Having to survive, lost in the desert, sounds like pure horror to me. Right up there with being lost at sea or stranded on the Artic ice. I would probably take the desert over these other two, but not by much.

I would take extra, extra precautions and preparation before venturing out into the desert these days. I've only hiked there once or twice in my life, many decades ago, before I knew enough to give it proper respect.

As I hike in the mountain area where I live (day hikes only these days, I don't backpack any more), I am constantly looking around thinking, "What would I do if something happened to me right here?" Other than being stuck on the spot due to injury, I can almost always come up with some plan to find shelter and usually water within a few hundred yards. As long as I'm below timberline. It gets hostile really fast once you don't have trees around anymore. But the forested areas give me a feeling of security. I would miss that greatly hiking in the desert. I try to do this type of mental planning when driving through desert areas. I pretend I'm actually hiking there instead of driving. The end result: I usually conclude that I'd probably die.