Many lands, many managers
Much of the best hiking and paddling in the United States is on public land, but "public land" covers many different agencies with different rules. National parks are run by the National Park Service; national forests and grasslands by the US Forest Service; other large areas by the Bureau of Land Management, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers. States and local governments run their own parks too.
That variety is the main reason this guide stays general. Fees, permits, camping rules, fire rules and pet rules are set by each agency and often by each park, forest or district. The one habit that works everywhere is the first step in the Park Service's backcountry planning list: check ahead of time for any permits you need and for the regulations of the place you are going, using the official website of the agency that manages it.
Entrance passes
The National Park Service's entrance passes page starts with a point many visitors do not expect: most sites managed by the Park Service are free to visit. Some charge an entrance fee, and for those a visitor needs one of three kinds of pass:
- A standard pass for one park, for a visit of up to seven days.
- A park annual pass, offered by some parks or park groups, for repeated visits over a year.
- The America the Beautiful pass, also called the interagency pass, which covers entrance fees and standard day-use fees at federal recreation sites run by the Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The interagency pass comes in several versions for different groups, including annual and lifetime options for seniors, free passes for current military members and their dependents, for US citizens and residents with permanent disabilities, and for US fourth graders. The Park Service notes that passes are non-refundable and non-transferable, cannot be replaced if lost or stolen, and must be shown with photo identification.
A pass covers entry and standard day-use fees; it is not a permit for everything. The Park Service notes, for example, that the senior pass generally does not cover special recreation permit fees or fees charged by concessioners. Prices and options change, so check the Park Service's passes page for the current details rather than relying on any figure you have seen elsewhere.
Reservations and timed entry
A small number of busy parks also ask visitors to make a reservation. The Park Service's passes page describes two kinds: timed entry systems that manage the number of vehicles entering a park, and tour reservations for access to a particular building or natural feature. It says reservations are typically released through Recreation.gov, the federal recreation reservation system, on a rolling basis, and advises making any reservation you need well in advance.
An entrance pass and a reservation are separate things. A visitor to a park with timed entry may need both, so check each part of a trip separately when you plan.
Permits and local rules
Overnight trips into the backcountry, and some popular day routes, often need a permit from the managing agency. Because the rules vary so much, this guide does not try to list them. The Park Service's backcountry planning list puts permits first for that reason.
The same applies to fire. The Park Service's ten essentials page asks visitors to learn the local fire regulations before they go, because each park sets its own. Read the managing agency's current alerts as close to the trip as you can.
The seven Leave No Trace principles
Leave No Trace is a set of seven principles for reducing the marks people leave on the places they visit. The National Park Service publishes them on its own website, crediting them to the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, and notes that they built on work by the US Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management in the mid 1980s. They can be applied anywhere, from wilderness to a local park. In summary:
- Plan ahead and prepare. Know the regulations and special concerns for the area, prepare for extreme weather, hazards and emergencies, visit in small groups at quieter times, repackage food to reduce waste, and navigate with a map and compass or GPS instead of marking paint, cairns or flagging.
- Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Use maintained trails, established campsites, rock, gravel, sand, dry grass or snow. Camp at least 200 feet from lakes and streams. Good campsites are found, not made. In popular areas, keep to existing trails and sites, walking single file in the middle of the trail even when it is wet or muddy; in pristine areas, spread out so that no new paths or sites form.
- Dispose of waste properly. Pack it in, pack it out: all trash, leftover food and litter. More on human waste below.
- Leave what you find. Look at and photograph cultural and historic structures and artefacts, but do not touch them. Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects where they are, avoid moving non-native species, and do not build structures or dig trenches.
- Minimise campfire impacts. Use a lightweight stove for cooking and a lantern for light. Where fires are allowed, use established fire rings, fire pans or mound fires, keep fires small, burn only dead and downed wood that you can break by hand, burn it to ash, put the fire out completely and scatter the cool ashes.
- Respect wildlife. Watch from a distance and never follow, approach or feed animals. Store food and trash securely, control pets or leave them at home, and avoid wildlife at sensitive times such as mating, nesting, raising young and winter.
- Be considerate of other visitors. Be courteous and yield to others on the trail, step to the downhill side when meeting pack stock, take breaks and camp away from trails and other people, and keep voices and noise down.
Human waste and dishwater
Waste is where Leave No Trace and health meet. The Park Service's version of the principles says to use toilets wherever possible; otherwise, to dig a cathole 6 to 8 inches deep, at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails, and cover and disguise it afterwards. It asks visitors to pack out toilet paper and hygiene products. To wash yourself or dishes, carry water 200 feet away from streams or lakes, use small amounts of biodegradable soap and scatter strained dishwater.
The CDC's water treatment page gives a similar instruction from a disease-prevention angle: where there are no toilets, bury waste at least 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from lakes, rivers and other natural water, downstream from where anyone collects water. The two sources differ slightly on depth; digging to at least 8 inches meets both. Some places set their own rules for human waste, so check before you go.
Fire and wildlife
Two principles deserve extra attention because breaking them can harm more than the view. The Leave No Trace guidance is to cook on a stove, keep any permitted fire small and in an established ring or pan, and put it out completely before you leave. Where the managing agency bans fires, the ban comes first.
Feeding wildlife, deliberately or by leaving food out, damages animals' health, changes their natural behaviour, makes them used to people and exposes them to predators and other dangers, according to the principles the Park Service publishes. Store food and trash securely, and follow any park-specific rules on food storage, which the Park Service's backcountry page asks visitors to check.
Example: checking before a night out
Worked example
This is an illustration and describes no real people or place. Someone plans their first night at a backcountry campsite in a national park.
- They read the park's website and learn that the park charges an entrance fee, that overnight backcountry trips need a permit, and that campfires are not allowed in the backcountry this season.
- They check whether the park also uses timed entry on the dates they plan to visit, and sort out the entrance pass, the permit and any reservation separately.
- They pack a stove instead of planning a fire, a trowel for catholes, and bags to pack out trash and toilet paper.
- At the site, they pitch the tent on the existing gravel pad more than 200 feet from the lake, store food as the park requires, and wash dishes well away from the water.
- They leave the site as they found it, and tell their contact they are home.
That is the last guide. Go back to all guides, or start again with trip planning and the ten essentials.