Leave No Trace started in the United States but its seven principles apply as directly to the UK outdoors as anywhere else. The pressure on popular hiking areas in Britain has increased enormously over the last decade, and the principles of responsible access have become more important as a result.
This guide translates each LNT principle into UK-specific terms, with practical guidance for day hikers and wild campers.
Why It Matters in the UK
The UK has some of the most heavily walked upland areas in the world relative to their size. Paths on popular routes like Snowdon’s Llanberis Path, the Scafell Pike approach from Wasdale, and Ben Nevis see extraordinary foot traffic that has caused significant erosion and landscape damage over decades. Many areas have undergone expensive path repair work (the National Trust has spent millions on path restoration) that could have been reduced by better collective behaviour.
Wild camping, while illegal in England and Wales on land you do not own, happens regularly in upland areas by informal tolerance. That tolerance depends on campers leaving no evidence of their stay. When wild camping becomes associated with rubbish left behind, fire damage, and fouled water sources, it erodes the goodwill that makes informal access possible.
The Seven Principles
1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
Know your route, your exit options, and the conditions you are likely to encounter. Carry the right kit for the terrain and weather. Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return.
In the UK context, planning ahead also means researching access restrictions in your area (lambing season closures, grouse moor shooting periods, temporary path closures), checking the weather forecast from a mountaineering-specific service like MWIS rather than a general forecast, and having a realistic assessment of your group’s fitness and ability relative to the planned route.
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
On established paths, stay on the path. Path erosion often begins with people stepping just off the edge to avoid a muddy section, which transfers the damage to the fragile vegetation margin. A mud bath in the middle of a popular path is recoverable; repeated off-path detours create permanent damage.
When camping, choose surfaces that can absorb impact without lasting damage: compacted soil, rock, gravel, or short dry grass. Avoid camping on bog, in areas of obvious vegetation recovery, or immediately adjacent to water sources. The recommended buffer from water is at least 50 metres, which gives filtration time before any runoff reaches the water.
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
Pack out all waste. This includes food waste: orange peel, apple cores, and other organic material are routinely left on the basis that they will decompose. They will, eventually, but the timescale (months to over a year for citrus peel) means they affect the landscape in the interim and attract wildlife to paths. Pack everything in.
Human waste: the guidance is at the FAQ above. A small trowel is worth carrying on any remote route. The Scottish Leave No Trace organisation recommends the ‘cathole’ approach (15cm deep, 50m from water and paths) as standard practice for wild campers.
4. Leave What You Find
Do not pick wildflowers, remove rocks or stones, disturb archaeological features, or take natural objects as souvenirs. In SSSIs and National Nature Reserves, interfering with the environment can be a criminal offence. On any land, the principle is that you take only photographs and memories.
This applies to dry stone walls too. The temptation to use loose stones from a wall to build a fire ring or prop up a tent peg should be resisted. Dry stone walls are agricultural infrastructure with real maintenance costs.
5. Minimise Fire Impacts
The UK is wetter than many LNT countries where this principle was developed, but fire impact is still a meaningful concern in dry spells, particularly on moorland and heathland where peat can catch and smoulder underground for days after a surface fire appears to be out.
If you light a fire in Scotland under your access rights: - Keep it small - Use only fallen, dead wood - Never light one in dry conditions or near vegetation - Extinguish fully with water, not just dirt - Scatter the ash and cold ashes
In England and Wales, the responsible position for wild campers is to use a camping stove rather than an open fire. The lack of a legal access right changes the risk calculation.
6. Respect Wildlife
The UK has strict wildlife protection legislation under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Disturbing nesting birds (including many upland species like golden plovers, curlews, and dotterels) is a criminal offence during nesting season. The practical implication for hikers: avoid crossing open moorland during the main nesting period (roughly April to July) where possible, and if you see nesting behaviour, give it a wide berth.
Keep your dog under close control in wildlife-sensitive areas. Loose dogs flushing ground-nesting birds is one of the most common sources of wildlife disturbance from walkers.
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors
The same courtesy standards that the Countryside Code describes: acknowledge other walkers in upland settings, keep noise to a level appropriate to the environment, yield to uphill walkers on narrow paths, and manage your dogs responsibly.
In wild camping specifically: camp away from established routes and viewpoints, keep lights dim, and leave your campsite with no visible trace of your stay. The invisible camper, whose passage leaves no evidence, is the gold standard.
Starting Small
You do not need to be a Leave No Trace expert to make a meaningful difference. The two behaviours that have the largest collective impact on popular UK hiking areas are:
- Taking all your litter out, including food scraps
- Staying on established paths rather than cutting corners or avoiding mud
Everything else is a refinement on top of those basics.