worth looking for?

[arkobnrs]

I got interested in treasure hunting last summer while doing a radio sponsered hunt for a prize I began a convo with a lady who hunts actual treasure, she was nice enough to share the legend of her treasure with me and show me pitures of two REALLY impressive turtles her and her partner had found, these are clearly turtles, in much better shape than any other pics I have ran across, but I am way of topic now lol.(she also had pic's of a death trap)

My boyfriend knows of a place near where we live way up in the mountains, it is a long ATV ride then at least one mile uphill walk.

He and others have described the spot as an indention in the face of a bluff, with a huge rock hiding the indention, there is a wall in between the rock and bluff wall that is waist high or so. They all call the rock a "lookout" there are stairs up the back of it.

Now as if that wasn't enough to get me curious, in the last few weeks or so some guys we know were going to the place and came across a tree , or maybe some trees, I'm not really sure and they had carvings in them. I am getting this second or third hand from my boyfriend, he didn't know what the carvings were, but he said he thinks maybe they said one was a snake and the other some other animal.

So what do you guys think? If it ever warms up a little on a weekend when my kids are gone I plan on trying to get up there will definately take a camera and get some pics, but wanted to know if this sounds like something to the more experienced hunters.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Sandman]

Sure, go for it, Git'er Done. Even if you don't find treasure, the fun is in the hunt anyway. You will be kicking yourself in the butt everytime you wonder what is there so go for it. What else you going to do, house work?

 

[Jeffro]

How long have you folks been together? My Dad used to invite my Mom out to watch the "submarine races", lol!

If you have been together awhile, I guess thats a moot point.... but still it might be a kinda romantic thing.

If he's really being serious, then heck yes- and bring your camera! Grab some chalk too, to make the marks stand out for the pics. There's plenty of folks on here who know a thing or two about ciphering to give you a hand with the pics.

 

[arkobnrs]

Okay so have gotten a little bit more information. BF ran into the brother of one of the guys who saw the carvings last night.

The carvings are on rock NOT trees, the carvings are no where nere the
"lookout" but are actually on the other side of the mountain from them. BUT the carvings are of a snake, a turkey track and a turtle they think. lol. all of this is related to me with "well he wasn't really sure if any thing else was there of not." GRRR.

Another interesting footnote..... I have read a book by a local who grew up on the carving side of this mountian, in it he related a couple of very interesting stories, one is something about some strangers camping in the area for awhile who appeared to be doing some mining I don't remember the exact details but BF owns the book so will reread.

The OTHER interesting story is that Bell Starr et all were known to frequent a motel that is not far from here maybe 20-30 miles as the crow flies, of course motel is gone, actualy the whole town is practicaly gone There was more to this story also that pertained to the outlaws actually being ON the mountain, maybe while on the run, but again it has been awhile since I read the book.

The author is still alive (I think) but has got to be in his 90's at least. BF knows who his grandkids are so could prob. at least talk to family if the author doesn't have all his facilities.

Sounds interesting doesn't it.

Was planning on a camera and chalk, is there any other suggestions of things to take? This is a REALLY remote area, I don't want to get out there and think "man i wish i had ____"

Thanks guys!

 

[Jeffro]

You might take along a compass for bearings, and a surveyor's tape for measuring, just in case. A GPS unit would be handy , if you have one. Then you could mark the points where you find the signs and apply them to a topo in the future, may give you some sort of reference as to what the clue means.

And definately take notes of any little detail.... you never know when one little reference could make the difference!

Best of luck, I hope something pans out of this! keep us posted...

 

[arkobnrs]

Okay that advice opens up a whole nother bunch of questions. I have never used a compass or a GPS. Like I said earlier I just got interested in treasure hunting last summer so this will be my first time out. I am into things like camping and hiking ect. but have always been in places I know well so I have never had the need to learn how to read a topo map or compass or gps.

I know this sounds incredibly lazy but I think gps would be the simplest way to start, but I know nothing about them either other than they are expensive, but thanks to tax returns I may be able to get one soon.

What should I look for? What features are important to hunting? Where can I find someone who can teach me how to plot my points on a map? Any thing I forgot to ask?

 

[Jeffro]

OK- I have never been lucky enough to stumble across such signs, and I'm sure there are as many ways to do it as there are people who do it- if that makes any sense.

going by my experience, what I know- this is how I would proceed.

Judge the amount of time you will need at the site by how accessable it is and plan accordingly for that time period.

Say you get to the area and find a marker- I would lay that waypoint in my GPS, take photos of the sign, and add notes to my notebook of any and all references available. For instance, if there appears to be an arrow pointing in a particular direction, I would get out the compass and make a note of it. Make a note of what it seems to be pointing at. How high off the ground. Jot down your fist impressions of what it may mean.... etc.

Look around for any more markers and keep going until you have searched the area thoroughly. Anything that seems significant, take photos and make notes.

After getting home, try to figure out what the sign may mean. Track down different theories, and look at it from as many different ways as possible. Plug your GPS coordinates into terraserver or some other topo map program, and try to interpret what the sign may mean as far as "go to this mountain, or that stream, or this pile of rocks," or whatever you come up with as far as the interpretation goes. sometimes a topo can give you clues that wouldn't see from the ground.

terraserver and others also have aerial photos and sattellite images as well, maybe that will help.

If you get stumped, you have your notes, photos etc..... you also have a wealth of information waiting for you right here on this forum. It would be prudent not to give too much away as far as specific areas or locations obviously, and people on here would consider it bad taste to ask generally speaking, so do be safe.

I'm sure someone else will jump in here anytime and give you more suggestions, but that is how I would start.

Who knows where it will lead? Maybe nothing, maybe something.... never know until you try!

Oh, and the GPS units have come down in price quite a bit in the last few years.... you can get one for under a hundred bucks that will generally serve the purpose. If you plan on doing this sort of thing quite a bit, and you go camping and hiking quite a bit anyways, you may want to start out with a little better unit for 150- 200?

Read the thread by Kiddrock you'll see how he does it, may give you some more ideas.

 

[arkobnrs]

Thank you for all the information. It is supposed to snow tonight and tommorrow so this weekend is out. It seems as if every weekend my kids are with their dad the weather is crappy, during the week 60-70 degrees Friday hits and the temps drop 20 degrees, and it starts raining.

Anyone else that has any pointers please feel free to jump in any time it looks like we will have plenty of time for my education.lol.

 

[southbound]

Don't forget to take lots of notes.Every little bit of evidenc e helps. Vern

 

[Jeffro]

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention.... lol! Be sure and do some research on just what it is you're SUPPOSED to be looking for... carvings are obvious, of course, but there may be other signs around that may not be so obvious to the untrained eye.

Mike "Hawkeye" Pickett does a monthly column for the GPAA, he does this sort of stuff quite a bit. Do a search for his website, may give you some more pointers.

 

[arkobnrs]

Got directions, went and looked didn't find the rock. (pouting) BUT did find some trees, I posted them somewhere (well my awful drawings of them)

Talked to the brother of the guy who found the carvings.....
the numbers 2 and 4 were there too. And I may actually have this one figured out.

what do ya'll think?

 

[arkobnrs]

Pictures of rocks....

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,32301.0.html

 

[DJ_Quinn]

Good luck on your hunt ark. I loooked at those rock carvings, and while they do appear to be directional markings they are on small, loose rocks that can be easily turned or rotated. It reminds of what the locals like to do here in Ireland, which is turn the roadsigns to face the wrong direction. My guess is it's a wind up, but it's still a bit of fun isn't it? I live close to Tory Hill, it's actually just 10 meters shy of a mountain so it's quite large, and a notorious outlaw used it as his camp. Local legend say "he hid all of his ill-gotten loot in a cave on the mountain side". And then there is the farmer in Tipperary who "burried ?1,000,000 in a butter churn" somewhere on his 3000 acre farm, and then died before he told anyone where it was. My point is, local legends are fun but seldom authentic.