Leave No Trace is a national program which promotes the protection of our nation's wildlands through education, research, and partnerships. Leave No Trace teaches minimum impact hiking and camping skills and wildland ethics and builds awareness, appreciation, and respect for our public recreation places.
Four federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all promote the Leave No Trace message. Working with outdoor retailers, educators, and user groups these federal agencies are helping to make Leave No Trace the common language for all outdoor enthusiasts.
With increasing visitor use, both day and overnight, it is important to minimize our impacts and Leave No Trace of our visits to wilderness, parks and special other places. Trips that include awareness and the use of minimum impact practices conserve natural conditions of the outdoors which make the adventure enjoyable and allow others the same experience.
Your backcountry permit is a signed contract between you and the National Park Service. It's an agreement to treat the wilderness with respect by practicing Leave No Trace (LNT) techniques. Keep in mind that Leave No Trace camping goes beyond following the rules; it requires thoughtful judgement for each situation that comes up.
Leave No Trace is simple, whether you are hiking and camping in the park's wilderness or driving to the Point Reyes Lighthouse, Drakes Beach, or Tomales Point for an afternoon. At its heart is a set of seven principles which can be applied in any natural setting to minimize human impacts on the environment. Following the Leave No Trace principles and combining them with your personal judgment, awareness, and experience will help protect precious natural and cultural park resources and preserve the park experience for you and for future visitors.
Stay on designated trails and hike single file in the middle of the trail, even when the trail is wet or muddy. Never shortcut switchbacks.
When traveling crosscountry, choose the most durable surfaces available: rock, gravel, dry grasses or snow. Spread out so that you don't grind a path where one didn't exist before.
When you stop to rest, be careful not to mash vegetation. Sit on rocks, logs, or in clearings.
At Camp:
Use the designated campsites, and camp in the camp area indicated on your permit. Altering a site is not necessary, e.g., no trenching around tents. Good tent-sites are found, not made.
Keep campsites small. Restrict activities to the area where vegetation is compacted or absent.
Use a large plastic water container to collect water so you don't need to make frequent trips to the water source.
There are vault toilets at all backcountry campgrounds. Use them.
On Tomales Bay, there are vault toilets at Marshall Beach and portable toilets at Tomales Beach. On other beaches, pack out all human waste using a portable toilet that can be emptied into an RV dump station or pit toilet.
If there are no pit toilets nearby, urinate or defecate at least 60 meters (200 feet or 75 adult paces) from water, camp, or trails.
Urinate in rocky places that won't be damaged by wildlife who dig for salts and minerals found in urine.
Deposit human waste in cat holes dug 15–20 cm (6–8 inches) deep. Carry a small garden trowel or lightweight scoop for digging. Cover and disguise the cat hole when finished, or pack out solid waste.
Use toilet paper sparingly and pack it out along with sanitary napkins, and tampons in an airtight container. Consider using natural toilet paper such as a smooth rock or soft pinecone.
To wash yourself or your dishes, carry water 60 meters (200 feet or 75 adult paces) away from water sources, and use small amounts, if any, of biodegradable soap. Scatter strained dishwater.
Strain food scraps from wash water and pack them out.
Pack everything you bring into the backcountry back out, e.g., trash and litter, leftover food.
Inspect your campsite for trash, spilled food, and evidence of your stay. Pack out all trash: Yours and others'.
Wood fires can cause lasting impacts to the backcountry. Always use a lightweight, portable stove for cooking. A wood fire is a luxury, not a necessity, and is only permitted on beaches if you obtain a beach fire permit in advance.
Enjoy the sounds and wonders of the darkness, or use a candle lantern instead of a fire.
Fires are only permitted on beaches, preferably below the high tide line so that the fire scar will be washed away within 24 hours.
Don’t line the fire pit with rocks.
Build the fire at least 9 meters (30 feet) in all directions from vegetation, flammable material, and the base of bluffs and cliffs.
Gather only natural driftwood, no larger than an adult's arm, from below the beach’s vegetation line. Leave the wood in their natural form until you are ready to burn them. Scatter any unused driftwood. Please note: The collection of driftwood for fires is prohibited on Tomales Bay.
No wood gathering above the beach’s vegetation line. Do not snap branches off live, dead, or downed trees.
Keep fires smaller than 0.9 meters (36 inches) in diameter at the base.
Put out fires completely, using water. Never cover the fire or coals with sand.
Beach fires must be extinguished by 10 pm.
Remove, and pack out, all unburned trash from the fire pit.
Please learn and practice Leave No Trace skills and ethics and pass them on to those you come in contact with. It's easy to enjoy and protect the park simultaneously. For more information stop by a park Visitor Center, call the Leave No Trace Hotline at 1-800-332-4100, or visit Leave No Trace's website.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation System, a national network of more than 800 federally-designated wilderness areas. These wilderness areas are managed by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Forest Service.
Point Reyes National Seashore, located just an hour north of San Francisco, is home to the Phillip Burton Wilderness. This wilderness area protects more than 26,000 acres of important habitat and serves as a place of inspiration for people near and far.
See the natural rhythms of Point Reyes National Seashore's Phillip Burton Wilderness. Point Reyes is the windiest place on the Pacific Coast, one of the foggiest places in North America, and home to thirty-eight threatened or endangered species.
Join local photographers Kathleen Goodwin and Richard Blair on Kehoe Beach in the Phillip Burton Wilderness. Point Reyes National Seashore includes 80 miles of coastline, most of which is designated wilderness.
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and its Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers team partnered with the National Park Service and the Point Reyes National Seashore Association to host community events and educational activities April 6–13, 2015. The scenic and popular Point Reyes National Seashore has experienced visitor-created impacts in recent years, including excessive trash, damage to vegetation, disturbance of wildlife with dogs in restricted areas, and trail erosion. The Hot Spot Program, a key component of the Leave No Trace in Every Park initiative, raises community awareness and brings solutions to popular natural areas facing heavy recreational use and consequently, the threat of harm to trails, parks and open space areas. The Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers travel throughout the country providing public education about how to reduce impacts in the outdoors. Visit our Leave No Trace in Every Park page for event details.
415-464-5100
This number will initially be answered by an automated attendant, from which one can opt to access a name directory, listen to recorded information about the park (e.g., directions to the park; visitor center hours of operation; fire danger information; wildlife updates; ranger-led programs; seasonal events; etc.), or speak with a ranger. Please note that if you are calling between 4:30 pm and 10 am, park staff may not be available to answer your call.
