Leave Your Trails Untouched

A few years ago, I went to Tennessee with my family on a hiking trip. The goal was to climb through the Great Smoky Mountains to Rainbow Falls: a 2.6 mile hike to the destination. The trek was, by far, the hardest of any other hike I had done previously- the trail was much steeper and rockier, and I underestimated how much water I would need to get through the trip. On the way up, we passed through dense forest, sunny outcroppings, and crossed over flowing streams via wooden and log bridges. Many rest stops were made on he way up as we al struggled to catch our breaths in the blistering summer heat, and many fellow hikers were met as they passed by us.

I don't typically take into mind what passing strangers are conversing about- most of he time don't really listen in at all- but one thing stuck with me that I overheard on that trail. A family of three, much like my own, was along the trail. The son, who was probably about thirteen years old, had found a colorful, shiny rock and picked it up with the intention of taking it with him as a memorable keepsake from his hike. I thought nothing of his at first- I had done the same many times in the past. It was what his father said to him in response that's remained in my mind. He said to his son, imploring him to return the stone to where he found it, "leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures."

I thought about it for a second. The first part, "leave nothing but footprints," made perfect sense to me. As a passionate environmentalist, finding litter along nature trails and preserves does more than irk me, and I could rant all day about those little stone towers that people build along streams. The second part, "take nothing but pictures," made me pause for a second. Would removing a single stone from its origin really matter? A single stick or flower? In the grand scheme of things, removing one little piece of the environment might not seem like a big deal. After all, there are millions of more rocks and millions of more twigs and flowers. But, what would happen if every person that traversed these trails took something to remember their journey by? How would this affect the local wildlife?

The removal of stones from their original resting places disturbs smaller organisms: insects, frogs, toads, salamanders, etc. These smaller animals rely on the stones and boulders of their environment to hide from predators and to use as shelter from the elements. A displaced twig or stick could have been used by local avifauna to build a nest, or decomposed and returned to the earth as nutrients for the forest. A plucked flower is one less accessible plant for pollinators.

Recently, I went on a short walk through a nearby nature trail with my boyfriend and found an intact deer skull along the side of the trail. As someone who considers themself a "crow child," (that is, someone who picks up random shiny or interesting objects as a sort of scavenger) the desire to snag the skull washed over my mind. In an instant, the thought was gone, remembering not to disturb the trails. Nature would take its course with the skull: micro-organisms would attack the skeleton and decompose the bone after a few years. Perhaps a predatory animal like a coyote or fox would find the skull and gnaw on it to keep their teeth clean. Regardless, interfering with it would disturb the natural order of things.

I implore any readers to do the same as they explore the wild: to leave only foot prints, to take only pictures. Leaving nature to sort things out, especially where things are truly wild and largely untouched by humans, is important in the preservation of natural environments.