Man lost for a week in Northern California survived on pine nuts

A Davis man lost for a week in the Lake County wilderness after a car accident apparently survived by eating pine nuts, according to reports.

Daniel Brian Thompson, 25, had set out on a solo camping trip when he lost control of his rented Zipcar in a rural area of the Northern California county, his father told the Davis Enterprise. The car skidded off the gravel road and went down an embankment, his father said, and Thompson didn’t have cellphone service to call for help.

“He was lost wandering for seven days,” the father, Brian Thompson, told the newspaper.

On Saturday evening, a man hunting wild pigs spotted the vehicle about 100 yards off the road, the Enterprise reported. The man took photos of the car, marked its GPS coordinates and checked the glove compartment, where he found Thompson’s wallet and driver’s license.

The man took the items back to his camp, where his girlfriend Googled the name using her cell phone and learned Thompson was missing. The couple then called Davis police.

Thompson was found the next day. He declined an interview with the Enterprise, but the newspaper reported a Facebook post that revealed a few details of his ordeal.

“Y’all, A: Tell people when you camp by yourself,” Thompson wrote. “B: Drive carefully on gravel. C: Learn edible plants in your area, because when you find youself lost on BLM land without a car, cellphone, or kit, runoff and pine nuts make a [lousy] diet.”

Thompson’s father said his son learned about edible plants in Utah. Pine nuts were “a treat” then, he said -- but perhaps not anymore.

“He may never want to eat them again,” Brian Thompson said.

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Twitter: @katemather | Google+

kate.mather@latimes.com