Woman unintentionally spends night in Death Valley after getting lost looking at stars

A 61-year-old woman was found after unintentionally spending the night in Death Valley after getting lost while photographing stars, park rangers said.

Park rangers went to Badwater Basin in Death Valley around 2:30 a.m. on March 24 after a woman’s friends reported her missing, according to a March 27 news release by the National Park Service.

The woman, visiting from Texas, went out to hike “onto the salt flats at night to photograph stars” with a group of friends, according to the release.

The woman left something in her car and went to the parking lot to grab it, park rangers said.

After she didn’t return her friends “drove to Furnace Creek for cell service and called 911,” officials said.

Park rangers searched on foot while using “bright flashing vehicle lights,” park rangers said.

Once the sun came up, they got assistance from seven responders to help locate the woman, according to the release.

The woman had hiked farther than intended and got lost after she was “unable to see landmarks in the dark,” park rangers said.

She waited until the sun came up, walked a few miles, and was able to hitchhike back to the parking lot, according to the release.

She arrived back around 8:20 a.m., park rangers said.

Badwater Basin is “282 feet below sea level” and the salt flats cover “nearly 200 square miles” mostly made up of table salt, according to the NPS.

The Basin was a large lake that evaporated “leading to the accumulation of sediment and salt over time.”

Death Valley is about 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

This story was originally published March 28, 2023 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Woman unintentionally spends night in Death Valley after getting lost looking at stars."