Responsible Camino: A Guide to Leave No Trace Principles

[Faith Walker]

Camino specific advice so we can all contribute to a better experience for all.

https://lnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Leave-No-Trace-Camino-Version_FINAL_2020.pdf

 

[Thom]

This is excellent. Thanks for sharing.
Buen Camino!

 

[sharonmonty]

Camino specific advice so we can all contribute to a better experience for all.

https://lnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Leave-No-Trace-Camino-Version_FINAL_2020.pdf

Excellent. Thank you

 

[Anniesantiago]

I LOVE this!
Thank you!

 

[JamesVT]

Camino specific advice so we can all contribute to a better experience for all.

https://lnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Leave-No-Trace-Camino-Version_FINAL_2020.pdf

This is excellent guidance. Two specific things I would add: I was disappointed to see how much graffiti there is along the Camino, including defacements on kilometer monuments, walls, and stonework. I include in this category the “inspirational” encouragements spray painted along the way. My other thought on a different matter is to note for other Peregrinos that using “red” headlamps in the dark at albuergues does not prevent disturbance of others who are trying to sleep— the red light is still visible and intrusive.

 

[JerryStroebele]

Hey, wow! Some of this is a wake up call to me. I should have known better. Muchas gracias. Buen Camino

 

[geraldkelly]

I don't think it's OK to be lighting camp fires. In summer it would be a huge fire hazard, a lot of the vegetation is bone dry. Plus most of the Camino is through agricultural land, so private property.

Besides that I'm pretty sure camp fires are illegal in Spain.

 

[backpack45]

Camino specific advice so we can all contribute to a better experience for all.

https://lnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Leave-No-Trace-Camino-Version_FINAL_2020.pdf

Thank you for posting this!

 

[PJThomasJP]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[kelleymac]

Thanks-- I especially appreciate the sentences on church behavior. One person in a group I had joined was intent on finding energy lines and kept going up onto the altars of churches. I knew enough french to understand his explanations, but not enough to respectfully explain to him that he was being disrespectful. I looked the other way a few times, and then I stopped walking with that group. I am impressed with your wording "do not step up onto any raised areas inside churches as they designate holy, sanctuary areas". Thanks! -- You may want to add a sentence or two about lighting candles, a friend of mine didn't know she was allowed to light a candle.

 

[kelleymac]

So here is a question: What should a walked do if they see someone not respecting rules. I once saw a group of pilgrims settling down to a picnic lunch in the middle of a wheat field. (!!!) I was horrified, but didn't tromp on out to tell them so; partially because my grandfather, a farmer, would have risen from his grave to tell me not to walk on the crops, and also because I don't like confrontation and I wasn't sure I spoke their language. So I walked on... and still feel cowardly for doing so. -- And then there was the guy who kept going up on altars in the churches. And again, I didn't say anything. I'd appreciate advice here. Thanks!

 

[Turga]

I'd appreciate advice here. Thanks!

No one can give you advice on such matters, only opinions from their personal point of view. Do what you feel is right in the current situation. Retrospectively you may wonder if you did right or wrong and it will add to your personal pool of experience.

 

[C clearly]

And again, I didn't say anything. I'd appreciate advice here.

What do you do at home when you see similar type of behaviour? I suspect that the answer is that occasionally you might say something, or even do something like conspicuously pick up their garbage and take care of it properly. But most often you would probably say and do nothing - in order to avoid confrontation or embarrassment - but possibly work in other indirect ways to promote good practices. Being on the Camino is the same, but with even more unknowns and variables to add difficulty. For example, I am reluctant to confront locals about their "bad" habits.

 

[Marbe2]

@kelleymac My opinion is to keep walking unless someone is putting you or another in imminent danger. People know it is private property when they go into fields of wheat to picnic?
And I have seen at least one guy on every camino spraying the bushes while on the path!
When someone rides dangerously past me on a bike, especially without a signal, I do let them know!

 

[Icacos]

Camino specific advice so we can all contribute to a better experience for all.

https://lnt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Leave-No-Trace-Camino-Version_FINAL_2020.pdf

This is welcome indeed. But seven pages is a long read. I have to wonder what plan does the Center for Outdoor Ethics have to get this information out to the pilgrims who need it?

 

[Faith Walker]

This is welcome indeed. But seven pages is a long read. I have to wonder what plan does the Center for Outdoor Ethics have to get this information out to the pilgrims who need it?

Just me. When I first wrote it and got LNT to approve/publish it, I emailed it to every confraternity I could find each spring for a couple of years. Then, as you know, this whole global deadly pandemic thing came along. I figured I'd start up the emailing again this year. I agree it is a tad long, but all their guides have to cover their seven principles (that is why campfires are included even though camping isn't really a Camino kind of thing). Any chance you have connections with Castilian Spanish, French, German, or Japanese speakers willing to take it on? I have no budget.

 

[Icacos]

Just me. When I first wrote it and got LNT to approve/publish it, I emailed it to every confraternity I could find each spring for a couple of years. Then, as you know, this whole global deadly pandemic thing came along. I figured I'd start up the emailing again this year. I agree it is a tad long, but all their guides have to cover their seven principles (that is why campfires are included even though camping isn't really a Camino kind of thing). Any chance you have connections with Castilian Spanish, French, German, or Japanese speakers willing to take it on? I have no budget.

In answer to your question, no, I don’t. But several years ago, after my one and only camino, I made a very amateurish attempt on this forum to get information out to pilgrims, information not nearly as expansive as yours. I didn’t get very far, but I learned a lot. I think my thread was titled something like ‘A Step in the Right Direction’ but I cannot now find it. (I know there’s a way to search threads started by … (?) but I can’t find that either.) Perhaps a kind member would help?

 

[C clearly]

I think my thread was titled something like ‘A Step in the Right Direction’ but I cannot now find it.

Here it is.

 

[dougfitz]

Just me. When I first wrote it and got LNT to approve/publish it, I emailed it to every confraternity I could find each spring for a couple of years. Then, as you know, this whole global deadly pandemic thing came along. I figured I'd start up the emailing again this year. I agree it is a tad long, but all their guides have to cover their seven principles (that is why campfires are included even though camping isn't really a Camino kind of thing). Any chance you have connections with Castilian Spanish, French, German, or Japanese speakers willing to take it on? I have no budget.

@Faith Walker, I think getting this is front of a wider audience for review would be a very good thing to do. You might want to think about what you wanted to achieve here, because unlike others in this thread, I don't think this is a reasonable guide to the ethical application of the LNT principles to the Camino or any other pilgrimage, but it could become one.

I would question whether the LNT principles are an appropriate framework if they are unable to be suitably adapted. As you have noted here, they address some matters of great importance to wilderness activities, like campfires, that are of little relevance to the environment that pilgrims walk in.

Apart from finding someone who can do a good grammatical review for you, I think the document would be benefit from losing its reliance on the imperative mood. Rather than direct what to do, explain what outcomes will support the principles and give examples of what behaviours do or don't support those outcomes. Moreover, this would allow readers to understand that there might be a range of ways in which an outcome can be achieved where the current document directs to use of just one when many suitable alternatives are available.

On this forum, we generally avoid providing specific medical advice. I think this document would benefit from doing the same. It doesn't need to avoid the issue of snoring, but just as is done later regarding insect bite treatment, it might be more appropriate to suggest getting qualified advice on the range of options, not just the one option that has been presented. I haven't checked, but I would expect most pilgrims would find a national sleep disorders association or similar they can approach in their own countries for help if they know this will be a particular problem for them.

 

[Evan Lacer]

@dougfitz, what a well-written post! Your constructive advice is spot-on.

I think the document would benefit from losing its reliance on the imperative mood. Rather than direct what to do, explain what outcomes will support the principles and give examples of what behaviours do or don't support those outcomes.

 

[Evan Lacer]

I agree it is a tad long, but all their guides have to cover their seven principles (that is why campfires are included even though camping isn't really a Camino kind of thing).

It rather depends on what is more important to you: creating an ‘approved’ tract that few people will bother to read, or a one-pager that might actually have real impact.

I respectfully suggest removing all connection with LNT.org. It is a 503(c)(3) with little recognition outside the States, and its imprimatur is of no real value in España. That will provide you with freedom to redraft a much shorter version, without worryingly about LNT.org’s insistence on the incorporation of irrelevant ‘principles’.

I also recommend eliminating the anti-camping bias obvious in the rhetorical questions posed in the first paragraph of ‘Plan Ahead and Prepare’. While few pilgrims choose to camp, it is not necessarily an inappropriate or unethical choice.