Carry LOTS of water when driving through the California Desert (2 found dead)

[Liberal_in_LA]

temps were up to 113 recently. Anyone watch Dual Survivor on cable tv? They show how to survive in these type of situations. One episode, they staged
a car breakdown in the desert

Bodies of Man, Woman Discovered Monday in Joshua Tree National Park

"Investigation shows the man and woman may have been travelling together and may have been using the car we found stranded," said Lt. Terrence Tingle of the sheriff's Indio Station.

The bodies of a man and a woman were discovered in Joshua Tree National Park on Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, along Black Eagle Mine Road, north of the Cottonwood Visitors Center and Interstate 10, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

The bodies of a man and a woman were discovered Monday in the Riverside County portion of Joshua Tree National Park, near Black Eagle Mine Road, a sheriff's lieutenant said.

The man's body was reported to authorities at 6:48 p.m. Monday by a couple who were visiting the park, said Lt. Terrence Tingle of the sheriff's Indio Station.

Arriving emergency personnel found the dead man on the edge of Black Eagle Mine Road, more than a mile and a half east of Pinto Basin Road, and north of the Cottonwood Visitors Center off Interstate 10, Tingle said.

A few hours later, deputies found the body of a female along the same road, about a mile east of the man's body, Tingle said.

http://banning-beaumont.patch.com/articles/bodies-of-man-woman-discovered-several-miles-from-stranded-car-in-joshua-tree-national-park

[JPZenger]

1. Don't rely on GPS

NPR had a story about people getting into serious trouble because they rely too much on GPS in Death Valley. The GPS systems show old mining trails as roads, and lead people down impassable dead ends. If the road is not on a state highway map, don't take it.

[Xithras]

2. Ouch. I've driven that road.

I took a drive out that road about eight years ago to get some photos of the Jade Mine. It's a pretty deceptive road...for the first 5 miles or so, it's fairly smooth and graded. It very gradually starts getting rougher and rougher, until you're practically rock-crawling through some of the washes. When it exits the park and hits the BLM land, it gets even worse (I didn't go that far, but I was warned beforehand that my old Durango wouldn't make it through the BLM portion).

It's a road that someone could easily get into trouble on, because it starts off smooth enough to drive a passenger car on, and ends up so rough that only a 4WD with good ground clearance will get through. Because the change is gradual, it would be easy for a novice to not realize the danger of the road until they were already far enough down it to make turning around difficult.