[RPG] When do you receive the benefit to not leaving traces with Pass Without Trace

dnd-5einvisibilityspells

Pass without Trace says:

A veil of shadows and silence radiates from you, masking you and your companions from detection. For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks (…) A creature that receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.

We have a situation where we are riding invisible while under Pass without Trace though the desert. We think that we would not leave traces or kick up dust doing so, as we receive the bonus, whether we use it to sneak or not. Riding at full speed, we would be discoverable by sound, as we are not moving stealthily, but would leave no visible traces.

Our DM maintains that by rules as written, you only "have" the bonus when you are employing stealth, and therefore will leave traces and visible clues to movement, unless you use Dexterity (Stealth) to sneak.

Best Answer

The spell grants the targets the bonus, it doesn't go away when you aren't using stealth

Pass without trace says:

For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can't be tracked except by magical means.

The creatures who are the target of the spell "have" the bonus, even if they aren't using it actively, just as you "have" a bonus equal to your Strength modifier to Athletics checks even when you aren't grappling a creature.

The spell also states that your party cannot be tracked except by magical means. Presumably, visible traces are a component of being tracked non magically, which is something that is impossible under the effects of this spell.

Your party received the effects of this spell and therefore gained the bonus, and leaving no tracks is one component of its effect.