Sagebrush Naturalist's points are good advice: more water is always a good thing. Letting people know your plans is good and she did that, but then didn't follow through by being there because she got lost.
Brangdon: Also, I suspect there was more to it we don't know. For example, it sounds like the car GPS was less useful than she expected. I would be very interested to hear her version of events.
Not knowing which GPS she had, it's easy to believe the GPS wasn't all that useful off-road. Unless the road you're on is in the maps database, you are off road from a GPS POV.
GPS units have varying levels of detail depending on how much area it's covering (zoom in/out) and system settings. . . and the maps that are loaded need to be appropriate. My Nuvi 760 does a great job on the road, but off road it tends to not be very useful. The GPSMAP 60CSx OTOH doesn't have some features I like for the road, but it's loaded with street and Topo maps for where I am now. Zoom in enough and detail starts to show -- great for hiking, not so much for driving.
When you're out and about in places like Death Valley, back-ups to back-ups are the way to go. Dual GPS with extra batteries for the walking unit, as well as map and compass with points of reference highlighted on the map. If I was unfamiliar I'd mark GPS waypoints along the way with corresponding marks on the map, preflighting the navigation so to speak. GoogleEarth is used in the process just to see what I should expect.
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