Ariz. Man Looking for $300M Worth of Gold Gets Rescued After Being Stranded in Forest for 4 Days

Brent Lendriet, 65, spent four nights in a remote area of Ventura County, California after he drove around closed gates and his vehicle got stuck

A Phoenix man who set out to find 10,000 lbs. of lost gold instead found himself stranded in a California forest for four days.

Brent Lendriet, 65, was visiting Ventura County’s backcountry with his girlfriend late last month when he decided to venture out by himself to an area beyond a closed winter gate in the Grande Valley area, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and ABC affiliate KNXV-TV.

"Suddenly, my truck is up to the doors in water,” Lendriet told the news station. “So, I jump out into this ice-cold water, run around to the front of my truck ... It's got a winch and I pull the winch cable out and wrap it around a tree and pull myself out.”

He added, "I've taken that road many times — you need a special vehicle to do it — and normally, I can get through it.”

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But this time, after proceeding through a second gate that had been closed by the U.S. Forest Service due to the flooding conditions, Lendriet’s car became stuck on Dec. 23, per KNXV.

Lendriet's misery soon mounted after he was unable to build a fire for warmth due to the rain that blanketed the area each day, he told KTAR News radio.

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"I peeled off my clothing because I was freezing to death and threw them in the back of my truck, and I had some dry clothing I put on,” Lendriet recalled to KNXV. “The next morning, all of my clothing [was] frozen solid like ice cubes.”

It is unclear when, but at some point in his ordeal, Lendriet texted his girlfriend who alerted authorities to his whereabouts — but it took deputies with the Lockwood Valley Sheriff’s Station until Dec. 26 to locate him.

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Lendriet and his truck were found about 10 miles from the highway after a dispatcher noticed a faint light in the distance. After driving towards the source, the first responders found the man, looking “malnourished and wearing wet clothing,” the sheriff’s office said.

According to the sheriff’s office, Lendriet had been without food or water for four days, but the man told KTAR that he survived on frozen White Castle sliders and that he defrosted frozen cans of soup between his legs.

After the harrowing ordeal, the Arizona resident is regretting his experience of foolishly pursuing the gold, which he told the radio station is in his family lineage and worth $300 million.

"I have basic skills for surviving in the wilderness,” he told KNXV. “I was just not prepared for what I endured.”

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