Worth noting people have died looking for it, which makes me believe the claim is likely real, especially given Fenn has charted private helicopters to help search for those lost and known to be searching for the treasure:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenn_treasure" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenn_treasure</a><p>Fenn hasn't been out in the Rocky Mountains, north of Santa Fe, to check on the chest since he hid it, but he knows it's still there.<p>My guess is that the prize is not inside, but with Fenn; which explains why he checks to see if someone has found it and requests they provide proof of what is inside.<p>Fenn has more clues posted here:
<a href="http://www.oldsantafetradingco.com/the-thrill-resource-page" rel="nofollow">http://www.oldsantafetradingco.com/the-thrill-resource-page</a>
If he's confident that no one else knows where it is, either he killed someone, or it is in a place where an 85 year old man can carry a 40lb chest. I know some AT thru hikers that old, but I don't think their packs were that heavy, and the load was better distributed/more ergonomic.<p>If I had to guess, the location is within an 8 hour hike (12 miles at that age) of a road or jeep trail. Between that and the water clue, I think the field is considerably more narrow than the 5,000ft map in the article.<p>dang. I think i got bit by this gold bug ;)
Before getting too carried away, I'd suggest reading this piece [1], about the search for Randy Bilyeu, the missing treasure seeker mentioned int the NPR article. It provides lot more background and context, and is enjoyable as far as long form journalism goes.<p>Like many, I've casually followed the story over the years, but in the 5280 article, the reporter interviews Fenn in the context of the manhunt. To me, Fenn comes off as someone whose obsession with his own eccentric idea of a "game" overrides the very real life-and-death situations created as a result of that game.<p>The NPR article is surprisingly blase considering the dangers involved.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.5280.com/news/magazine/2016/07/how-one-colorado-man-disappeared-while-hunting-hidden-treasure" rel="nofollow">http://www.5280.com/news/magazine/2016/07/how-one-colorado-m...</a>
There was a neat little mini-documentary by Vox [1] that went over the details of this, talked to a few other people obsessed by this treasure hunt. Pretty good overview of the history and current state of the hunt.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ahNpQLgdk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ahNpQLgdk</a>
This is the first time I'm hearing of this treasure - fun stuff!<p>Reading the poem, the first place that popped into my head is Brown's Canyon National Monument, just outside of Salida, Colorado.<p><a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/visit/browns-canyon-national-monument" rel="nofollow">https://www.fs.fed.us/visit/browns-canyon-national-monument</a><p>It's just 3.5 to 4 hours north of Santa Fe, is an area with multiple hot springs (Mt. Princeton, Poncha Springs, etc.), and downstream (Arkansas River) you go through Bighorn Sheep Canyon and the Royal George.<p>It's just an amazing area on this Earth.
If you're into that sort of things, you can have a look at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_Owl" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_Owl</a>.
Has he ever confirmed whether the treasure is still at the location?<p>What if someone found it long ago, not knowing that it was part of a scavenger hunt, and decided to hide their discovery?
The podcast Everything is Stories did an episode on Mr. Fenn and his hidden treasure in March 2014. For anyone interested it fills out the picture a bit of his life and his motivation for doing this.<p><a href="http://www.eisradio.org/item/003" rel="nofollow">http://www.eisradio.org/item/003</a>
Random related story:<p>I was in New Mexico recently to see family and my brother said he had recently picked up a hitchhiker who had been searching for the treasure. She had started in Colorado and apparently been following clues found in the poems with geological features to travel along the Rio Grande in search of it. She believed based on her searching at the time (this was 1-2 months ago) that the treasure was likely hidden somewhere in Pilar. Apparently she had found marks on rocks in Embudo that led her to believe it was apparently on the other side of a rock formation she was near.<p>I wouldn't put too much faith in this person's account, but she had apparently been searching for it non-stop for several months and had been led to Pilar by these "clues".
Could it be that he never checked whether all the hints he gave sufficiently narrow down the location to just one spot? That he has additional knowledge for every line, knowledge which he thinks is self-evident, but knowledge with is actually just very personal to him, and cannot be inferred?<p>In this case, the riddle might never be solved, and he might die in the self delusion that all the attention this raised is because he is a gifted writer, when the reality is much more sad: he was a terrible riddle author that threw away a million bucks.
Vox had a good video about this recently: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ahNpQLgdk" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ahNpQLgdk</a>
Outside has published a number of columns on this usually accompanied with crazy stories of treasure hunters. If nothing else, it's a great way to get some folks into the wild :)
Some friends and I decided to have a go at the treasure a few years back. It was a good excuse to go out camping and road-tripping with some mates. We identified a spot we each thought it may have been and then spend some weekends one summer checking them out. One place we found outside of Estes Park, CO did have a rather large hole dug out right next to a 'swamp'/water-filled depression, there were a LOT of beer cans and champagne bottles around from at least a winter beforehand. The place fit all the bills for the treasure's location, at least to our minds. Maybe the people that found it are mum, the tax reasons would be enough to shut my mouth too.<p>The treasure has been around for so long, and there have been so many attempts at it, I figure there is no way that it has not been discovered yet, if the thing really exists. Maybe Fenn put some note in there that says to contact him for more cash or something, so that he'll know that it was found. I doubt this. More than likely, there is no treasure at all and it is an intentional wild-goose chase and the 'real treasure is friendship'. But that doesn't square with all the deaths people have had looking for it. If the 'real treasue is friendship' then Fenn has real blood on his hands. We all had a great time camping at least.
If this interests you, I highly recommend checking out book The Secret. Super interesting.
<a href="http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/page/22148559/FrontPage" rel="nofollow">http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/page/22148559/FrontPage</a>
Reminds me <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_Owl" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_O...</a>, which is hidden in France and people have been searching for it for decades.
Maybe I should start off with Pokemon Go first to get warmed up. Similar concept where Fenn wants people to bring out their inner Indiana Jones. Instead of giving away a fortune, the makers of Pokemon Go were trying to make one.
Let me get this straight. People have died and this geriatric narcissist hasn't yet decided that maybe 4 dead people are too many and maybe, possibly, it would be a better karmic strategy for him to forgoe his little scheme and just call the thing off?
> The most recent was Randy Bilyeu who went missing in January 2016 and was later found dead in July of that year.<p>I wonder how he feels knowing at least one person died because of his actions :(