WTC navigation in Joshua Tree

A WTC trip focused on navigation and ‘advanced’ hiking skills. We had a mishap, so it ended up with a few pivots, but it was a good time — and cool to see the use of a SAM splint and ropes to assist someone down.

If you go

Joshua Tree is a favorite classroom for off-trail navigation — open desert, big boulder piles, enough relief to practice reading terrain without committing to a death march. The first-aid side of this trip is the useful reminder: a SAM splint and some webbing turn a bad ankle in the rocks from an evacuation into a slow walk-out. Cool months only; the desert sun is the other hazard.