After paying my entrance fee at the front desk of the Tahquitz Canyon Visitor Center at the south end palm springsThe cashier had a question for me before I walked out the glass doors and walked invitingly. desert road outside: How much water was I carrying?

The cashier asked the question in a casual tone, but they weren’t just chatting. The water issue would determine whether I could move on right then and there.

Amid high-profile deaths and rescues of dehydrated people heat exhausted For those hiking popular desert trails this summer, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians who manage this popular and relatively short waterfall hiking trail have come up with a unique but relatively simple solution: ensuring visitors bring adequate amounts of water during their hikes.

Tahquitz Canyon is a favorite hiking spot among tourists and locals in the Coachella Valley. The trailhead is easy to access from downtown Palm Springs and 2 mile loopWith elevation gain of just over 300 feet, it’s a great choice for after work or visiting other attractions. The trail runs along Tahquitz Creek and leads to a seasonal 200-foot waterfall with a small pool underneath, perfect for cooling off during a hot hike. The trail also features plenty of desert foliage to admire, as well as views of Palm Springs and the San Jacinto Mountains, and there’s even orange in the leaves during the fall months.

But this mix of ease and beauty also means the trail can attract people who are new to hiking or hiking, especially in the desert heat; This creates potentially dangerous scenarios as triple-digit days become increasingly common in the region due to climate change.

Agua Caliente has long recommended that visitors carry water when hiking in Tahquitz Canyon. Nearby Indian CanyonsPopular hiking destinations include Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon, and Murray Canyon. But it wasn’t until the pandemic that the tribe changed this from a guideline to an official requirement.

“We’ve found that a lot of people don’t really understand the protocol that you need to follow to prepare,” said Kate Anderson, public relations manager for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. “That’s when we actually started needing water and making sure people going to the trails had enough water.”

Hikers now need to carry 32 ounces to ascend Tahquitz, Andreas and Palm canyons, or 48 ounces for the longer hike in Murray Canyon. This is probably the only trail in the hot California desert region where water is an absolute necessity, and someone actively checks that each visitor has water before hitting the trail.

In this way, Agua Caliente became an early adopter of the concept of “preemptive search and rescue,” a tactic that southwestern national parks are increasingly employing to keep people safe while juggling both increased visitation and increasingly hot days. While traditional search and rescue efforts focus on find and help Preventive search and rescue for hikers lost or injured in the wilderness aims to stop these situations before they occur by providing visitors with more information and support at the start of their adventure. Nearby Joshua Tree National Park was established preventative search and rescue team In 2021, rangers there are focusing on providing visitors with guidance on itineraries and warning them of potential dangers such as extreme heat.

Grand Canyon National Park In recent years, it has placed greater emphasis on preventive search-and-rescue methods, including not just water but also salty snacks to replace sodium lost through sweat. When I backpacked at the bottom of the Grand Canyon on a hot June weekend a few years ago, a volunteer stopped us a few miles down the road and politely asked about our itinerary and whether we would be hiking in the heat of the day. (Instead we carefully prepared an itinerary that required active movement only in the early mornings and evenings) and found out how much water we had.

But these efforts in national parks do not result in actively checking whether each person has enough water before starting the hike. Part of this is just a matter of size and reach; Tahquitz Canyon and Indian Canyons are smaller areas with fewer visitors and each with only one designated entrance. The doors are closed when staff are not present, making it easier for staff to talk to each visitor before starting the journey. In Tahquitz Canyon, hikers must pass through the Visitor Center to reach the trailhead.

“When you come in, our folks say, ‘Do you have water today?'” Anderson said. “They will ask,” he said. “And some people say: ‘Yes, it is.’ We have hikers and guests who come very prepared, and sometimes we have hikers or guests who come who don’t understand or don’t know, because they might be on vacation in Palm Springs and that’s why they want to go. “Maybe they haven’t hiked in 10 or 15 years, or never hiked at all, and they don’t really understand that you’re actually out in the wilderness and you always want to be prepared.”

Tribal rangers also regularly walk the trails to provide another reminder: Water alone shouldn’t determine whether you start hiking; it should also determine when the march will end. “Once you get halfway across the water, it’s time to turn back,” Anderson said.