Your version of a bad day
- Talus, ankle, pop. She can’t bear weight, the group has one phone at 8%, and the daylight is doing daylight things. What happens next is a decision tree, not a vibe.
- Lunch, bee, hives. Two minutes in it’s itching. Five minutes in there’s a wheeze. The epinephrine is in somebody’s pack — whose?
- The hot climb. Your partner stops making sense on the exposed switchbacks at noon. Cool first, right there, with what you carry — not at the car.
Start here
All 15 lessons are worth your time, but this order front-loads what your world serves up:
- Musculoskeletal Injuries — ankles and wrists are the thru-hiker tax
- Anaphylaxis — epi first, early, no substitutes
- Heat Illness — the spectrum, and where your partner sits on it
- Evacuation — notes, messengers, and who stays
- Kits & Preparation — the kit that earns its weight
Then pressure-test it
Interactive scenarios — one decision at a time, tempting mistakes included, debrief at the end:
- Two Go, One Stays — the send-for-help note, under pressure
- Find the Epi — anaphylaxis with the clock running
- Cool First — heat stroke on the ridge
The certification question, honestly. “Wilderness First Aid” isn’t a regulated credential. No government body defines what a WFA card means — it means whatever the company that printed it says it means. What counts in front of a patient is whether you can do the work. This course teaches the work, free, and issues a record of completion — not a certificate, and we won’t pretend otherwise. If a trail organization or guide program requires a provider’s card, take their class — you’ll arrive ahead. If nobody requires you to hold a card, what you need are the skills, not the laminate.
What this is
Fifteen lessons, a 40-question knowledge check, sixteen practice scenarios, a printable field reference card, and a kit checklist. Free, no account, nothing recorded about you, source on GitHub. It teaches decision-making, not hands-on skill — practice the hands-on parts on a real, padded, complaining friend.