SAGUACHE, Colo. – A 31-year-old Indiana man says he had not food but kept himself hydrated with Mountain Dew and snow while he was stuck in his snow-covered SUV in southwestern Colorado for three days.

Jason Pede was rescued Sunday morning after his vehicle ran out of gas and he walked seven miles to a road, signaling for help with a flashlight.

Pede was driving from Dulce, N.M., to the Colorado resort town of Aspen to deliver an Australian Shepherd rescue dog when he got stuck.

Pede, of Chesterton, Ind., says a “local” told him about a shortcut to Aspen and that’s how he became stranded somewhere in the Rio Grande National Forest in snow that went above the hood of his Lincoln Navigator.