This is strange....

I just dragged out my SoCal maps and looked at the area (haven't been there since 1980).

This woman was found 20 miles east of Trona. There is nothing there but dirt roads ending in sand. Where on earth did she think she was going? If they were going to Death Valley, why not just take the highway north right into the park?

And, since she still must have had a reasonable idea where she was, all they had to do when they realized they were stuck was take as much water as they could carry, wait for the sun to get low, and walk more or less straight west until they hit the highway. They started out with 25 lbs of water, so by the time they were in trouble, they might have had 20 lbs left, and each of them could have carried 10 lbs.

They had intended to camp overnight, so presumably they had something they could take for a sunshade. Twenty lousy miles -- they should have made it in two days, maximum.

Instead, she sat there in the sun for FIVE WHOLE DAYS and watched her son die.

What happened?

Was she afraid of the dark? Didn't know which way was west, that that's where the sun goes down? Afraid of harmless coyotes yipping? Too certain that they would be found soon, even though no one knew where they were? Afraid that the coyotes would steal the car? Incapable of thinking rationally at all in a tight situation?

By the way, staying with the vehicle is not a rule that is carved in stone. Staying with the car when you're miles and miles into the wilderness, or don't know where you are, is one thing. She was WAAAAAY too close to the highway (in almost a straight line) to think staying with the car was her only viable choice. They could have followed their own tire tracks back to the road.