Perfect for long-term camping in the backcountry, a wall tent offers a comfortable stay through every season. But when staying in the wilderness, especially for stretches of time, it’s important to preserve and respect your environment. While most nature-loving folks are familiar with the Leave No Trace principles, wall tent campers should be extra mindful of their tent’s size and other extra creature comfort-like amenities that make the tent your home away from home.

In this helpful guide, we break down the principles for Leave No Trace (LNT) camping along with specific steps and best practices for wall tent users to abide by to ensure your impact on the area is as minimal as it can be!

What Are the 7 Leave No Trace Principles?

If you’re unfamiliar with the seven Leave No Trace principles, let us first explain what they’re all about. The Leave No Trace (LNT) principles are seven guidelines created to help protect the environment on small and broad scales.

Here are the LNT principles:

1. Plan ahead and prepare
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces
3. Dispose of waste properly
4. Leave what you find
5. Minimize campfire impact
6. Respect wildlife
7. Be considerate of others

It’s important to note that, while the LNT principles offer broad guidelines, outdoor visitors should take the initiative to understand each environment and apply the principles as suited.

This goes for everyone. Whether visiting for hiking, picnicking, sightseeing, or backpacking, practicing LNT principles will ensure you leave the space – and nature – as intended.

Leave No Trace Camping With Wall Tents

Practicing all seven LNT principles is especially important when camping. After all, you’re settling in for a weekend or maybe a week, so it’s critical to be mindful of your environmental impact.

And this goes for all types of camping! Hammock camping, tent camping, stealth backpack camping – anything! It even applies to glamping. As eco-friendly as their canvas material can be, bell tents and shelter tents must still follow the LNT principles, even more so due to their semi-permanent structure, sizable footprint, and extra amenities carried along when you intend to go long-term camping for months at a time.

So if you’re a wall tent user, be a responsible steward of the environment by following the LNT principles. Read on to discover the best practices on how to do so.

The Best LNT Practices for Wall Tent Camping

To help understand the best practices suited for wall tent camping, we’ve broken down this guide to reflect the 7 Leave No Trace principles.

Ready? Here we go!

LNT Principle 1: Plan Ahead & Prepare

Before any camping trip, you must plan and prepare. Understanding your destination, the regional weather, and the daily forecast ensures you minimize risks. It also allows you to pack the appropriate gear needed for your excursion. But for wall tent camping, there are a few specific steps to take to ensure a low impact.

• Research sites. If you can, research campgrounds and areas to find suitable spaces for wall tents. Some areas explicitly permit wall tent camping, but you’ll need to obtain said permits to do so. Since wall tents have a larger footprint, it’s probably a wise idea to study the region’s topography to find a suitable place to set up camp.

• Pack appropriate gear and supplies. Aside from the usual equipment and tools needed for pitching and breaking down camp, plan ahead and prepare with the weather and your site in mind. Knowing weather conditions beforehand tells you what you need to stay warm and dry. For instance, pack a rain fly to protect your wall tent from condensation, heavy rains, and snow.

LNT Principle 2: Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces

The main objective of this LNT principle is to minimize your impact on land, foliage, and waterways. When it comes to setting up and managing a site with a wall tent, here are some guidelines.

• Choose an established site. When choosing a site, remember that “good campsites are found, not made.” In other words, select an established campsite or an area that already has little vegetation, preferably on gravel or sandy soil. Use a ground tarp to minimize damage to the earth and avoid digging trenches.

• Stay clear of water sources. Set up camp at least 200 feet away from water sources, such as lakes and streams. This is especially true for your camp kitchen and camp bathroom setups. (we’ll get into that etiquette next). All in all, a pretty simple request, right?

LNT Principle 3: Dispose of Waste Properly

“Pack it in, pack it out” – it’s a pretty good mantra to live by whenever you visit nature. Toilet paper, trash, food scraps – pack out all of it! However, following the mantra is easy at campgrounds, but not so easy when pitching a wall tent in the backcountry. So what should you do?

• Maintain trash. To pack out, you’ll need a garbage station (resealable garbage containers are great!). Also, whether you choose to bring prepped meals or make meals at the site, minimize anything that contributes to trash (such as food scraps and single-use plastics). Toilet paper and hygiene products will need to be packed out too.

• Dispose of greywater properly. Dishwater, bathwater, or any cleaning water should be disposed of away from water sources (200 feet) to prevent contamination. Even biodegradable soaps can contaminate, so use them sparingly, or simply bathe with a washcloth and water.

• Dig cat holes or use portable toilets. Always use bathroom facilities if available. If not, dispose of human waste by digging a 6-8 inch deep cat hole and burying it. Portable camp toilets are optional, but you’ll need to use waste bags to pack out too.

LNT Principle 4: Leave What You Find

Leave everything as you found it – if not better! A wall tent can leave a large footprint, so when breaking down camp, take extra care to restore the site to its natural state.

• Restore the site. Once you break down camp, restore it to its original natural state. Fill any holes made by the tent stakes and brush away marks left behind by the footprint or cooking or cleaning stations. Did you toss aside a hard rock that might’ve damaged your tent? Put that back too.

• Make memories and take photos. It’s tempting to pluck a flower or take home a leaf as a souvenir, but remember: it might be a pollinator for bees or shelter for firefly eggs. To remember your stay, take photos instead.

• Do a final sweep. Did you check under the bed? All joking aside, once you have camp gear packed, and ready to head out, take one last final look at the site. Even if you find trash or litter that you’re fairly certain isn’t yours… Why chance it? Just pick it up. It takes two seconds.

LNT Principle 5: Minimize Campfire Impact

The basic steps for this LNT principle are to use established fire rings, keep campfires small, and burn wood completely to ash, packing it out when you can. Your fire should be completely extinguished, leaving no chance of a spark! Here are the best practices for wall tent users:

• Cook with camping stoves. Instead of having an open fire, cook on a stove, which is safer and creates far less of an impact). Not to mention, many camp stoves will cook food and boil water faster too.

• Use a wood stove. One advantage of wall tents is that they welcome wood-burning stoves. A wood stove in your wall tent will keep you just as warm as a bonfire outside (if not more so with the canvas wall tent’s insulative properties). And, once it’s time to pack up, having full control of a firebox is much safer! Plus, it makes packing out ash a lot easier!

• Be mindful of wood. To prevent the spread of invasive species, seasoned campers know to “buy it where you burn it.” But this rule is challenging to follow when you need to haul lots of firewood for long-term camping. At the very least, bring processed firewood, certified heat-treated wood, or gather dead and downed wood from the site. Never cut down standing trees or break branches!

LNT Principle 6: Respect Wildlife

Encountering wildlife at your campsite is inevitable. But it’s important to remember you’re in their territory and observe from a distance. Here are more ways to be respectful of their home turf.

• Know your wildlife. Understand what kind of wildlife might wander into your site. Plan ahead and avoid camping in wildlife corridors and areas frequented during mating or nesting seasons.

• Create a critter-safe camp. Ultimately, creating a wildlife-safe campsite means being mindful of how it might attract unwanted visitors. You should never feed animals, even unintentionally. Maintain your cooking areas and camp kitchen, while also using bear-resistant containers or a bear bag.

• Control your pets. It’s nice to bring the dogs camping but only do so if they’re trained and non-aggressive. And even then, keep them on a leash or a run if they tend to chase.

LNT Principle 7: Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Lastly, be considerate of other visitors, including neighboring campsites, property owners, or wherever you plan to set up your wall tent. Here’s what this means:

• Keep a tidy tent and site. It’s a good rule of thumb to keep your site tidy, both for the safety of tripping hazards and to prevent attracting wildlife (which we’ve just covered). However, there are a few more best practices for wall tent users. For example, you could go stealth camping mode, choosing an earth-tone canvas tent to disguise it within your surroundings.

• Respect boundaries. Literally and figuratively! Stay clear of private property boundaries and be respectful of neighbors by keeping noise to a minimum. Adhere to quiet hours set by the campground or park, but just be mindful of excessive, boisterous noise during the day, as that could disturb wildlife too.

Happy Trails & Hidden Footprints

Wall tents make comfortable and sturdy four-season tents and are ideal for long-term camping, especially with their spaciousness and ability to add extra amenities like woodburning stoves. All-in-all, there’s a lot to appreciate and enjoy about wall tent camping.

Still, these heavy-duty outfitter tents come with great responsibility. So before setting off on another adventure into the wilderness or backcountry, take time to review these 7 Leave No Trace principles. Proper preparation, planning, and maintenance of your wall tent and surrounding campsite will ensure you leave as little trace as possible to the environment.