail runs through an untouched wildflower meadow scattered with granite boulders and conifers, a lone hiker small in the distance in early morning light

Leave No Trace: the seven principles, and what each one asks of a day hiker

The meadow at the top of your favorite trail still looks wild because thousands of people walked through it and left almost nothing behind. Leave No Trace is the seven habits that keep it that way, and on a day hike most of them cost a zip-top bag and a few extra steps.

By TomSkillsPublished November 3, 202611 min read

A good trail feels like you're the first person to walk it. You aren't. The wildflowers along the tread, the clean edge of the lake, the marmot that ignores you instead of begging: all of that survives because most of the people who came before you stayed on the path, carried their trash home and left the rocks where they were.

Leave No Trace is the name for those habits. It's seven principles, written by a nonprofit of the same name and taught by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other US land managers. They cover planning, where you walk, waste, what you take, fire, wildlife and other people.

Most writing about Leave No Trace is aimed at backpackers, because camping is where the damage piles up fastest. We wrote this one for day hikers, which is how most people meet a trail. It goes through the seven principles one at a time, then the few real numbers behind them and the small habits that feel harmless and aren't.

The principles

What are the seven Leave No Trace principles?

The seven Leave No Trace principles are: plan ahead and prepare; travel and camp on durable surfaces; dispose of waste properly; leave what you find; minimize campfire impacts; respect wildlife; and be considerate of other visitors. The list is short and general on purpose, because the right way to do each one changes with the terrain. Below, each one comes with what it asks of you on an ordinary day hike.

01

Plan ahead and prepare

The one that makes the other six possible

On a day hike
Check the rules, the weather and the map
Costs you
Ten minutes the night before

The Park Service's version asks you to learn the rules and special concerns of the place you're visiting, prepare for weather and emergencies, travel at quieter times, keep groups small and repackage food so there's less to throw away. It also asks you to navigate with a map, compass or GPS rather than with paint, flagging or new rock piles.

It comes first because most damage on a trail is done by people who arrived without the thing that would have let them do it properly: no bag for the wrappers, no idea that dogs weren't allowed, no headlamp when the hike ran long and the shortcut looked tempting.

What it looks like: Reading the park's own trail page before you go, not just the trail app, and packing one empty bag for trash.

A hiker in brown leather boots and gaiters walks straight through the muddy middle of a forest trail, the ferns and moss along both edges untouched
02

Travel and camp on durable surfaces

Stay on the tread, even when it's muddy

Durable surfaces
Trail, rock, gravel, sand, dry grass, snow
Camp
At least 200 feet from lakes and streams

Durable surfaces are the ground that can take a boot without dying: maintained trails, designated sites, rock, gravel, sand, dry grass and snow. On a popular trail the Park Service asks you to walk single file down the middle of the tread, including when it's wet or muddy.

That last part is the one people break. Stepping around a puddle feels considerate and is the opposite. A season of hikers doing it tramples the plants on the edge, the tread gets wider, the new edge turns to mud too, and the trail keeps spreading. Walking through the middle keeps the damage where it already is.

What it looks like: Wet boots, and no shortcuts across switchbacks. A shortcut is a new trail that water then uses as a gutter.

03

Dispose of waste properly

Pack it in, pack it out, including the peel

Trash
All of it leaves with you
Cat hole
6 to 8 inches deep, 200 feet from water, camp and trail
Toilet paper
Pack it out

Carry out every wrapper, scrap and spill, and check where you stopped for lunch before you leave. Use a toilet when one exists. When there isn't one, the Park Service's rule is a cat hole 6 to 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water, campsites and trails, covered when you're done, with toilet paper and hygiene products carried out.

Some places go further and ask you to carry out the waste itself. On Mount Whitney, visitors are expected to pack out solid human waste in a pack-out kit. Check the specific trail before assuming a hole is fine.

What it looks like: A spare zip-top bag in the lid of your pack, used for orange peels and apple cores as well as wrappers.

04

Leave what you find

Photographs, not souvenirs

Leave
Rocks, plants, artifacts, antlers, flowers
Don't build
Cairns, rock stacks, structures

Look at historic structures and artifacts without touching them, leave rocks, plants and other natural objects where they are, and don't build anything. In a national park this isn't only good manners: federal regulations prohibit removing or disturbing plants, rocks, wildlife and cultural resources, with narrow exceptions a park can make for things like picking berries.

Rock stacking belongs here too. The Park Service asks visitors not to build, add to or knock down cairns. Moving rocks loosens soil and disturbs the small plants around them, and in parks that use cairns as route markers, a decorative pile can send the next hiker the wrong way.

What it looks like: Taking a photo of the arrowhead, the wildflower or the perfect flat stone, and walking on.

05

Minimize campfire impacts

Mostly a camping principle, sometimes a day-hike one

Better
A stove for cooking
If allowed
Existing fire ring, dead and down wood only

The Park Service prefers a lightweight stove for cooking, because a campfire can leave lasting scars. Where fires are allowed, use an existing fire ring, keep it small, burn only dead and down wood you can break by hand, burn it to ash, put it out completely and scatter the cool ash.

Day hikers rarely light fires, but this principle still reaches you in one way: fire restrictions change with conditions, not just the season. If you plan to boil water for lunch on a stove, check whether the area has a restriction in force that week.

What it looks like: Leaving the fire to the people camping, and knowing whether your stove is allowed today.

06

Respect wildlife

Watch from a distance, never feed

Feeding
Never, not even birds or squirrels
Yellowstone distances
100 yards from bears, wolves and cougars, 25 from other animals

Watch animals from a distance, don't follow or approach them, never feed them, store food and trash securely, keep pets under control, and give animals extra room during sensitive times like mating, nesting, raising young and winter.

Feeding does the most harm. Yellowstone warns that animals fed by people can become aggressive and may have to be killed, and NPS regulations list feeding wildlife among the prohibited acts. The chipmunk at the summit asking for trail mix is a chipmunk somebody already fed.

What it looks like: Zooming in instead of walking closer, and eating your lunch without sharing it.

07

Be considerate of other visitors

The one that's about people

Pack stock
Step to the downhill side
Breaks
Off the trail, away from others

Protect other people's experience: be courteous, yield on the trail, step to the downhill side when horses or pack animals pass, take breaks and camp away from the trail and other people, and keep voices and noise down so the natural sounds win.

This one overlaps almost completely with ordinary trail etiquette, which we've covered on its own, including who has the right of way when two hikers meet on a narrow slope.

What it looks like: Music in one earbud or none, and lunch on a rock a few steps off the path rather than across it.

What numbers does Leave No Trace actually give you?

Leave No Trace gives only a few hard numbers: 200 feet from water for camping, washing and toilets, and a cat hole 6 to 8 inches deep. Most of the rest is judgment. Some parks add their own distances, and where a land manager sets a number, it's the rule.

WhatThe numberWho sets it
Distance to camp from lakes and streamsAt least 200 feetLeave No Trace, as taught by the National Park Service
Cat hole depth6 to 8 inchesLeave No Trace, as taught by the National Park Service
Cat hole distance from water, camps and trailsAt least 200 feetLeave No Trace, as taught by the National Park Service
Washing yourself or dishesCarry water at least 200 feet from the source, scatter strained dishwaterLeave No Trace, as taught by the National Park Service
Distance from bears, wolves and cougarsAt least 100 yardsYellowstone National Park (other parks set their own)
Distance from other wildlifeAt least 25 yardsYellowstone National Park (other parks set their own)

200 feet is about two-thirds of the length of a football field, which is farther than most people guess. Group size limits also exist in many wilderness areas, but they vary by area, so check the one you're visiting.

Is it okay to leave an apple core or a banana peel on the trail?

No. Food scraps are litter even when they're biodegradable, because they last far longer than people assume and animals learn to look for them. The Mount Washington Observatory puts a banana peel at two years or more above treeline, against 3 to 4 weeks in a warm compost pile. The common gray areas sort out like this.

Feels harmless, isn't

  • Tossing an apple core or orange peel into the bushes
  • Stepping around a muddy patch onto the plants beside it
  • Cutting a switchback because the trail is right there
  • Adding a rock to a cairn, or building a stack of your own
  • Picking a wildflower or pocketing a pretty stone
  • Sharing a few crumbs with the bold chipmunk at the summit
  • Burying toilet paper under a rock

Fine, and often better

  • Walking straight through the mud in the middle of the tread
  • Sitting on bare rock or dry grass for lunch
  • Taking photos of everything you'd otherwise take home
  • Picking up someone else's wrapper on your way out
  • Using the outhouse at the trailhead before you start
  • Watching wildlife from far enough away that it keeps doing what it was doing

How do you go to the bathroom on a hike without leaving a trace?

Use a toilet if there is one, at the trailhead or along the trail. If there isn't, dig a cat hole 6 to 8 inches deep, at least 200 feet from water, campsites and the trail, and pack your toilet paper out in a bag. Where a land manager requires waste to be packed out, use a pack-out kit instead.

  1. 01

    Check the rules for the trail first

    A few heavily used, alpine or desert areas ask or require you to carry out solid human waste rather than bury it. Mount Whitney is the best-known example. The trail's own land manager page will say so.

  2. 02

    Walk about 200 feet away

    That's about two-thirds of a football field from any water, campsite or trail, which is farther than it feels. Pick somewhere out of sight, off the path and not in a dry wash that will carry water when it rains.

  3. 03

    Dig 6 to 8 inches down

    A small trowel makes this quick, and a stick works in soft ground.

    A trowel weighs a few ounces, and most day hikers who carry one never think about it again.

  4. 04

    Pack out the paper

    Toilet paper and hygiene products go into a zip-top bag, not into the hole. Wrapping the bag in a second, opaque one makes it easy to forget about.

  5. 05

    Fill the hole and disguise it

    Push the soil back, tamp it down and scatter a little leaf litter over the top, so the spot looks like the ground around it.

What should a day hiker carry to leave no trace?

A day hiker needs very little to leave no trace: a spare bag for trash and food scraps, a second bag and a small trowel for bathroom stops, and a look at the trail's rules before leaving home. The gear fits in a lid pocket.

In the pack

  • A spare zip-top bag for trash, peels and cores
  • A second bag for used toilet paperan opaque outer bag helps
  • A small trowelor a pack-out kit where one is required
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Food repackaged at home, so there's less packaging to carry

Before you leave home

  • Read the land manager's page for the trail
  • Check for fire restrictions and closures
  • Check whether dogs are allowed, and on what leash
  • Pick a quieter day or an earlier start if the trail is popular

Good campsites are found, not made. The same goes for every other good spot on a trail.

— The first sentence is the National Park Service's

If you're putting together a kit

Leave No Trace needs almost no gear. The two pieces worth owning are a trowel for cat holes and, where it's required, a bear canister for food.

Best Backpacking Trowels of 2026

Best Backpacking Trowels of 2026

Read the guide →

Best Bear Canisters of 2026

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Leave No Trace questions

What are the 7 principles of Leave No Trace?

Plan ahead and prepare. Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Dispose of waste properly. Leave what you find. Minimize campfire impacts. Respect wildlife. Be considerate of other visitors. They were written by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and are taught by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other US land managers.

Who created Leave No Trace?

The seven principles were established by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, a nonprofit that holds the copyright to them. The National Park Service says they grew out of work that the Forest Service, the Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management began in the mid-1980s. The Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management both teach them today.

Can I bury toilet paper?

No. The Park Service's guidance is to pack out toilet paper and hygiene products, even where burying the waste itself is allowed. Carry a zip-top bag for it.

Is it bad to stack rocks on a hike?

Yes. The National Park Service asks visitors not to build, add to or knock down cairns. Moving rocks loosens soil and disturbs plants, and in parks that mark routes with cairns, a decorative stack can lead the next hiker the wrong way.

Why should I walk through mud instead of around it?

Because stepping around a muddy patch tramples the plants at the edge, which widens the trail and spreads the mud. The Park Service asks hikers on popular trails to walk single file down the middle of the tread even when it's wet. Wet boots dry, but a widened trail doesn't recover on its own.

Does Leave No Trace apply to day hikes?

Yes. Camping and campfire principles matter less on a day hike, but trash, food scraps, bathroom stops, staying on the trail, leaving what you find, wildlife and other people all apply to every hike. A day hiker can follow all of them with a spare bag and a few minutes of planning.

Can my dog's poop stay on the trail?

No. Bag it and carry the bag out, the same as your own trash. The Park Service warns that pet waste can carry harmful bacteria into fresh water. Leave No Trace also asks you to control pets at all times or leave them at home, and many parks keep dogs off some trails, so check before you bring one.

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Hiking trail etiquette: who has the right of way

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Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these. Conditions, fees and rules change — check the official page before you go.

  1. Leave No Trace Seven Principles — National Park Service · checked November 3, 2026
  2. Rock Cairns — National Park Service · checked November 3, 2026
  3. Safety — National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park · checked November 3, 2026
  4. I Didn't Know That!: Hiking with Pets — National Park Service · checked November 3, 2026
  5. Outdoor Ethics — Bureau of Land Management · checked November 3, 2026
  6. 36 CFR 1.5, Closures and public use limits — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School · checked November 3, 2026
  7. 36 CFR 2.1, Preservation of natural, cultural and archeological resources — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School · checked November 3, 2026
  8. 36 CFR 2.2, Wildlife protection — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School · checked November 3, 2026
  9. Mt. Whitney wilderness permits — Recreation.gov (Inyo National Forest) · checked November 3, 2026
  10. Pack It In, Pack It Out — Mount Washington Observatory · checked November 3, 2026

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