Doug64

When I was involved with Boy Scouts, we taught the "Leave No Trace" concept. My wife was the winter camping and backpacking advisor for the local scout troop, and she was a strict Leave No Trace enforcer. Our young daughter often accompanied mom and got to go on more Boy Scout winter camping trips than most of the scouts.

My wife and I have been backpacking and climbing for a long time, and we never built a fire outside designated campgrounds, and rarely even there. However, we sometimes built fires with the scouts, and it was always a challenge to the scouts to see who could return the fire area back to "natural conditions" the best. On their 50 mile hike, the fire building was broken down so that a small group was responsble for the fire each day that we used a fire. On their 50 mile hike most of it was through wlderness areas (with a capital "W"), and the boys did a great job. One day we set up camp about 4 miles from a lodge just outside the wilderness boundary. We took a vote to see who wanted to hike down for a hamburger. It was unanimous! I offered to pack out the trash that we had accmulated so far on the hike. On the way out one of the trash bags fell off my pack, and I did not notice it until we got down to the lodge. We planned on taking a different, less steep trail, back to camp, but I was going up our original route to see if I could find the trash bag. Three scouts volunteered to go with me. We found it. I think they were hearing the message.

On several of our climbing trips, one of the stipulations for getting permits to climb certain mountains was that you pack out everything, including human waste. It is known affectionately as the "Blue Bag" system. A little kitty liter in the bag really helps. There are variations to this system, e.g., one plastic bag and a paper bag.

Happy Feet

This certainly rings true with me as well. Having started climbing in my early 20's, and having bought a really "high tech" (for the time) hanging butane stove I moved almost completely away from camp fires for a number of years. When I did have them they were small and discreet. I think I read about cowboys on the trail not wanting to give their positions away by the light and smoke and thought it was a good idea.

One time, soon after I met my girlfriend, soon to be future wife, we went camping with her brother and friends and they proceeded to build a huge bonfire and pulled out a ghetto blaster (among other things). It was culture shock to say the least and the last time we did that I'm still not a big campfire fan and 99% of the time won't make one even when camping in parks with fire rings etc...

Here's a bushcraft hut I saw when I was in Utah this fall. Still an eyesore after 1000 years!