“This reminds me of that idiot French couple who died at White Sands National Monument a couple years ago”
There is no reason to die there unless you are a complete idiot. It is brutally hot in the summer, bring water a lot. If you get lost the mountains are a point of orientation and you are not then lost. I suspect they did not bring water.
Correct, they set out on a trail with very little water (what they had, they gave to their child who survived). There are signs at the trail head about water (in multiple languages including French). They ignored it all to their death.