Tips To Recreate Responsibly
Visitors to public lands should be self-reliant and come prepared to recreate responsibly.
- Plan to pack out your trash. Trash receptacles overflow quickly during busy weekends, improperly disposed of trash is a health hazard and harmful to wildlife.
- Proper human waste management is important to preserve natural areas and for public health. The organization Leave No Trace provides tips and best practices to dispose of waste properly. Come prepared with a disposable toilet system in the event restrooms are unavailable.
- Please remember to extinguish campfires completely, ensure spark arresters on off highway vehicles are working properly, and never detonate fireworks on public land. Please do not use explosive targets during recreational shooting; use is currently illegal in Utah.
- The weather can change quickly on public lands. Bring layers of clothing, plan accordingly, and check the weather prior to visiting. If rain is in the forecast do not enter any slot canyons or areas that are prone to flooding.
- Travel on designated motorized routes and trails. Do not create new trails or bypasses around obstacles.
- Reduce your impact on dispersed camping areas by choosing existing, previously disturbed sites. Do not create new sites in undisturbed areas.
- Let someone know your itinerary and the time you expect to return. Share a plan of action if you miss anticipated check in times.
Visit Utah's National Parks Like You Know What You're Doing
Get the most out of a visit to Utah’s parks and monuments, while also ensuring they stay Forever Mighty, by following these tips.
How-to Utah
-
How to Backcountry Camp Responsibly
Four tips on how to camp more thoughtfully and responsibly in Utah's backcountry.
-
How to Canyoneer Safely
Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned canyoneer, here are six expert tips for your next canyoneering adventure.
-
How to Find a Guided Outdoors Experience
You might not be a pro climber, camper or explorer, but Utah’s diverse collection of outdoor guides has all of the expertise you need to have an adventure worth getting stoked about.
-
How to Off-Road Responsibly
With the right off-road vehicle, you can take in much of Utah's scenery not accessible to cars and RVs.
-
How to Slow Travel in Utah
Avoid the mad scramble and consider slow travel as a better approach to your Utah trip.
-
How to Stargaze in Utah
Tips on what to pack and when and where to go stargazing in Utah.
-
How to Visit Utah’s Most-Visited Forest
The Wasatch Front mountain range offers endless amounts of recreational activity. Learning how to visit responsibly will enhance your overall experience.
-
How to Visit Zion
Looking for the best way to see Zion? Read our Zion National Park guide for expert advice on planning your visit to one of the most visited parks in Utah.
"I can tread thoughtfully and lightly on the lands where people have found themselves. Utah is not a place to be conquered, to be scrambled across for a photo op, to be rushed."
– Ashley Mae Hoiland, Local and Writer
Reading For Well-Prepared Travel
-
A Photographer’s Guide to Mindful Travel
Utah's deserts are a photographer's dream, yet very fragile. Find out how photographers can take a few simple steps to care for this unique environment.
-
A Van Lifer’s Guide to Responsible Travel in Southern Utah
When Utah’s dirt roads are calling you, it’s time to plan your van life road trip. Here’s what you need to know to travel safely, protect Utah’s rural communities, and help preserve sensitive desert landscapes.
-
Capturing the Milky Way: Kodachrome Basin by Night
Need tips on how to take pictures of stars? Utah's Kodachrome Basin State Park is the perfect location to put the tips from an award-winning photographer into action.
-
Five Reasons to Hire a Guide to Run Utah’s Rivers
While we eat and splash in the river to escape the early morning heat, the four guides will wash the dishes, break down camp, load our bags on the rafts and discretely stow the toilet.
-
Gravity and Water: Mark Making in a Winter’s Desert with Anne Kaferle
Finding Helper at a time when she “needed it the most,” landscape artist Anne Kaferle has put down roots in Utah, thanks to plein-air painting and the healing power of time alone in the landscape.
-
Guided Rafting Through the Gates of Lodore
Explore guided rafting expeditions through the Gates of Lodore, one of Utah's most sought-after whitewater rafting trips with Dinosaur River Expeditions.
-
Paradise and Slickrock
Utah's national parks seen through a lifelong relationship with Capitol Reef
-
Slot Canyons: A Guided Hike Through Nature's Masterworks
It's said that southwestern Utah offers the highest concentration of slot canyons in the world. Well-prepared visitors can hike right into some of them, but the best experience is with a guide.
-
Soil Sleuth: Protecting Utah's Living Landscapes
Visit Utah writer Kristen Pope met Dr. Jayne Belnap, one of the world’s top experts on biological soil crusts, to learn about the importance of biocrusts to Utah's desert landscapes, and how to protect them.
-
The Voices of Bears Ears
Bears Ears National Monument is at the heart of southeastern Utah. These lands are imbued with layers of culture — layers of life. In this four-part video series, meet the locals who connect with the land in their own distinct ways.
-
Use These Apps to Enhance Your Utah Travel
Apps can help you identify wildlife, learn about the night sky, plan your trip, and more. Use these apps to help take your Utah trip to the next level.
-
Women In the Wilderness
A wild woman is a woman in her natural state.
Support Local
Planning extra time in your trip to pause and enjoy the towns along your itinerary introduces you to the local flavors and personalities who draw their inspiration from the natural beauty that surrounds them. Even better, visiting their restaurants, local shops and outfitters supports local and helps keep those communities vibrant, thriving and welcoming.
Explore Utah’s top airport cities, red rock basecamps, northern mountain cities and top historic basecamps on our cities and town page.
How to Support Local On Your Utah Road Trip
Many small businesses in Utah rely on tourism for survival. These expert tips help road trippers make a real difference in communities by supporting local.
Forever Mighty Field Guides
Utah’s natural landscapes become easier to appreciate thanks to the guides who help us along the trail. Sometimes guides offer the kind of wisdom, both lived and learned, that's hard for adventurers to absorb in any other way.
We've launched a series about the lives of Utah’s guides — people whose avocations and vocations have drawn them deeper into the canyons, mountains and deserts that most of us simply visit. Those who help us recreate responsibility. Those who share what can be termed the Forever Mighty ethos.
Read the Stories
-
‘We Are All Great Salt Lake’: A Biologist Explains the Lake’s Mysteries
A career studying one of the most unique ecosystems in the world might be smelly, but Jaimi Butler wouldn’t trade her time on Great Salt Lake for anything.
-
How a Window View Led to a Career as a Raptor Biologist
Hawkwatch’s Steve Slater rappels or climbs into bird nests — whatever it takes — as he studies the West Desert’s golden eagle population.
-
How the Life of One Utah State Park Ranger Reveals the Healing Power of Nature
After years of protecting the Utah landscape and the people who flock to it, Brody Young found strength from the river and the red rock to recover from what should have been a fatal incident.
-
The Wayward Path of a Utah Fly-Fishing Guide Led Straight to the Green River
Colby Crossland isn’t quite sure how he ended up a guide on one of the country’s best fly-fishing destinations, but he knows the perks are worth the tangles.
-
What Happens When Wandering and Stargazing Leads To a Life-Long Journey
National Parks Service Superintendent Kate Cannon patrolled and managed the country’s wilderness for more than 40 years, finding a special connection with the unique Utah terrain along the way.
