Bigfoot Challenge Winner for April!

We recently awarded our April Bigfoot Challenge Winner, Paul Chrismon, with a bigfoot patch, a Leave No Trace Smartwool Beanie, a Leave No Trace Frisbee, a Coleman Sleeping Bag, a Coleman Camp Cookset, and a Platypus Hiker Hydrator Hydration kit. Enter the Bigfoot Challenge this month to see if you can win the June prize of some more sweet outdoor gear. Here is a little bit more information about Paul, our April Winner.

My name is Paul Chrismon, I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am involved in Hiking, Camping, and Boy Scouts as an adult leader for my sons pack. I got involved with Leave No Trace through Boy Scouts and by leading our den and pack through the requirements to earn their Leave No Trace patch. It has been rewarding to me personally as I was able to watch and see what our scouts learned and then apply it on our last camp out and in our service projects. I am grateful for an organization like yours that help people learn what they need to do to help preserve the environment and the natural resources around us.

Thanks Paul for taking the Bigfoot Challenge and thank you for all that you do for Leave No Trace!

Leave No Trace Bigfoot Gear

Have you had a chance to check out some of our new Leave No Trace merchandise with Bigfoot? We will be adding more items this summer, please let us know if there is something you would like to see us carry in our store. To view Leave No Trace Bigfoot items check out our online store.

Take the Bigfoot Challenge today and enter to win some great prizes from Leave No Trace partners!

March Bigfoot Challenge Winner!

March's Bigfoot Challenge winner is Erin Barker, Natural Science Program Coordinator from Cedar Creek, TX.

Bigfoot recently sat down with Erin for a little Q&A to learn more about how she spends her time outside and how she is involved in the Leave No Trace Program.

Bigfoot: What do you like to do outside?

Erin: Hiking, camping, exploring, teaching outdoor programs

Bigfoot: Who do you work with?

Erin: I work for the Lower Colorado River Authority at McKinney Roughs Nature Park.

Bigfoot: Why do you volunteer for Leave No Trace?

Erin: It’s a great program teaches the fundamentals of low impact land use.

Bigfoot: What was your original intention getting involved with Leave No Trace?

Erin: Get trained to teach Leave No Trace programs to youth and adults.

Bigfoot: How did your Bigfoot Challenge go?

Erin: Great, we did an Earth Day Festival, had Leave No Trace short programs and had REI demonstrating Leave No Trace using an interactive tent maze activity.

Bigfoot: Why is Leave No Trace important to you?

Erin: I think Leave No Trace is important because it’s a program that imparts some pretty important principles about land stewardship but in a fun, accessible way.

Bigfoot: If everyone out there could do ONE thing to Leave No Trace, what would it be?

Erin: Leave only footprints, take only memories!

Bigfoot Challenge Winner for February!

Each month we are randomly selecting one person who took the Bigfoot Challenge and awarding them for their efforts with product from our partners. In February Leave No Trace member Patrick Beezley was our winner. Patrick wrote us to tell us more about how he practices Leave No Trace and gets involved in his local community.

Hi Leave No Trace,

I am Patrick Beezley from Carbondale, IL. I enjoy rock climbing, backpacking, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, canoeing, hiking, and traveling. I work for Southern Illinois University as a grad assistant. I appreciate what Leave No Trace promotes. I think outdoor areas that people spend time in will be better off if more people know about Leave No Trace skills and techniques. I volunteer my time to Leave No Trace to help promote it so others can learn to take care of the places that they enjoy. For my Bigfoot Challenge, I walked through the middle of the trail versus walking over to the side. Taking the challenge made it easier to focus on hiking in the middle versus hiking around. Leave No Trace helps me do something beneficial for the wilderness areas that I travel in.

The best part about Leave No Trace education is knowing that you are helping out wilderness areas and the people that enjoy them. I think focusing on teaching kids Leave No Trace would be beneficial. That way people would grow up using the principles and it would be second nature to them.

I hope that people who use Leave No Trace principles when they are out camping can transfer that attitude for the outdoors to finding other ways to take care of the environment.

Thanks Bigfoot, Patrick Beezley

Stay tuned to hear more from the March Winner. Take the Bigfoot Challenge today to get involved and increase your chance to be the April winner of some great outdoor gear.

Do you Leave No Trace like Bigfoot?

The first two readers have emailed me and commented with the answer to this question, and they will win a Bigfoot Pint Glass. Stay tuned for future opportunities to win prizes or take the Bigfoot Challenge today to enter to win more cool stuff.

What would Bigfoot do with pet waste while out on a hike in your local park?

Take the Leave No Trace Bigfoot Challenge today!

Bigfoot is Back 2010!

By now you have probably noticed that Bigfoot is Back this year to help us promote responsible outdoor recreation on our favorite trails, waterways, mountains and other outdoor spaces. The elusive Bigfoot leaves no trace of his passing through the wild, but we fortunately have been able to track him down to help us in 2010. He even made a visit to our office last week.

Bigfoot met with Education Director, Ben Lawhon, while visiting the Center.

Bigfoot will be hanging out starting today with our Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City. He will be helping us with a number of different outreach efforts. Keep your eye on Bigfoot over the next four days on Facebook. We will be uploading stories and photos from the show. There ought to be some pretty funny pictures of Bigfoot interacting with the crowd.

You can also get involved in your local area to help Bigfoot promote outdoor ethics, take the Bigfoot Challenge. Each month this year we will be challenging you to take on one simple Leave No Trace action, that will be fun and easy to do. You can follow the challenges and pledge to practice Leave No Trace each month by clicking here. You will also get some great opportunities to win some prizes donated by Leave No Trace partners.