Wild Pitch Camp

Ethics

Leave No Trace for vehicle-based dispersed campers

The seven Leave No Trace principles, translated specifically for car-camping, van-life, and truck-camper users on dispersed public land.

Plan ahead and prepare

For vehicle camping, planning is mostly about not arriving unprepared. Know the fire-restriction stage. Know the road conditions and the weather forecast. Carry recovery gear appropriate to the road you're driving — a shovel and traction boards are reasonable minimums. Have a paper map as a backup to digital. Tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.

Travel and camp on durable surfaces

On dispersed land, the durable surface is bare mineral soil, slickrock, or established compacted clearings. Vegetation, biological soil crust (the dark crusty stuff in southwest desert), and meadow ground are not durable. Drive only on legal open roads, park in existing pull-outs, and pitch your tent on the most worn ground available even if it's not the prettiest spot in the clearing.

Dispose of waste properly

Pack out all trash, including food scraps. Carry out toilet paper. Use a wag-bag in alpine, slickrock, and high-use desert. Strain and scatter gray water 200 feet from water sources. Never dump black-tank or gray-tank water from an RV or van anywhere except a designated dump station; doing so on public land is a federal crime and the fines are steep.

Leave what you find

Don't move rocks to build new fire rings. Don't carve trees. Don't collect arrowheads, pottery, or any artifact more than 50 years old — that's a federal Antiquities Act violation. Don't dig fire pits. Leave the site so the next person sees the same clearing you did, not your improvements to it.

Minimize campfire impacts

Use a fire pan or an existing fire ring, never a new one. Burn only down-and-dead wood you can break by hand. Burn to white ash, drown twice, stir, and verify cold to the touch before you leave. In Stage I or above, don't have a fire at all.

Respect wildlife

Store food, trash, and toiletries in your locked vehicle or a hard-sided container. Never feed wildlife, even passively by leaving food unattended. Keep dogs leashed in wildlife habitat — chasing a deer, even briefly, can fatally stress it during winter or fawning season.

Be considerate of others

Camp far enough from other parties that you can't hear their conversation. Generators are the single biggest source of dispersed-camping conflict; if you must run one, run it during daylight hours and stop by 8 p.m. Headlights into other camps are inconsiderate. So is loud music. The dispersed-camping social contract is 'we're all here for the quiet.' Honor it.

Related guides