Leave No Trace 400 Campaign

The Santa Fe to Taos Trail is experiencing a massive increase in use.

We will see 10x as many hikers as last year, from 65-100 finishers in 2025 to an estimated 500-700 hikers in 2026.

We are have two major initiatives to manage these usage levels: Our Leave No Trace partnership and the Campsite Monitoring Program.

We have launched the Leave No Trace 400 Campaign to get 400 people to take the free Leave No Trace 101, 30-minute online course.  

We have had success getting people to take the course in exchange for giving them the 2026 enhanced gpx file for the Santa Fe to Taos Trail. We would like to continue to do this, and to offer SF2T merchandise in exchange for people sending us their completion certificates from the Leave No Trace 101 course.

Getting 400 people to complete the course will cost $5,196 in donated GPX files, or merchandise of similar value.

As of 8/2, we have gotten 12 donations totalling $2,223.89. That is enough to pay for 179 GPX files given as gifts for completing the Leave No Trace 101 course.

16 people have taken the Leave No Trace course and sent their completion certificates as of 8/2.

We have a long way to go, but we’ve only just barely started promoting this campaign. Stay tuned for developments. And – please – take the Leave No Trace 101 course yourself. You count even if you aren’t doing the trail yourself this year. Everyone everywhere counts.

If we can get enough SF2T hikers to take the Leave No Trace course, we believe we can influence the culture on trail and make the SF2T into a world-class example of respect and care for the land. This includes the lands the Santa Fe to Taos Trail passes through, and all lands everywhere, no matter how pristine or beaten up they are.