You Found Something Cool in the Backcountry… Now What?
Every abandoned cabin, mine, homestead, stage stop, or forgotten piece of history has survived this long because people before us chose not to destroy it. Here are my suggestions (tips) to make sure it’s still there for the next traveler.
A Few Rules I Try to Live By
• Take photographs. Leave artifacts. The best souvenir is the story and the picture.
• Leave it better than you found it. If you can safely pick up a little trash without disturbing the site, do it. Check with local land managers if you’re having trouble distinguishing “trash” from artifacts. Old pop top beer cans are likely artifacts and not trash, for example.
• Watch where you park. Hidden foundations, scattered artifacts, nails, old pipes, and fragile features often extend well beyond the obvious structure.
• Stay off fragile remains. Old floors, roofs, mine timbers, and porches can collapse without warning. Be cautious; explore with a buddy; and be safe.
• Never enter abandoned mines. They’re unstable, often contain bad air, hidden shafts, rotten timber, or wildlife. No photo is worth your life. Use common sense and explore with safety in mind.
• Don’t rearrange history. Leave bottles, cans, tools, lumber, rocks, and equipment exactly where they are.
• Leave gates exactly as you found them. Open? Leave them open. Closed? Leave them closed.
• Respect living things too. Avoid crushing wildflowers, cryptobiotic soils, young trees, and fragile desert vegetation.
• Don’t carve, scratch, paint, or leave your mark. The only thing you should leave behind is a set of tire tracks—and even those should disappear with time.
• Think twice before posting GPS coordinates. Some places are well known. Others survive because they’re not. Consider whether broadcasting an exact location helps preserve—or destroys—the place.
• Treat every site as someone’s home. Because once upon a time…it was.
We all want to find cool stuff in the backcountry, so let’s do our part to make sure the folks behind us have the same opportunity.
The Backcountry Code
Take only photographs.
Leave only footprints and tire tracks.
Respect history.
Protect the resource.
Pass it on.
