"The nights do not cool off that much down there - it was still over 100 degrees at 11PM!"

A hundred degrees when you're trying to sleep is miserable. A hundred degrees after a 120F day is almost balmy while you're moving, esp once the sun is down.

"The Sun doesn't rise in the east and sets in the west where I live... whistle 3 weeks ago the sun rose in the North East and set in the North West."

If the woman had headed NW, W or SW, she would have hit the highway. If she had followed her own tracks (and I'll bet there weren't any others), she would have hit the highway.

"I figure she left directions for where she intended going and then got lost."

I doubt that. Death Valley is about 110 miles (177 km) from north to south. Scotty's Castle is near the northeast end, Trona is all the way to the south on the west side.

She simply didn't know what she was doing, and shouldn't have been where she was.