One reason I carry a sat phone is for such a case, that being me becoming stranded. I had an older couple follow me on a road that was very questionable when looking at their vehicle and them in general. The question came up, are they old timers that truely know the area, or are they new to the area and just following their Tom-Tom type GPS that claimed it was a typical roadway? I did notice mine did show it as a through route between highways. Not that a passenger car couldn't do it, but it would have been tough and ended in body damage. They finally turned around which indicated to me they had no idea what they were in for further along the trail. Some people just put themselves into bad situations even if they know the area such as the couple from
Citrus Heights who lost her boyfriend in the snow. But with this DV loss, even I was very surprised at how big DV is the first time I visited it. Westside road was way under estimated by me during my first visit. But off road travel in summer? There is a reason why its called Death Valley.
Thanks for the read, it was a good one.