Backpacking can be a unique and wonderful experience, whether it is done in a natural or urban setting. Unfortunately it can sometimes be difficult to maintain an environmentally friendly attitude while backpacking. Convenience often takes the place of better judgment. There are many ways to enjoy the backpacking experience without adding to the decline of our already suffering environment. Here are a few simple practices that can be used while backpacking to ensure that others, who come after, will enjoy the trip as much as you did.

When it comes to food and drink make sure you are using reusable containers.

While hiking in the forest this may not always be possible due to limited space, but if it’s not, at least make sure that you do not leave any garbage or recyclables behind. If you are traveling through a town or city and grabbing a quick bite to eat, try to eat at a place that uses real dishes and cutlery instead of disposable. The water it will take to wash those dishes is a far better deal than adding to the landfills.

Clean up after yourself and any pets you bring with you.

Many natural park hiking tours require that you cleanup bathroom waste and take it out of the park with you. This means toilet paper and any feces from you or you pet. That may sound gross, but imagine if all of it was built up from all the people and dogs that go through those trails. Human waste doesn’t break down quickly enough especially in high elevations. No one wants to step in someone else’s waste.

Lakes and streams are great places to swim, wash up, and rinse out dirty dishes along the way.

When doing this make sure that you don’t release any harmful products into the water. Don’t use soaps or detergents or any other chemicals to clean yourself or the dishes unless it has been proven to be safe for the environment and never put these in the water source. If you want to use biodegradable cleaning products then just get the water you need from the lake and dump it on the ground away from the water source when you are done. It will degrade much quicker on the ground than in the water. A good place to find products that are safe is

Please, at all times, leave everything that is living the way you found it.

That means alive. Don’t cut branches off of the trees for walking sticks. Be respectful to the animals who call that forest home. A good general rule to follow is to leave nature where it belongs. Don’t remove anything, and try not to displace things along the way. If you see a lot of beautiful flowers along the way resist the urge to pick yourself a bouquet and leave them for the next person to admire. If you want a souvenir, take a picture and the environment will last longer.

Taking pictures is a great way to make any adventure last for a long time to come.

In fact some hunters have started using cameras in place of guns for a rewarding sport without the guilty conscience. With all the fantastic photo ops waiting for you on your backpacking excursion, you will need to bring a lot of batteries with you. A greener way of doing this would be to bring rechargeable batteries instead of the one use variety. This reduces pollution caused by batteries and saves you money. You can even get a solar power charger to save on energy and allow you to charge the batteries even if you’re not in range of an outlet.

When cooking your own meals try to find alternatives to burning wood.

Use a small portable camping stove or bring food that doesn’t need to be cooked. Burning wood releases both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, which contributes to global climate change. There is also the risk of setting fire to the picturesque surroundings you are admiring and killing a great deal of the forest including; plants, animals, and probably yourself as well.

If you have no alternatives to having a wood fire there are a few things to remember.

Do not cut anything down. Not only is living wood a lot harder to burn it is also illegal to cut down trees without a permit in many places. Use wood that has been blown down by storms. There’s a lot lying around on the ground if you just take a look. When having a fire make sure you have lots of sand and water on hand to put it out. Never light a fire when it is windy and never leave a fire burning without someone present to watch it. Make sure the fire is fully contained while lit and totally out before leaving.

If you smoke, you should quit now because it’s destroying your health.

If you decide not to take that advice then make sure you use precautions while backpacking. Do not throw cigarette butts, burning or otherwise, onto the ground. This is how many forest fires are caused and even if it doesn’t burn down the forest, it looks unattractive and it’s not good for the eco-system. There are many portable ashtrays on the market, some that even masque the stench so that you don’t smell like one. If you don’t want to buy one improvise with a little glass jar or a small fireproof container.

While trying to be a greener backpacker why not start with your backpack?

A lot of textiles and clothing are made with chemical washes that are harmful to the environment and use a lot of energy in production. Try to find clothing and camping gear that are made with less impacting techniques. Recycled materials and materials such as hemp are good bets. You can find many environmentally friendly camping products and clothing choices at

While backpacking it is very important to remember not to feed the wildlife.

You may think you’re doing the adorable little animals a favor, but in fact you are only hurting them. Many animals in the wild have specialized diets and can be killed by being introduced to the wrong foods. When people feed wild animals, the animals become used to an abundance of food and if the food source is taken away they will find it hard to re-adapt. Not to mention there is a risk of being bitten or attacked when you get to close to a wild animal.

 

Backpacking and making greener choices can co-exist with little inconvenience. The trick is finding easy ways to make sure that your trip isn’t at the cost of our environment. Being environmentally conscience while we are backpacking will help ensure that others can enjoy the experience long after we are gone. I have included a list of sources where you can find products that will make your backpacking experience a greener and more enjoyable one.