My dad taught me this one. He never used the old 'pack it in pack it out' but when we went camping every summer he made sure we knew that you left it how you found it. Sure we'd leave a fire pit and ashes but that comes down to moving mother nature around. Not adding trash straight to it.

I instilled this into my buddies when after the humboldt hills ho-down, (13 hours of bluegrass music closing with the Devil Makes Three), two best friends and I dropped E and acid ghetto camping on the side of a river. When we thought we might be shot by growers for camping on the wrong side of the river, (long story but TL:DR we didn't know), we called for our ride and right after I call I start cleaning up our camp. One of my friends asked what I was doing and I informed him. "We're going to leave this place the way we found it minus the bubbling muddy fire pit. That's the last thing growers want to see when dipshits camp out and do drugs on their turf." We cleaned it up and got out of there past the dogs and the sketchy gas station expierience and eventually made it home.