DEATH VALLEY, Calif. -- For the third time this year, someone has died due to the severe heat of a summer in the desert.

Carlos Sanchez, 6, succumbed to the intense heat Wednesday, Aug. 5, according to his mother, Alicia Sanchez, 28, a nurse who had recently moved to Las Vegas and worked at a hospital there. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death.

She, her son and the family's pet dachshund were found by a Death Valley National Park ranger, Amber Nattrass, at mid-morning Thursday. Nattrass and another ranger were searching for the lost family in the southernmost reaches of the park.

Said park spokesman Terry Baldino, "During the summer months, few visitors travel the park's backcountry roads due to the extreme heat and often rough road conditions."

Alicia Sanchez was described as being in fair condition but badly dehydrated by a spokeswoman at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. The dachshund also survived. They had brought with them a case of 24 16-oz. water in bottles with some Pop-Tarts and cheese sandwiches.

They were found not far from the park's extreme southwestern boundary with the federal Naval Weapons Center China Lake.

The Sanchez family had apparently entered Death Valley Saturday, Aug. 1, for what was described as an overnight camping trip in the park. A text message Alicia sent to an acquaintance that day referred to her changing a flat tire in the desert but there was no indication that she needed help. No further word from her was received prior to the grim discovery four days later.

During the period, according to Baldino, high temperatures in the area averaged 117 degrees.

The park, reported Baldino, was able to piece together a rough travel plan, but not one specific enough to allow for narrowing the search for Sanchez when family members alerted the park Aug. 5 they were missing. She had apparently talked about "the castle" and staying at one of the free campgrounds, but searches of the campgrounds and Scotty's Castle were unavailing.

Thursday morning, as the search began again, Nattrass and her partner were searching far to the south.

Nattrass was traveling along the Owl Hole Spring Road when she discovered a flat tire and a water bottle, with tracks indicating the vehicle had continued to the west.

The tracks actually reached the gate between the park and the China Lake area, turned to one side and then headed back into the desert.

At that point Alicia Sanchez was found where her Jeep Cherokee had become stuck in the bottom of a gravel wash where it had caved in an animal burrow and was sunk up to its axles.

With no shovel, Sanchez was unable to extricate the vehicle. Park Ranger Brent Pennington said he is not sure whether she made any attempts to backtrack out from the location, although she apparently told Nattrass she had ascended once to a nearby high point in a vain effort to acquire cell phone service. Sanchez was equipped with a GPS system, but as Pennington put it, "I'm still not sure how she ended up where she did."

She told rescuers she had managed to fix the flat she reported and was "relying on directions from a GPS device in the vehicle."

"A GPS does not replace a map, a compass, checking in at the visitor center and letting people know where you're going to be," said Pennington. (See related article for desert tips.)

China Lake Search and Rescue as well as the Inyo and San Bernardino County Sheriff's departments aided in the search.

"What could have helped -- if we had known where to look," said Pennington. He suggested it was possible she had driven to Baker, then headed north up Route 127 and turned left onto what's called the Harry Wade exit, which would eventually have taken her to the Badwater road.

It is possible she came to the turnoff onto the Owl Hole Spring Road and took it by accident.

In Baldino's words, "The extreme heat in Death Valley will continue for the next two months. ... Please come prepared. Think of your safety and those with you."

Earlier this year, a 69-year-old man died within sight of the facilities at Stovepipe Wells, and more recently, a Korean woman succumbed while hiking out in the nearby dunes.

At that time, said Pennington, the air temperature was around 120 degrees, and the group she was with had no water.