There is a simple test to know whether your camp was a good one: go back to the site the day after the Unit left. If you can guess where the tent stood, where the fire was, and where someone "used the bushes," the camp failed. The goal of minimum impact is for nature to be left the same — or better — than it was when you arrived.
This is not fussiness. It is a field skill just as important as pitching a tent or tying a knot. A poorly run camp contaminates the water the next group will drink, scares off the wildlife, and leaves scars that take years to fade. A well-run camp is almost invisible.
In this guide you will learn the seven "Leave No Trace" principles, adapted to the routine of the Club, and the step-by-step for the two things that most often go wrong: where to relieve yourself and where to set up the kitchen without fouling the river.
Why "leave no trace" is a Pathfinder thing
Every Pathfinder loves nature — the problem is that loving it without technique destroys it. A group of 30 people trampling the same patch of grass over one weekend can kill the vegetation and open a muddy path that the rain turns into erosion. Multiply that by the thousands of groups that camp in the same place every year and you understand the scale of the damage.
Minimum impact camping was born precisely to solve this. In the United States, agencies such as the National Park Service and the Forest Service gathered field research and, between the 1980s and 1990s, formalized the seven Leave No Trace principles — the standard set we know today was consolidated over that decade. They became the worldwide standard for how to behave outdoors, and the Pathfinder Club has taught them for decades.
For you who follow the Bible, there is one more reason, and it is the strongest of all. The first task God gave humankind was to care for a garden: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15, NIV). Take care. You do not own the forest — you are its keeper while you are there.
Psalm 24:1 (NIV) completes the idea: "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." The forest where your Unit will camp belongs to God. Leaving it clean is a concrete form of respect for the owner. This is called stewardship of creation, and it is different from simply "liking to hike": it is taking responsibility for a place that is not yours.
The 7 principles in Club language
Before diving into the details, it is worth knowing the whole map. The seven principles work as a mental checklist you run through from planning to breaking camp. Keep this table — it fits on the inside cover of your field notebook.
| Principle | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| 1. Plan ahead | Study the site, the weather and the rules. Break into small groups. Repackage food to generate less trash. |
| 2. Camp on durable surfaces | Pitch the tent on already-compacted soil, rock, sand or dry grass — never on living vegetation or at the water's edge. |
| 3. Dispose of waste properly | All trash comes back with you. Human waste goes in a cat-hole. No burying packaging or throwing food scraps into the bush. |
| 4. Leave what you find | A pretty stone, a flower, a nest, an old arrowhead: look, photograph, leave it where it is. |
| 5. Minimize campfire impact | Prefer a camp stove. If you do build a fire, use an existing spot and recover the cold ashes. |
| 6. Respect wildlife | Observe from a distance, do not feed them, store food out of the animals' reach. |
| 7. Be considerate of others | Low noise, shared trail, discreet camp. You are not the only one there. |
Notice that the first four principles are about the place and the last three are about coexistence — with the animals and with people. A good Counselor holds the group to both sides. It is no use for the Unit to leave no trash if the group spent the weekend shouting and driving off every animal within a two-kilometer radius.
Principles 1 and 2: plan ahead and step in the right place
Half the impact of a camp is decided before you leave home. A group that is too big concentrates trampling; so, whenever possible, split the Unit into subgroups that camp a little apart instead of crowding 40 tents into the same field. Study the site in advance: where the water is, what the weather forecast says, whether the area requires a permit (many parks and reserves do), and what the local rules are.
The most underrated planning trick is to repackage your food. Take the snacks out of that cardboard box, put the bars in a single bag, transfer the rice into a reusable container. You arrive at camp with half the trash volume you would have had. What does not go into the backpack does not become a problem out in the bush.
Once on site, the rule of principle 2 is simple: pitch the tent on a surface that can bear the weight without being destroyed. Already-compacted soil (that patch of bare earth where everyone camps), rock, sand or dry grass are ideal. Avoid tall, living grass, the edge of streams, and the foot of trees with exposed roots. A good camp concentrates on already-impacted areas — it is better to reuse a spot that has already lost its vegetation than to clear a new patch of untouched forest.
A tip every experienced Pathfinder knows: choose your ground in daylight. Arriving in the dark and pitching the tent on the first flat spot you find is the recipe for waking up on top of an anthill, on an animal trail, or dangerously close to water that can rise with the rain. If the schedule slipped, stop earlier and camp while there is light.
Read alsoHow to set up a campsite: a beginner's guidePrinciple 3: the wilderness toilet done right (the cat-hole)
Here is the subject nobody likes to touch and the one that causes the most illness in the field: what to do with your waste. Human waste left in the open contaminates water, attracts flies, and spreads worms and diarrhea to the next group. The technical solution is called the cat-hole — because you do it like a cat: dig, use, and cover.
The step-by-step, confirmed by the official Leave No Trace guidelines: choose a spot at least 60 meters (about 75 adult paces) from any water, trail or camp. With a small trowel or your boot heel, dig a hole 15 to 20 centimeters deep and about 10 to 15 wide. Do your business there. Then cover it with the same soil you dug out and disguise the spot with leaves or twigs.
Watch out for two details many people get wrong. First: used toilet paper does not bury well — it is slow to break down and animals dig it up. The ideal is to bag the used paper in a sealed bag and carry it back with the rest of the trash. Second: no products or sanitary pads in the hole; those also come back packed out.
When the Unit is large and will stay several days in the same place, one cat-hole per person is not enough. That is where the field latrine comes in, which is the same principle on a larger scale — a communal trench. We will get to its details in the kitchen and latrine section, because both obey the same golden rule: away from the water.
Field kitchen and latrine without contaminating the river
The golden rule of a clean camp fits in a single number: 60 meters. The kitchen, the latrine, and the spot where you wash dishes all sit at least 60 meters from any watercourse. That distance gives the soil time to filter what runs off before it reaches the river. It is the same measure as the cat-hole, which makes it easy to remember.
For the communal field latrine: choose a discreet spot, 60 m or more from water, and dig a narrow trench (about 30 cm wide, 15 to 20 deep). Leave the excavated soil piled beside it with a shovel stuck in. The rule is: everyone who uses it throws a shovelful of soil on top. That way the trench is never left exposed and the smell stays under control. At the end of the camp, cover it all, compact it, and disguise it. Mark the spot so no one pitches a tent over it later.
For the field kitchen: set up the prep area and the washing sink away from the river too. Here is the classic Club mistake — washing the pot in the stream "because it's handy." Food scraps and soap pollute the water instantly. The right way is to carry river water in a bucket to the kitchen, wash the dishes there (60 m away), strain out the food scraps and bag them with the trash, and only then scatter the wash water in a fan on the ground, away from the bank.
Use little soap, and preferably biodegradable. But be careful: biodegradable does not mean it can go in the river — it means it breaks down in the soil. It too needs the 60 meters of distance. And food scraps always come out of the water first: not even the most natural of scraps should end up straight in the stream, because it unbalances the life that already lives there.
Principles 4, 5 and 6: what stays, the fire and the wildlife
Leave what you find (principle 4). That incredibly shaped stone, the rare flower, the tree bark with a pattern, the armadillo shell, the old arrowhead: the temptation to take a keepsake is enormous. Resist it. If every group takes a little stone, in a few years nothing is left. The rule also applies to not driving nails into living trees, not digging trenches around the tent, and not tearing off green branches. Take photos, leave everything in place.
Minimize campfire impact (principle 5). The campfire is beautiful and part of the Club's mystique, but it is also what leaves the most scarring and causes the most wildfires. Whenever you can, cook on a gas camp stove: it is faster, cleaner and leaves no mark. If you are going to build a real fire, use a spot that has been used before (never open a new one), keep it small, burn only fallen, thin wood, and leave nothing half-burnt. At the end, put it out with water until the ashes are cold to the touch, scatter them well, and return the spot to its natural state. Only light a fire where it is allowed — in the dry season, many places ban it.
Respect wildlife (principle 6). Watching wild animals is one of the greatest rewards of camping. But watch from afar, in silence. Never feed any animal: human food makes animals sick and dependent, and an animal that loses its fear of people becomes a dangerous problem. Keep all food and trash sealed and, if possible, hung on a rope between trees, out of the reach of raccoons, opossums and ants. Any Club dogs are kept under control so they don't chase native wildlife.
Principle 7: sharing nature with other people
You are almost never the only one there. Other families, other groups and other Clubs also came to seek silence and beauty. The seventh principle is about not spoiling someone else's experience — and it is where a noisy Club gets a bad name fast.
In practice: keep the volume low, especially at night and early morning. A speaker blaring in the woods is disrespectful to those who came to hear the birds. On the trails, walk single file, yield to those going uphill (climbing is more tiring), and greet others politely. Choose discreet tent and tarp colors when you can, and set up camp away from the trails and the banks, so you don't become everyone's obligatory scenery.
This principle speaks directly to the spirituality of the Club. Being kind to strangers out in the wild is the same courtesy we practice at home and at church. And it is also a silent testimony: many people form an opinion about Pathfinders by watching how a Unit behaves at camp. An orderly, clean and polite group preaches without saying a word.
If your Unit wants to turn environmental care into concrete action, you can go beyond "leave no trace" and reach "leave it better": pick up the trash others forgot, take part in trail or spring cleanup drives. This combines minimum impact with the Club's spirit of service — see how to organize it in community service.