I am with SN on this. This was a hike and most here are hikers who do not get beyond class 3. I wonder if Bob Rockwell would approve of this very bad analogy.
The problem that I have found is people do not have land nav skills and think they do not need them to go trail walking. Many go up trails with a piece of paper with squiggly lines (given to them by the FS) and this is all they need...until things go bad. Then they are in trouble deep.
My friends and I have righted the course of many on trails and when they have followed our virgin snowshoe tracks in winter thinking we were on the trail...you should see the surprise on faces when we tell them they are not in Kansas any more.
It is not having the tools, it knowing how to use them. When take noobs out in the winter. I stop a half mile in and ask to show me where they are on their map. Many can't and those who can take 5 minutes or more to figure it out.
