Death Valley's Sand Dunes Claim A Hiker

[Desert Fog]

New incident...

Death Valley's Sand Dunes Claim A Hiker

[DAW89446]

Sad ending.

[TacoLand]

Damn .... that's rough. Sometimes I get the inappropriate urge to armchair quarterback these incidents that result in fatalities, but "stuff" happens.

In the end we're all one mistake away from being referred to as "an experienced hiker" in some lousy writeup. RIP.

[MojaveGeek]

Still, you've got to wonder what happened, pretty hard to get really lost out there. Wonder how hot it was.

[trailhound]

Sad, indeed. Assuming that the hike started on Nov 7, the afternoon high was 87 at 2PM. Relative humidity was 14%. These conditions don't seem that dangerous to me for promoting hyperthermia and dehydration. Am I wrong?

[Bluegreen kayak]

I was there that day (weird!), showing the dunes to a first-time visitor after hiking Mosaic, and while it was hot out, it wasn't terrible. I am very curious how this could have happened; it doesn't make sense to me. We didn't stay long - she didn't find the dunes very interesting - so we went on to Keane Wonder Mine for a bit and then the pool at the ranch.

[DVexile]

It is quite possible it had little to do with the temperature or environment. Just being alone is always a small risk that can turn otherwise minor medical emergencies into tragedies. You can choke to death on your trail mix with no one around to help clear your airway. Treatable cardiac events become fatalities.

[DAW89446]

I’m thinking along the lines of DVe. It also seems as if she was disoriented, leaving the dune system on the north. I wonder what her strategy was to get back to her car before her unfortunate demise.

[DeathValleyDazed]

It also seems as if she was disoriented, leaving the dune system on the north. 

Actually I've had heaps of fun exploring areas north of The Mesquite Sand Dunes and coming across mysterious (at least to me) objects. For example steel re-bar markers, downed telegraph/phone lines, odd shaped mounds of soil much higher and pointed than the mounds around the mesquite trees, weird mud crack formations, an occasional rusted tin can. Here's a video of the rebar north of the dunes that may have tweaked her curiosity. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D9JAuSdT5Q

Here's video about the mounds and other objects north of the dunes. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btTVxq8nhNw

Here's what the park visitor may have seen from north of the dunes. I wonder if by chance she was a photographer seeking a non-traditional view of the dunes looking south towards Tucki Mountain? Maybe curiosity got the best of her and she wandered too far from the dune field? A snake bit is a remote possibility? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL2omTdW5Vo

[MojaveGeek]

Those wires behind the dunes are a section of the old Rhyolite - Skidoo telephone line. Very historical. The rebar, not so much