Treasure hunter gets stuck rappelling Yellowstone canyon, rangers say

An Indiana man went to extremes searching for treasure in Yellowstone National Park, but officials say it didn’t end well for him.

Dave Christensen, 55, was searching for the Forrest Fenn treasure, a legendary jackpot that could be worth millions, the Powell Tribune reported.

He was convinced he would find his pot of gold in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, a canyon that’s between 800 to 1,200 feet deep, according to the park. Instead of finding the treasure, he got stuck and couldn’t climb back up the canyon, the Associated Press reported.

Christensen reportedly wandered off the trail this month and rappelled into the canyon, which is illegal. He was cited for disorderly conduct and going off-trail, AP reported.

It took several hours to rescue Christensen, but he was not injured. He said he did it so others wouldn’t have to make the journey, according to the Powell Tribune.

“I am not a quack, nor have blind lust for hidden treasures,” Christensen wrote to Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly, according to Powell Tribune. “I’m sending this so you can analyze the information, hopefully understand its validity, and thus, potentially circumvent a ‘Mad Mad World’ or ‘Rat Race’ of searchers in the near future, or spring when Yellowstone opens to wheeled vehicles.”

He’s not the only one who has gone looking for the treasure. Thousands of people have gone searched for it, according to CNN. Some have even died in pursuit.

Forrest Fenn of New Mexico reportedly hid a chest of gold, rubies, emeralds and diamonds in the Rocky Mountains in 2010, according to CNN. He hoped to “inspire people to explore nature” and wrote a poem with nine clues on where to find the treasure, CNN said.

In June, a Montana sheriff warned treasure hunters that it may not be safe to continue their searches.

“In the last couple years, two people have died, two have been rescued near death, several have had run-ins with local and federal law enforcement, and one told his wife today he was injured but not where he was,” the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. “The common denominator is that these people were all near Yellowstone National Park and they were all looking for the Forrest Fenn treasure.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Treasure hunter gets stuck rappelling Yellowstone canyon, rangers say."