Backcountry RVing Code of Conduct & Beginner Tips

Backcountry RVing Code of Conduct & Beginner Tips
If you plan to take your RV off-road in wild places, be sure to read this first!

By: Peter & Kathy Holcombe

America the Beautiful is a phrase that has become the tagline for the National Park Service, and for good reason. The United States has more diversity of ecosystems than almost any other country on earth, and (more importantly) had the foresight to protect and preserve those beautiful, wild places for recreation and enjoyment for future generations. This means that there is an abundance of opportunities to take off down a dirt road on our public lands, in the middle of nowhere, and have a wild place all to yourself. This is the beauty of backcountry RVing. 

Exploring this way is a privilege not afforded in many places around the world, and one that carries great responsibility to tread carefully and leave these wild places better than you found them. If you have a backcountry RV (like these options from Winnebago) that is capable of epic off-road adventures, it is important to respect other campers and enjoy these places without damaging them. 

This is the code of conduct we stick to and recommend for responsible backcountry RVing …

1. Know the Rules for RVing in Wild Places

There are numerous entities under the Department of the Interior that oversee our public lands (national parks, national monuments, national forests, and Bureau of Land Management sites, etc.). They each have their own set of regulations to help protect the wild places that they govern. The most important rule of thumb to follow when you embark on a backcountry RVing adventure is to know where you’re going—ensure that you are, in fact, on public land and understand the regulations for that specific location.

Some areas require a permit to take a vehicle and spend the night in the backcountry (like Big Bend and Death Valley National Parks), while others allow you to camp for up to 14 days in a location with no reservations (like many of our national forests). Some allow fires while others prohibit them, and that can change with the current conditions. These rules are in place to protect these public lands and must be followed in order to ensure that future generations have the same opportunity to access and camp in our wild public lands. 

2. Stay on the Designated Dirt Roads

Driving off of the designated dirt road (especially in remote and pristine locations) causes damage and erosion. It also often leads to more regulations and possibly closures in sensitive areas. It is important to use existing pullouts to keep our wild places wild and ensure that they remain open to vehicle travel and camping in the future. This is particularly important in fragile ecosystems such as the alpine tundra and desert where it might take plants years to re-establish themselves after a careless tire track destroys their habitat.

3. Be Responsible for Your Trash

It is your responsibility to pack out EVERYTHING that you bring in. Our backcountry areas are special because they are as they have been for centuries. This means that in many places there are no trash receptacles, toilets, picnic tables, fire rings, etc. It’s one of the things that we love about spending time in wild places, but also something that must be considered before venturing into the backcountry. 

Be sure that you bring an appropriate receptacle to collect and dispose of any trash that you generate—and to haul out any trash that you find that was left behind by a careless camper. We always strive to leave a place better than we found it and to pick up any evidence of inhabitation even if we didn’t cause it. 

4. Know Fire Regulations & Best Practices

Be sure that you know and abide by the current regulations about open campfires where you will be camping. While nice to have when camping, fire rings also leave a dark scar on the landscape and sterilize the soil. Also remember, if you have others camping nearby, not everyone appreciates the smell of campfire smoke. 

You should not build a new fire ring if one does not already exist. Instead, consider bringing an alternative like a LavaBox, Solo stove or propane fire pit. These are great smokeless alternatives that you can easily extinguish, remove, and leave no trace.

5. Properly Dispose of Human Waste

It is no longer acceptable to bury and leave behind human waste. Because of the rapidly growing popularity of backcountry camping, and the high use that many remote camping areas see over the course of a year, many backcountry camping areas are being overrun with human waste and toilet paper, often leading to areas being closed to camping for the foreseeable future. This is a needless problem that can be addressed by many easy-to-use options such as simple, single-use bag systems (like Wagbag or Pitstop), or with more elaborate multi-use bucket systems to properly dispose of human waste. 

Of course, if you have an RV, you already have a built-in human waste disposal system. One important caveat to be aware of: many newer RV models have a cassette toilet that can easily be emptied into a Forest Service vault/pit toilet. It is important to note that vault toilets rely on bacteria and other microorganisms to properly decompose human waste. The chemicals that are commonly used to fight odor in an RV toilet will disrupt the natural ecosystem of a vault toilet. 

Recently, we have seen signs on forest service toilets forbidding dumping because of the chemical imbalance caused by the chemicals used in portable toilets. If you are planning to dump your cassette into a vault/pit toilet, please consider avoiding using chemicals so that this remains a viable option for future backcountry RVers. If you dump frequently, you will not need chemicals to combat odor problems.

6. Keep Noise at a Minimum

While you may feel like you are the only one around, odds are, there is someone within earshot. One of the many reasons people like to escape to the wild is to find peace and quiet. Please be considerate of your neighbors (and wildlife) by keeping voices and music low and generators off, particularly during traditional quiet hours of 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

7. Don’t Cut Trees

There is a lot of hype about bushcraft right now and making shelters and other structures to improve the comfort of a campsite. However, it is unsightly and unethical to cut branches or trees in the wild. The goal is to leave the area exactly as you found it for someone else to enjoy. This includes cutting, carving, or otherwise damaging trees or other foliage or collecting firewood. The goal is to leave an area exactly as you found it.

8. Protect Wildlife

It is imperative to properly store your food while backcountry camping. Animals such as mice, packrats, ants, birds, squirrels, and other small creatures can invade a commonly used backcountry campsite searching for crumbs and leftovers. Over time, they can become habituated, and so invasive and destructive that it is no longer enjoyable to spend time in that area. 

Larger animals, such as bears, can become conditioned to enter frequently used areas and cause massive damage to vehicles. It is unethical to feed wildlife, and it is also destructive to store your food improperly. All food should be stored in a hard-sided vehicle/container at all times. In bear country, it is imperative to follow the local protocol to safely store your food.

Final Thoughts on Backcountry RVing

There has been a huge insurgence in backcountry camping over the last five years and, unfortunately, our most wild and pristine areas are beginning to feel the impact. We have returned to some of our favorite wild camp spots to find them covered in trash or closed to overnight use due to campers not respecting the area. 

We are huge proponents of wild camping and strong advocates to keep our public lands clean, wild, and open for use. But it will take all of us, working together, to keep them pristine and available for future generations. We encourage you to go out and enjoy those wild and beautiful places, but also do your part to leave them better than you found them and share these best practices with others!