Forrest Fenns Treasure - Clue Compilation

[Mark9497]

Forrest Fenn's Treasure - Clue Compilation


Additional clues added on May 8, 2016 are highlighted in bold lettering
I created this thread in the hopes of helping fellow Forrest Fenn treasure seekers connect the dots and find the treasure. I have been sorely disappointed in most forums and websites devoted to the search. More often than not (despite the best efforts of moderators to keep a thread respectful and on subject ) the forums deteriorate into name calling, hocus-pocus, ego-boosting and a lot of useless chatter. Often becoming so cluttered and convoluted that an entire weekend of digging is required to find a single “gem”.

There is also the simple matter that very few want to give up “good” information lest it lead someone else to the treasure before them.

In an effort to share what I know about the location of Forest Fenn's treasure I have gathered everything I have collected over the years and made it available here. I have tried to remain as factual as possible but obviously there will always be some overlap between facts and conjecture - so please do not think I am an authority on anything. This information may lead you in the right direction or it might send you down a rabbit hole.

Please keep in mind, I have no answers and I am as blind as everyone else. I am nothing more than a fellow treasure seeker like yourselves and I do not know where the treasure is, but I do believe it exists and is out there waiting for anyone who can figure out the 9 clues and find it.

For some of you who have been on the hunt for a while now there may be nothing new here, but for those new to the chase this might help you get your search off the ground. I encourage anyone who would like to contribute anything, preferably more factual than conjecture, to please do so. If there is anything here that is incorrect then please feel to chime in an let us all know.

I wish everyone the best. Happy Hunting!

Here's the Poem;

As I have gone alone in there
And with my treasures bold,
I can keep my secret where,
And hint of riches new and old.

Begin it where warm waters halt
And take it in the canyon down,
Not far, but too far to walk.
Put in below the home of Brown.

From there it’s no place for the meek,
The end is ever drawing nigh;
There’ll be no paddle up your creek,
Just heavy loads and water high.

If you’ve been wise and found the blaze,
Look quickly down, your quest to cease,
But tarry scant with marvel gaze,
Just take the chest and go in peace.

So why is it that I must go
And leave my trove for all to seek?
The answers I already know,
I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak.

So hear me all and listen good,
Your effort will be worth the cold.
If you are brave and in the wood
I give you title to the gold.​

A straightforward analysis the poem’s components;

Strong suppositions

• “Waters” is plural, while “halt” and “wood” are singular. This significantly changes the way those lines are read.
• “Brown” is capitalized making it a proper name.
• What “cold” does he mean with “brave the cold”? Does that mean that you must get in the water at some point or does he mean something else?
• “No paddle up your creek” could mean a dry creek or shallow water.
• “Put in” is the fishing term for a where a boat goes into the water.
• “Heavy loads” is a prospecting term. It refers to the material that need to be removed before gold could be dredge. This material was primarily big rocks or boulders.
• “water high” is a fishing term for mountain lakes.
• The word “blaze” is an old term for leaving a mark. In this sense a blaze the equivalent of “X” marks the spot.

Weak suppositions

• Perhaps the clues do not start with “Begin”, rather at someplace he “gone alone in there” hinting at it is someplace personal like a private fishing spot.
• “brave” could be an indication of something Native American.
• “wise” could be referring to an actual river or things associated with being wise such as an owl.
• When he refers to “it” what exactly is the “it” he refers to? The quest or something else?
• Perhaps the words “meek” “neigh” have no meaning despite what many people think and instead are used simply because they rhyme, much like the words “gaze” “go” and “good".

High Water?


Here's the clues that I know;

• The treasure is in a 10” x 10” x 6” bronze box with a total weight of 42lbs.
  
• The box is unlocked and the key is inside the box.
• The location of the treasure can be found on a good map.
• There are 9 clues in his poem and FF says to follow the clues precisely and in consecutive order.
• FF stated, “Do not mess with my poem” — meaning there is no cypher, anagram or code.
• There are additional clues for those who can decipher them in FF's book The Thrill of the Chase.
  
• The treasure is somewhere on the highlighted portion of the map in FF's book Too Far to Walk.
  
• The treasure is not in a graveyard, an outhouse or associated with any structure.
• Where warm waters halt is not a dam.
• It is not buried.
  Not in a mine.
  Not in a tunnel someplace
  More than 8.35 miles north of Santa Fe
  Definitely in the Rocky Mountains
  
  
• The chest is exposed to rain and snow and can be scorched in a forest fire.
• The location of the chest must also be large enough to fit his entire body. An early draft of the poem included the line “Then take the chest and leave my bones.” Which might still be the case if FF had his way. He has been quoted saying, “I will not die in a hospital bed if I have a few breaths remaining. I don't want to give any more clues, but if I am not too feeble to return to the chest when my turn comes, I cannot think of any better place for my bones to rest for a few millennia.” — implying the location of the treasure must be secluded and relatively undisturbed.
• FF deposited the treasure in two trips. Meaning the treasure is at a distance a 79 year old man can make twice in one day while carrying the extra weight of the treasure. He was quoted saying, “I made two trips from my car to the hiding place and it was done in one afternoon.”
• FF is quoted saying, “If I was standing where the treasure chest was I would see trees, mountains, animals and smell pine needles (pinion nuts) and sage.
• FF once said, “There isn’t a human trail in very close proximity to where I hid the treasure.”
• He said when the clues are followed precisely they lead to the end of the rainbow and the treasure.
• The treasure is more than 300 miles North of Toledo.
• It is in the Rocky Mountains.
• It is NOT in Idaho or Utah.
• The four states that might contain the treasure are; Montana, Wyoming, Colorado or New Mexico.
• The treasure is above 5,000 feet and below 10,0000.
• Do NOT go anywhere an 80 year old man could not go.
• It is where a child could pick it up.
• FF thinks the treasure could remain undisturbed for a hundred, even a thousand, years. This implies it is someplace that is not likely to change or be developed any time soon.
• Bring a sandwich and a flashlight. Meaning you’ll be out there for a while and the treasure may be tucked away in a place where light does not reach.
• FF knows people have been within 500 feet of the treasure. FF has stated, “Some folks correctly mentioned the first two clues to me in an email and then they went right past the other seven, not knowing that they had been so close”.
• In an interview FF was asked if the 9 clues from the poem were in existence when he was a kid and to his estimation would they still exist in 100 years or 1000 years? His answer, “The clues did not exist when I was a kid but most of the places the clues refer to did. I think they might still exist in 100 years but the geography probably will change before we reach the next millennia.”

Comments made by FF
•Don’t let logic distract you from the poem (2-12-2016)
•Chest weights 42 pounds plus, best to have gloves (3-11-2016)
•If you know precisely where it is you can probably retrieve it in any weather (12-11-2015)
•Shut your engine off until spring (12-04-2015)
•A good solve is frequently lost in a poor execution (1-15-2016)
•“Until someone finds the treasure they will not know for sure that they have discovered the first clue.” (Dal’s Blog – “Forrest Gets Mail – 9 / November 2, 2015)
•“The problem searchers make is that they don’t dwell long enough on the first clue. If you can’t find the first clue you don’t have anything. People driving down the street looking for a blaze, because THAT’S ONE OF THE CLUES, but you can’t start in the middle of the poem and find the treasure.” (Outside: Live Bravely – August 11, 2015)
•“If I was standing where the treasure chest is, I see trees, I see mountains, I see animals, I’ll smell wonderful smells of pine needles or pinon nuts, sage brush. And I know the treasure chest is wet.” – (New Mexico True Story – February 4, 2015)
•Forrest responded the next day saying – “I just watched that New Mexico Tourism video again and must say that I didn’t say what I was thinking. You cannot smell a pinon nut, but those who pick them know that in doing so you get pine pitch all over your hands, and pine pitch smells about the same no matter what kind of pine tree you are talking about. Looking back I think I wanted to say I could smell pine needles, not pinon nuts. Sorry I kicked a hornet’s nest with that comment.” – (Dal’s Blog – Forrest LIVE on HuffPost.. / February 5, 2015)
•Another response – “That video didn’t have any clues.” “Fenn said if the treasure were in the wilderness, of course it would be wet….he erred in mentioning pinon nuts. He really meant pine needles” – (The New Mexican – February 8, 2015)
•What surprises me a little is that nobody to my uncertain knowledge has analyzed one important possibility related to the winning solve.” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Six Questions Yet Again with Forrest Fenn: Always a Treasure! / February 4, 2015)
•“I will say that I walked less than a few miles (whole trip of hiding the chest and treasure) if that will help. I just looked “few” up and one definition is “scant.” Why do I sound like I’m talking in circles” – (MysteriousWritings Blog – Talking in Circles/ October 13, 2014)
•“While it’s not impossible to remove the blaze it isn’t feasible to try, and I am certain it’s still there” (Dal’s Blog – The Nine Clues…Part Thirtyone / September 26, 2014)
•“There are many places in the Rocky Mountains where warm waters halt, and nearly all of them are north of Santa Fe. Look at the big picture, there are no short cuts.” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Featured Questions: Warm Waters and Geography / August 12, 2014)
•“The spot where I hid the treasure was in my mind from the time I first started thinking about the chase. It is special to me and there was never another consideration. I was going to make it work no matter what. In my reverie I often find myself stealing away to that place and I will always consider it to be mine.” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Questions with Forrest / July 5, 2014)
•“When I am in the moutains or in the desert, the last place I want to be is on a trail…..There isn’t a human trail in very close proximaty to where I hid the treasure” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Questions with Forrest / June 28, 2014)
•“No specialized knowledge is required…..My Thrill of the Chase book is enough to lead an average person to the treasure” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Questions with Forrest / June 27, 2014)
•“The clues did not exist when I was a kid but of most of the places the clues refer to did. I think they might still exist in 100 years.” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Questions with Forrest / June 25, 2014)
•“Many are giving serious thought to the clues in my poem, but only a few are in tight focus with a word that is key.” (MysteriousWritings Blog – Questions with Forrest / February 4, 2014)
•“When I hid it and was walking back to my car, I started laughing out loud and I said ‘Forrest Fenn…did you really do that?’” – (Moby Dickens Book Shop Signing / November 2, 2013)
•“There are several people that have deciphered the first two clues. I don’t think they knew it, because they walked right on past the treasure chest.”– (Moby Dickens Book Shop Signing / November 2, 2013)
•“I think kids have an advantage (finding the treasure). Don’t ask me to explain that.” – (Moby Dickens Book Shop Signing / November 2, 2013)
•“…that’s why I told people I hid the treasure chest when I was 79 or 80 years old because I don’t want the exact date to be known because I’m afraid somebody will go check the rental car records and how many miles did Mr. Fenn put on the truck or the car…so I don’t answer those kinda questions…but shoot that person that sent in that email…” – (Moby Dickens Book Shop Signing / November 2, 2013)
•“I have not had anybody tell me the answer to that clue (the unintended one in TFTW). If you read my preface it doesn’t take a genius to figure out, I think, what they’re talking about but…there are clues in my new book that can help a person.” – – (Moby Dickens Book Shop Signing / November 2, 2013)
•“I’ve said before the treasure chest is heavy. And it…I made two trips to hide it where I wanted it to be.” – (Collected Works Bookstore Signing / October 22, 2013)
•“What is wrong with me just riding my bike out there and throwing it in the ‘water high’ when I am through with it?” – (Dal’s Blog – “Forrest Gets Mail… / October 3, 2012)
•“No need to look for the treasure in a place where a 79 or 80 year old man couldn’t go with a 44 pound treasure chest full of gold and precious gems.” – (Dal’s Blog – “Forrest Gets Mail… / October 3, 2012)
•“My church is in the mountains and along the river bottoms where dreams and fantasies alike go to play” (The Thrill of the Chase – page 4


Here's a short personality profile of FF;

• 20 years in the military and a third of his book The Thrill of the Chase devoted to that time of his life
• Very private, as indicated by his reactions in the chapters from The Thrill of the Chase such as his reaction to the clerk in “Important Literature” and the gossip of the women in “No Place for Old Biddies”.
• He identifies with the old west and has a great interest, and extensive knowledge, of Native American artifacts.
• By his own admission, FF has been consumed by collecting arrowheads and fishing.
• Openly discusses in The Thrill of the Chase the steps he went through to come to terms with his own mortality

Here's what I suspect;

• The odd phrasing of “Put in” is a reference to a place on a river where people put boats in water which are simply called a “Put in”
• “High water” is another term for mountain lakes
• In the phrase “In the wood” — wood is singular, not plural — which leads me to think it is deliberate
• FF mentions the name “Gardiner” and “Treasure Island” immediately after his poem in The Thrill of the Chase which seems to be deliberate. Gardiner is just outside of Yellowstone and Montana is known as the “Treasure State”.
• If you turn FF’s “The Thrill of the Chase” upside down and look at it’s cover the overlaying pictures match nearly perfectly with the outline of the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. With the "gold" in place for Montana. This may be a coincidence but for some reason I think not.
  

Here is what I think;

• Get to know more about Forest Fenn. Knowing more about FF will help better understand and interpret the clues in the poem by understanding what the words mean to him. For example, what experiences have left a mark on his life? i.e. The military, Yellowstone, Fly-fishing, Lewis and Clark, collecting antiquities — in particular Native American artifacts. For example, in “Begin where the warm waters halt” not only does "Halt" not rhyme but is an odd word choice. Halt is more of a military term. Could halt be a clue pointing towards a military installation of some type? An old Fort perhaps? In “brave the cold” could the word “brave” be a clue in itself since it is commonly used in reference to Native Americans and FF has a great interest in Native American artifacts? In “Wise and in the wood” could the word “wise” be a reference to the Wise River in Montana or the several locations that pop up when we Google things associated with being wise like “owl”?
• What if the clues do NOT start at “Begin…”? The first stanzas of the poem is often disregarded as little more than a lead-in but the statement “I have gone alone in there” could be a clue — either intentionally or deliberately. At some point in TTOTC he mentions going to a secret fly-fishing spot he has never taken anyone to before. To me that seems to be a logical connection.
• Here is a passage gleaned from the internet, (sorry, I do not remember who wrote it) FF describes “a secret location” where his family stashed their fishing gear during the off-season. FF was quoted saying, “We just drove the car out into the forest about half a mile, and unloaded everything,” FF goes on to write that it was always there when they returned. When reading this I often wondered why stash the gear in a place where it might get damaged or stolen when they could have just as easily taken it with them when they left. I would think this might be because leaving the gear behind made the hike back easier which implies the hike was a bit of a commitment or stashing the gear was more of a curiosity whether their “secrete spot” was really as secluded and secret as they thought.

Here is a picture of a possible "blaze" created by FF



Here's what I’ve learned first-hand;

• My brothers and I have made two trips to Montana already with plans on a third within the next month. What we’ve learn is that there is no substitute for lacing up the boots and checking things out in person. Often what may look good on paper does not pan-out once you get there. For example, one of the places we checked out was the Joe Brown Trail in Montana. Looked great on a map but once we got there it became evident almost immediately that this was not the place. There was no way a 79 year old man made this hike twice in one day, especially carrying the weight of the treasure with him.
  
• We were victims of “confirmation bias”. We were so sure we had the right interpretation that we made the 17 hour drive to Montana from our home over 1,600 miles away without having a plan “B” in place. This resulted in us having to rethink our options on the spot which did not turn out to well. Even though we enjoyed the adventure we still felt stupid for making such a preventable blunder and wasting our opportunity.
  
• If the blaze FF mentions is indeed the equivalent of an “X” marks the spot then it is not likely to be on a tree. First, the local wildlife scrapes the trees leaving them heavily scarred and easy for a manmade mark to be overlooked or covered up. Also trees typically do not last for hundreds of years and definitely not for a thousand. This leads me to believe that the blaze might be a mark on a large stone, possibly chiseled or, as I am inclined to believe, painted using the same techniques used by Native Americans when they marking pottery and the inside of caves.
  
• There is a need for a natural barrier. One of the first things I noticed when searching firsthand was the need for some type of barrier to prevent tourists from stumbling upon the treasure. The question then becomes what natural barriers exist that would deter the average person. I would think things like a river or standing bodies of water, or something akin to this and likewise inaccessible, requiring purposeful intent for a person to go there.

 

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[Cinder]

While the majority of your information holds up, there is one point that you don't really ascribe the necessary importance to. Piñon pines only grow in New Mexico, Colorado, and a tiny portion of southern Wyoming. (Other regions do have some small groups of piñon trees, but if this were the case, he'd have trouble asserting that the trees would remain there for a hundred years or more without direct assistance on his part.) Additionally, the selection of piñon for his statement in the video is a bit out of nowhere. Water is fine, mountains are a given, and "animals" is so broad as to be hilarious, but a pointed mention of piñon trees appears to be his main regret in the video and points us at a much smaller portion of the map.

Viewing the map under this new criteria, with a range spread of Pinus edulis for reference, we also see a growth pattern limited by elevation, which makes as much sense for us in confluence with the clues about its elevation range.

 

[nvradar]

They grow everywhere...almost.

 

[Mark9497]

Just about anything can be read into his clues - which I think has been the intention all along - including his comment involving being able to "smell pinion nuts". Whether that comment was deliberate, accidental or the comment he is referring to when saying he regrets a comment - is debatable. The problem is in trying to line up all the clues and make sense of them. While pinion trees only grown in certain portions of New Mexico and Wyoming, was he really referring to the trees or was it a play on words? Was the word "pinion" suppose to send us looking in other areas like a city, lake or area named or associated with the term "pinion". Or.... he really was talking about pinion trees which I find strange because he mentions pinion "nut" and not trees and one cannot smell pinion nuts.

And this is when we all start to go down the rabbit hole. It is so easy to over think this. I think it is all a matter of looking at the clues, comparing it to the available information and then closing your eyes with your finger hovering over a map and stab down on a location.

As for me, as my starting point I am looking more closely at the person (Forest Fenn) and what is meaningful to him. I am of the mind that he did not put the treasure anyplace he has never gone before so the treasure's hiding place has to be someplace from his past and known to him. That, and someplace meaningful enough for him to want to go one last time and die there (referring to the line originally in his poem where he stated he planned on dying next to his treasure). He has also said the intended location of the treasure was not changed after he learned he was not going to die so that means the treasure is not tucked away in some small nook or cranny, rather, someplace large enough to hide a body, and remote enough others would not see or smell his decomposing body.

This line of thinking has sent me in a few different directions. First, the location has to be remote enough to be off the beaten path of the ordinary tourists while still close enough to a road for an 80 year old man to reach twice in one afternoon.

I have my pet theories which I will disclose here after I get back next month. I hesitate to do so in advance for obvious reasons. But even if my conclusions are wrong, I do not think the method in which I came to them is. I'll elaborate more some time in August.

 

[Eldo]

Just about anything can be read into his clues - which I think has been the intention all along - including his comment involving being able to "smell pinion nuts". Whether that comment was deliberate, accidental or the comment he is referring to when saying he regrets a comment - is debatable. The problem is in trying to line up all the clues and make sense of them. While pinion trees only grown in certain portions of New Mexico and Wyoming, was he really referring to the trees or was it a play on words? Was the word "pinion" suppose to send us looking in other areas like a city, lake or area named or associated with the term "pinion". Or.... he really was talking about pinion trees which I find strange because he mentions pinion "nut" and not trees and one cannot smell pinion nuts.

And this is when we all start to go down the rabbit hole. It is so easy to over think this. I think it is all a matter of looking at the clues, comparing it to the available information and then closing your eyes with your finger hovering over a map and stab down on a location.

As for me, as my starting point I am looking more closely at the person (Forest Fenn) and what is meaningful to him. I am of the mind that he did not put the treasure anyplace he has never gone before so the treasure's hiding place has to be someplace from his past and known to him. That, and someplace meaningful enough for him to want to go one last time and die there (referring to the line originally in his poem where he stated he planned on dying next to his treasure). He has also said the intended location of the treasure was not changed after he learned he was not going to die so that means the treasure is not tucked away in some small nook or cranny, rather, someplace large enough to hide a body, and remote enough others would not see or smell his decomposing body.

This line of thinking has sent me in a few different directions. First, the location has to be remote enough to be off the beaten path of the ordinary tourists while still close enough to a road for an 80 year old man to reach twice in one afternoon.

I have my pet theories which I will disclose here after I get back next month. I hesitate to do so in advance for obvious reasons. But even if my conclusions are wrong, I do not think the method in which I came to them is. I'll elaborate more some time in August.

Why wait till then...lets go now.....

To the blaze and the rock that the chest is posted up on. have made one trip to eliminate one possibility in the area, and have made the final find using Google Earth...have photo of the chest itself sitting on a rock if you want to help fund the adventure, I will share 20%, a King's Fifth for the support.

I have cancer and is difficult to find a job, so looking to funding sources to get some therapy at some point, and this is the fastest way for me to generate money for the operations

Your research is pretty much one of the most thorough analyses of the chase to date.....great job on the breakdowns

 

[nvradar]

Just about anything can be read into his clues - which I think has been the intention all along - including his comment involving being able to "smell pinion nuts". Whether that comment was deliberate, accidental or the comment he is referring to when saying he regrets a comment - is debatable. The problem is in trying to line up all the clues and make sense of them. While pinion trees only grown in certain portions of New Mexico and Wyoming, was he really referring to the trees or was it a play on words? Was the word "pinion" suppose to send us looking in other areas like a city, lake or area named or associated with the term "pinion". Or.... he really was talking about pinion trees which I find strange because he mentions pinion "nut" and not trees and one cannot smell pinion nuts.

And this is when we all start to go down the rabbit hole. It is so easy to over think this. I think it is all a matter of looking at the clues, comparing it to the available information and then closing your eyes with your finger hovering over a map and stab down on a location.

As for me, as my starting point I am looking more closely at the person (Forest Fenn) and what is meaningful to him. I am of the mind that he did not put the treasure anyplace he has never gone before so the treasure's hiding place has to be someplace from his past and known to him. That, and someplace meaningful enough for him to want to go one last time and die there (referring to the line originally in his poem where he stated he planned on dying next to his treasure). He has also said the intended location of the treasure was not changed after he learned he was not going to die so that means the treasure is not tucked away in some small nook or cranny, rather, someplace large enough to hide a body, and remote enough others would not see or smell his decomposing body.

This line of thinking has sent me in a few different directions. First, the location has to be remote enough to be off the beaten path of the ordinary tourists while still close enough to a road for an 80 year old man to reach twice in one afternoon.

I have my pet theories which I will disclose here after I get back next month. I hesitate to do so in advance for obvious reasons. But even if my conclusions are wrong, I do not think the method in which I came to them is. I'll elaborate more some time in August.

Yes he said it's a very special place to "him". He said I couldn't just go into the woods and hide it just any place.

 

[Mark9497]

New clue added by FF
- The Treasure is not in a cave

 

[Mark9497]

Great post on "The Daily Beast" by Tony Doukopil. Definitively worth the time to check out.
Clues for Finding Forrest Fenn's Buried Treasure, Part 2 - The Daily Beast

 

[hvacker]

I'm new to this hunt even though Forrest lives about 70 miles from me. Just throwing this out there. Pinon's grow between 4000 -9000 feet above sea level in a fairly small area. Pinon wood is recognizable when burnt.
I wonder if Forrest left his fishing gear to test the security of where he was going to leave his treasure.

 

[snicol]

Hey Mark and Eldo....I am new to the hunt and late to the game...but i have read everything i can ...I want in...I live in Colorado Springs and am available for any excursions. Please let me know if we can link up in some capacity...im not greedy

 

[mrmagica]

F talks about the meaning of the word "several". - more than 2 but less than many.
Then ask yourself how can something so vague with thousands of possibilities, turn into something with only 1? And then he has written it in such a way that the solver knows the solution as sure as he knows that 2 +2=4

 

[nvradar]

maybe!

 

[Gaspipe]

You'll have more luck trying to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

They grow everywhere...almost.

Yup...there are pinion pines In Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. I don't know about Montana, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Jim

 

[nvradar]

I don't know for if Mt. grows them either but seems it would.

 

[jrf30]

FF

Mark,

You said you would discuss your trip and theories after you got back in August. never heard from you after that. How did it go? Eliminate another area? Find anything of interest?

I have my pet theories which I will disclose here after I get back next month. I hesitate to do so in advance for obvious reasons. But even if my conclusions are wrong, I do not think the method in which I came to them is. I'll elaborate more some time in August.

 

[Mark9497]

After going on the hunt about half a dozen times now I've learned that there is no substitute for first-hand experience. What looks good on paper often does not measure up once you are there in person.

Here are my solves that did not pan out. Perhaps you can see something here I missed or at least save you the trouble of retreading my steps.

Solve #1. The word “Halt” instead of stop. This is an unusual choice of words. The word “Halt” is a more common term in the military and being a military man the word might hold more special meaning to him. Perhaps this was a nod towards Fort Yellowstone. My buddies and I thought this was plausible since almost a third of FF’s book was devoted to his military service. He also mentions ‘Gardiner’ immediately after the poem (Pg. 133) and Fort Yellowstone is only a short drive from Gardiner.

‘Put in’ below the home of Brown is another odd phrase and as it turns out a common term used by fishermen for a place where their boats are ‘put in’ the water. And it just so happens that there is a ‘Joe Brown Put In’ on the outskirts of Gardiner city along the Yellowstone river.

‘No paddle up your creek’ seemed to hint at a dry creek bed and just below (or just above, depending on how you look at it) is the Joe Brown creek trail.

Conclusion; The trail was entirely to difficult for an ill 80 year old man to traverse once let alone twice in one day. We checked along the banks of the Yellowstone River thinking this was a more plausible choice but discounted it was too heavily traveled and to easily accessed. Then we thought maybe it is on the other side of the river - with the river acting as a natural barrier so the unsuspecting would not accidentally stumble across it. And across the river was Indian creek trail but getting to it proved to be the problem. Crossing Yellowstone River was not an option due to its size and current. We found a bridge further upstream but the poem did not mention the bridge and once we crossed our options dried up and we had no clues or direction.

Solution #2. It’s in Yellowstone.
Conclusion; It is not in Yellowstone. Yellowstone is too heavily traveled, does not have enough privacy and contains no promising locations. For FF to hide it in Yellowstone he would have had to hide way off the beaten trail and going off the beaten trail in Yellowstone carries with it the very real chance of running into something that would like to eat you, or at least stomp and chew on you a bit. It is our assumption that in order for FF to make the trip from his car to where he hid the treasure twice in one day that the treasure must be 1 ½ to 2 miles away at the most. Making a 2 mile hike, there and back, becomes 4 miles. Doing this twice in one day makes it 8 miles. 8 miles of rugged terrain, carrying at least 22 lbs. is a bit much for an ill 80 year old man. There are no secluded spots under a 2 mile hike from the roadway within Yellowstone.

Solution #3. We began to run out of ideas and like most people started looking for spots that contained most, if not all, of the clues, in the hope that some of the other clues would become apparent or reveal themselves once we were in the right area.

One such possibility was ‘Brown’s Mountain’ in Wyoming. It was off of the ‘Wood’ River and seemed a logical explanation for ‘Brave the cold’ and ‘In the wood’. The problem we encountered once we got there was the lack of any other defining clues, markers or direction. The river bottom did not seem like a likely spot since seasonal flood would bury or move the treasure and the hillsides were either too steep or heavily wooded to be realistic hiding spots.


..........ADDITIONAL CLUES AND SUPPOSITIONS..........
I am going to share information and clues I have kept to myself up to this point. These clues might point you in the right direction or send you on a wild goose chase.
Here they are.

‘In the wood’
Wood is singular, not plural. I think this is deliberate and important.
‘Home of Brown”
Home of Brown, not house. And Brown is capitalized.

FF is an avid fisherman, particularly fly-fishing. My father was an avid fly-fisherman from Colorado and had his favorite fishing spots. By far his most cherished were the beaver dams he fished as a boy.

Beaver means ‘Brown’.
And a collection or pile of wood is called ‘wood’ - not 'woods'. Could FF have hidden the treasure in a beaver dam or more precisely in a beavers lodge or ‘home’? This would also make the treasure less accessible to the average person and would explain the ‘brave the cold’ stanza. There are countless beaver dams and lodges through FF's childhood fishing spots. My concern is having people damage the dams and lodges because of my post.

FF has a great interest and knowledge of Native American artifacts. Could his reference to ‘brave’ be referring to some location associated with Native Americans or is an inference to some local landmark or name?

I still have one pet theory left. I typed it out here but then had second thoughts and erased it, because, well, it’s a good one and I hesitate to share it until I've had the opportunity to eliminate it as a possible solution. Unfortunately I won’t get the chance to go on the hunt again until next summer. What I will tell you is that this solve puts me in Wyoming and in a remote area I have not heard anyone else discuss.

I'll let everyone know how it goes sometime in 2016. That is, if there is still a treasure to be found

 

[nvradar]

Can I ask where you found beaver means Brown?

 

[Mark9497]

Can I ask where you found beaver means Brown?

Just about any internet search will bring it up. A good place to start is dictionary.com. Among the other definitions it also states the origin of "beaver" is an Old English root for "brown". If you look around with an eye for this detail you'll find it in multiple locations.

But with all this said, we still have to be cautious not to fall into "confirmation bias" and see only what we want to see.

 

[nvradar]

I shall check into it,I have had the same thought. I totally agree on the "bias" issue. Too many make a stretch for the clues to fit a location,vice versa. They gotta fit without trying to put a square peg into a round hole.