Quick Concept for Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Quick Concept for Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Grabbing Your Group's Attention (10 minutes)
Gather participants outside a home or in a park. Ask them why we construct
sidewalks. Focus the resulting discussion on the need to provide durable
surfaces for travel by many people. Explain that concentrating activity on one
durable surface can help protect the surrounding land. Define the concept of
durability for the group (see the Background on the Principles of Leave No
Trace).
The Activity
Break the group into pairs and give each pair the following assignment:
Imagine you are looking for durable surfaces to travel over or set up camp. Find
five different surfaces in the immediate area and rate them from one to five for
durability, one being the most durable surface and five being the least durable
surface. Give the group approximately 5 to 10 minutes to explore the area.
The Discussion
Ask the group to name all the durable surfaces they can identify. Be sure
they include rock, gravel, sand, bare soil, firm snow, most grasses, and
existing trails and campsites. Then ask them to identify non-durable surfaces.
Make sure they include tundra, riparian areas, aquatic environments, fragile
plants, muddy areas, spring melt, and cryptobiotic crust (the blackish crust
with living microorganisms that is frequently found in desert areas).