I want to give my readers something to think about while winter approaches. After exhausting all the solves I can come up with it could be that I walked right by the treasure. Some might believe the treasure is hidden where many have looked before. The latest news about Forrest showing a reporter where Mr. Fenn felt an umbilical-connection has got the Dogs barking.
Think about these things when deciding if you should jump in the truck and head out on a the chase. I am a Dog of the chase and just like my partner Billybobs, a toy poodle, my tendency is to chase after things. If I point to something Billy will run in that direction. That is how us dogs are and that is not helpful when looking for treasure. Lately people are pointing to Baker’s Hole. Forrest sat under a tree and wrote a letter to his loving wife close to this fishing/swimming spot on the Madison River. Baker’s Hole has been hinted at before when Forrest made reference to baking. Baker’s Hole was once called Brown’s Hole and it is across the highway from the local airport. (Easy access for a drop off and no car left behind). The water is cold there and kids swam there. Lets go!
Forrest said the home of Brown is not a fish. I think he is saying it is not a fishes home. Not a fishing hole or hatchery. Also, if Baker’s Hole is the Home of Brown why would I look there? The place we are looking for is below the Home of Brown. Billybobs might look at Baker’s Hole but Forrest says its not at the home of Brown. I had a chance to talk with Forrest in Santa Fe and he corrected me when I refereed to the Madison River as a creek. Mr. Fenn seem to take offence at calling his river a creek. The poem talks about a creek not a river.
Brain games had 50 or so people guess at the number of gum balls in a jar. The guesses were averaged and the number was only 5 gum balls off. Science calls this the wisdom of the group. Someone asked how far did Forrest walk from his car to hide the treasure. So far the average is close to what Mr. Fenn says he went. He says in all (two trips) he went less than a few miles. Few means more than a couple so it could be three up to five miles. I think he walked just under three miles. That divided by four leaves us with a trip of 3/4 of a mile from his car. The parking places Forrest pointed out to Grey the reporter is about an 1/8 of a mile from this famous tree where he wrote his wife a letter. Baker’s Hole doesn’t fit the facts. It may be somewhere at about a mile from Baker’s but it is not at Baker’s Hole. Warning! Please do not walk in the gavel on the bottom of the river or streams as you will be killing fish eggs and disturbing needed spawning areas be careful and look for the spawning redds.
I feel Forrest left clues in the book that he said helps to understand what the clues mean but not where they are. For example in the poem the phrase “water high” is explained as where he threw a bike in the deep water. In the book water high means deep water. The book hints that water high means deep. Not too far but too far to walk is the distance from Barns Holes to Baker’s Hole that distance is about twelve miles. Check it out on the map to be precise. Why I am not in the truck going to West Yellowstone is simple there isn’t a creek . ever drawing neigh that is deep 3/4 of a mile from a parking spot that others have walked by, or is there?
Coming up I am going to set up a meeting in West Yellowstone to capture group wisdom and get the number of miles from x the treasure is. One such questionnaire done on how far from the car Fenn walk to his hiding place was taken recently. The results average out to right at 3/4 of a mile.
Leave a comment when you can.
Capt Pappy's Blog 
Hello again Captain!
I thought Amethyst Creek in the Lamar Valley fit this description, but I’ve been there 4 times (as have many others) and I can’t find anything, but buffalo pies and flies.
There’s a perfectly secluded spot where Faeries Falls plunges from Amethyst creek just before it runs into the Lamar River.
It’s my favorite spot in the park.
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Wow! Shiver my timbers. That has to be a great place. Pictures?
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Did you see the tree with the impression inside? It is down from the Ranger Station pull out at first turnout on the left, then hike to the island in the Llamar River and go downstream to the tree.
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Probably cant find it near Madison “creek” because its down in New Mexico! Glad all you searchers are wasting time up North!
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New Mexico is fantastic, with its seven major life zones imagine driving from the Lower Sonoran desert to the Alpine forest. I can ski in the morning, take the tram down the mile-high mountain and play tennis in the afternoon. The tram takes me to my special place where at the rock house, you can climb over the cliff to a ledge and watch the birds fly by just inches away from my head or I try to take in the Rio Grande Valley from Toas to Las Cruses. I use to walled up to Steward Lake in the Pecos before it got crowded, but I would like seeing Hidden Lake up in Tres Piedras again. Wheeler Peak is a thrill and high enough for me. My favorite hot spring was up in the Jemez but way too crowded now. When I was a teenager, I drove up to Red River, Taos, Eagles Nest, and Questa we use to hang out at the Black Mountain Playhouse in Red River.
The best thing happened to me at the Toas Sky Valley. I took the most beautiful girl to celebrate New Years at the Taos Sky Valley. We walked into a crowded place we had to squeeze into and were met with a spray of champagne. Well, it was fun, but we were hungry and entered the bar next door. Strange, it was opposite the place we just left. Only a sharp dress man and his two dates were in the lounge. Not being very observant but quite lucky, the only reason we stayed is no one told us to leave. After a time the waiter came to the table and invited us to stay and dance at the behest of the Gentleman and his friends. Then the staff cleared the floor and played the jukebox. We got to party with a Kennedy. We didn’t talk just a thank you, but we both enjoyed the room, the food, the music even party favors at twelve.
Sometimes I would go back to Albuquerque via Cimarron all in search of the next Fish. I had some exciting times with my friends in Coyote out in Rio Arriba County; back then, it was rough and rowdy. Big family gatherings in wooded meadows with a level field for playing softball. This same clan has used this same area as far back as 1558 AD. It is no wonder the meat is fresh and the water clean, clear, and cold. There is no sky better than there on the side of the Pecos Baldy laying down on my back looking up into an endless sky black and filled with heavenly bodies; orbs of colors, some flashing multiple colors others looking like a planet. I felt the earth moving through the mix of perfect black and bright starlight. I feared God that night. I use to go with friends from a statistics class below the Arm and Hammer World School over by Las Vegas. The lithium in the hot springs there has a pleasant effect. We partied our last night together at those hot springs, an all-nighter. In the morning, we took our finals.
New Mexico is the land of enchantment fill with multiple cultures and the best green chili in the world. I cooked in the first Red River Red Chili Cook-Off. Took 32nd out of 36 cooks. Got to get better! But won the chugging and pie-eating events.
Anyway keep it at least 8.25 miles north of Santa Fe and enjoy your searches.
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Have a green chili cheeseburger at Monroe’s for me or my favorite breakfast; a bowl with refried beans made with pork fat, then a scoop of pinto beans followed by a fried egg shredded cheese and topped Christmas style (half red chili sauce and half green chili sauce). Sopapilla and honey on the side. Forget Frito Pie how about those public school cheese enchiladas or a frozen orange drink in a cup. Tell us what you find and have a great adventure.
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Based on your average logic the treasure must be in either New Mexico or Montana. Wyoming may be a close 3rd, Colorado may not even be close. Thanks for the hot dog in Santa Fe!
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Im curious if CaptnPappy were to consider looking in New Mexico where he would go? That is if he is even familiar with NM being a northerner from Boise.
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If you can read an earlier reply I made you will know my experience in New Mexico. But to save time I was born at St. Joseph Hospital in Albuquerque in 1949. I went to school at Bandelier elementary, Wilson Jr. and Highland High School. Then University of Albuquerque and UNM and NMHU in Las Vegas New Mexico. I taught and coached there for 25 years I spent lots of summers fishing, hiking, and camping in New Mexico. I also studied Flora of New Mexico which gave me reasons to travel the State as well as rockhounding.
North of Santa Fe to the New Mexico border leaves only a small part of the state even less when water is part of the solution. Not many hot springs and very few hot springs plural like in the poem. where warm waterssssssssss hault not where warm water haultsssss. Now north is the wilderness with a lot of possibilities but if you notice wildernesses don’t have roads so most of those areas are out beyond where Fenn could go. There is a place northeast of Eagle Nest this was private land owned by Standard Oil eventually bought by the State. This area was reffed to as God’s country, it had more water, fish, game than anywhere else in the state by far. I would look at the waterways and find a hot spring there. That is a premier spot.
Good luck with the search if I get more ideas on New Mexico I’ll put it here.
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Yes, and Montana is beginning to take the lead. Where do you suppose the average warm waters are? I know you know and so on. Takes us to a reasonable place do you agree.
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I ran the lat/long of the property there and it is a tiny triangle the search area I assumed it would be in. Took a bit to find the address, but it is 1220 US Highway 89 South, Gardiner, MT 59030
Can’t find Fenn and that address connected anywhere, and I couldn’t find the owner’s name anywhere (In VA we can search the GIS by county but couldn’t find it in Park County).
I heard him say that there won’t be an ownership issue, making me think that he owned that property; however, he also said don’t trespass, too.The private residence would explain ownership if they have an agreement AND explains how he knows if it is still there!
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The owner’s are Loy and Colleen Harris…
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I had a good friend named Mike Harris.
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Wow! That is exciting. There is an airport over there and the Devil’s Slide is cool there are three Brown possibilities. If Fenn has property there seems someone would have spilled the beans. Spent three years looking over there and I still love it and the buffalo Burgers at the Wild Horse on the Yellowstone.
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This is very interesting. Hard to keep it a secret. There is a peace of private land along the Yellowstone near Yankee Jim’s Canyon. It was given to the city for an unknown reason to me. I have looked there before no reason not to go back.
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Hello Capt.,
I have wanted to talk with you for a while now for I believe that had you found the Foot Soak the way that I did you would have found the only spot that the Chest can be in the place that Forrest once played as a Child.
Which is not only me saying this but the Treasure State as well.
That which I must believe made Forrest question what He had done.
You are a quiet one Capt. as am I.
I have listened quietly to those sharing pieces of their Chase since I found the only spot the chest can be in this place for that is just me and I have my reasons.
A spot that you drove right by if you drove beyond two miles from the bridge after making a right.
Have you ever thought about making a left from the bridge and putting in at the Joe Brown put in as I must believe the poem tells us to do?
________________________________
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Micheal, we have been on the same wavelength. I cannot say the treasure isn’t up Sphinx Creek. Joe Brown put-in is a wonderful solution. Two miles down from Corwin Springs I found a bear’s hide. That’s about where I got into some badass ants. Someone asked me about ants so there is the answer. That is near our bear meet up on a trip up to the cabin on Sphinx.
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Hey Pappy! This is Thilo from Berlin (T‘Lo)! I hope your doing fine and look forward to meeting you again this summer!!! Give Billybobs a hug from me will‘ya?
Cheers
T
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T’Lo how nice to hear from you. Yes, a big party in West Yellowstone. Billybobs is wagging his tail. This time we catch a big trout for your son to see.
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Forrest has never said the home of Brown is not a fish. Do you have a link for this quote?
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I wrote a long explanation but it seems not to be here so briefly I’ll answer your note. I will not defend my statements as I feel everything I write could call for its defense. Blogs are like the telephone game everything needs to be fact-checked. I check everything and I like to use terryscant.com as they have a word search for all things Forrest has said or written. It may not be complete. I say he said it is not a fish you say he did not say it is not a fish. Fish or not enjoy your adventures and best of luck.
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