Plan Ahead and Prepare: The First Leave No Trace Principle for National Park Visits

Planning a route in Joshua Tree National Park. Image from the National Park Service's page

Picture it: you've decided to spend tomorrow at your favorite national park. You drive up to the entrance — and find your favorite trail closed for the next three weeks, a seasonal closure for nesting birds. You haven't looked into other trails, and now you don't know what to do. A little planning would have given you a backup plan and a great day anyway.

Plan Ahead and Prepare is the first of the seven Leave No Trace principles, which help people leave nature as unchanged by their visit as possible — protecting both the outdoors and themselves, and keeping these places for future generations.

Plan and prepare before you go. NPS / Jonathan Shafer

Why planning matters

Every park is different — wild and scenic rivers, historic buildings, wilderness, wildlife — and so are its activities. Planning helps you:

• make the most of your trip
• lower your risk of injury
• protect the places you came to see

Questions to answer before you go

• Do you need a ticket to enter, or a permit for your activity? Parks often use them to control crowding, which harms natural resources and visitor safety.
• Are any trails or areas closed?
• Do you know what wildlife you might meet, and the park rules that protect animals and you?

Tools to help

The NPS Trip Planning Guide. Image from the National Park Service's page

• NPS Trip Planning Guide — tips for every stage of a trip, to help you "Plan Like a Park Ranger," avoid the common mistakes that lead to injuries, and protect the park's natural and cultural resources.
• Junior Ranger Park Explorer — traveling with kids? This booklet of games and activities lets you plan together and helps raise the next generation of park stewards.

From the Junior Ranger Park Explorer. Image from the National Park Service's page

Pass it on

Nobody can be an expert in everything, so share what you've learned — and help others plan ahead when they head outdoors.

Sources

Based on "I Didn't Know That!: Leave No Trace Principle #1 - Plan Ahead and Prepare," National Park Service, part of a series developed with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics; a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words.