Tips for Reducing Your Footprint On the Road
By Bryan Rogala
Years ago I was on a mountain biking trip in Sedona, AZ. The area used to be a sort of mecca for dispersed camping—you could literally drive down any dirt road close to town and find pretty incredible campsites that still gave you good access to trails and town alike. These days, things are different.
While you can still find a campsite in Sedona, it’s much harder and once-popular areas are now closed or tightly regulated. There’s a good reason for that—dispersed camping areas on public land became overrun with tourists and folks living there for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, people greatly impacted a lot of the areas, leaving trash and human waste behind, creating new campsites and fire rings, and damaging fragile desert landscapes.
This problem isn’t unique to Sedona and is something that happens all over the Western U.S. (think places like Moab, UT, Bend, OR or Fruita, CO). While a lot of work has been done on a macro level in Sedona and elsewhere to help alleviate overuse issues, there’s still plenty that individuals can do on their own to lessen their impact. Doing so will help ensure that the trails and locations we all love to explore stay open for years to come.
Follow “Leave No Trace” Principles
First and foremost, you should familiarize yourself with the 7 Leave No Trace Principles. Several of the principles, including only traveling and camping on durable surfaces, disposing of waste properly, and minimizing campfire impacts, are particularly pertinent to overlanding and lessen an overlander’s impact tremendously. Leave No Trace (LNT) has lots of detail about each principle, and even offers online courses for more learning.
Drive Only on Established Roads or Trails
“Off roading,” “Overlanding,” and “Four Wheeling” can often conjure images of a lifted adventure rig driving through an untouched landscape, but that almost never happens (or at least it shouldn’t). The vast majority of overlanders are traveling on forest service, BLM or other public roads that are not paved—so technically a better term would be “dirt road driving” rather than “off roading.”
To that point, it’s important to always stay on established routes and trails, and know the local rules and regulations regarding OHV (off highway vehicle) use. Some states, like Colorado, have regulations regarding what type of vehicle can travel on a certain trail. One easy way to make sure you’re traveling on a legal route is to use a GPS mapping app like OnX Offroad, Gaia GPS or iOverlander to find an established route, or pick up a Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map if you’re traveling in a National Forest (onX and Gaia both allow you to toggle a MVUM layer on and off, making things even easier).
Only Camp in Spots where Someone Has Camped Before
If you have a Tune M1 you already know that one of the big benefits of the camper is being able to set up camp quickly wherever your truck can take you. One thing to keep in mind, however, is just because your truck can technically drive there doesn’t mean you should camp there.
Just like it’s important to stick to established roads and trails, it’s even more important to camp at a site that’s been used before. If you just pull off a road and set up camp in a previously undisturbed spot, you’ll leave tire tracks, trample vegetation, maybe accidentally leave trash behind, and basically give a green light to anyone who comes after you to camp in that same spot. There are plenty of already-established campsites around and really no reason to create new ones.
Avoid Wet Roads and Trails
To take LNT’s “only travel and camp on durable surfaces” even further, overlanders should simply avoid wet roads and trails. In my experience, a vehicle will do the most damage to a trail or road when conditions are sloppy, and you can easily create massive ruts that’ll take serious work to fix.
You’re also much more likely to get your vehicle stuck in muddy conditions, not to mention cleaning pounds of mud off of a vehicle is just awful. Obviously you can’t always avoid wet, muddy conditions, but sticking to dry ground or at least seeking alternate routes that are known to hold up better to rain will go a long way in reducing your impact on the land.
Engage Four Wheel Drive When Driving on Dirt (even if you aren’t stuck)
One easy thing you can do to lessen your vehicle’s impact on a dirt road or trail is to use four wheel drive—even if you aren’t stuck. Putting your vehicle in 4WD-High distributes power to the front and rear axles, and gives your rig more traction. That equates to less tire spin, which means your rig will do less damage to the road. As a bonus, it’s also important to engage 4WD every once in a while anyway in order to keep your transfer case and other components happy.
Ride over, not around obstacles
Just like when you’re riding a mountain bike on singletrack, it’s important to drive over and not around obstacles on a road or trail. Doing so creates new roads and speeds erosion. If your rig can’t make it over an obstacle, you probably shouldn’t be on that particular trail anyway.
Pack Out Your Waste
Nothing will get a dispersed camping area shut down faster than loads of human waste and toilet paper laying around, and some places (like Fruita, CO) even require your rig to be self-contained and have a toilet. One nice thing about having an M1 on the back of your truck is you’ve got plenty of space for gear and some of the comforts of home, including a toilet. While having a self-contained rig used to mean you needed a giant RV with gray and black tanks, there are now lots of great options for small, portable toilets that won’t take up much space and are easy to deal with.
My favorite is the Trelino Origin S, which is a composting, or separating toilet. It separates liquids and solids, doesn’t smell, and allows you to either compost the solid waste over time or simply tie up and throw the bag away in a trash can, just like you would with a diaper.
Another great option that Tune Outdoor will begin selling soon is the Compo Closet. These fit nicely into interior build-outs, and they’re budget friendly.
Ditch the Campfire (or consider a propane alternative)
This tip is a controversial one. A lot of folks, including me, love campfires, and the idea of not having one often rubs people the wrong way. But, skipping it is a really good idea. It’ll lessen your impact on the environment, and there’s no chance of it accidentally getting out of control or re-igniting after you’ve left and turning into a wildfire (talk about impact…).
If you simply can’t stand the idea of not having a fire at camp, then at least consider a safer propane alternative like the LavaBox. LavaBox portable campfires are legal to use in Stage II Burn Bans in all 50 states and certified to international safety standards—plus, you won’t have to work to get that stale campfire smell out of your hair or clothes ever again.
Take less popular routes and trails
The whole point of overlanding is to travel and explore places that other folks don’t often visit. One last way to lessen your impact while overlanding is to choose routes and trails that are less popular to avoid overuse issues in certain areas. So, get out and explore and remember to Leave No Trace while you’re doing it.
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