(Forrest’s answer here is enlightening, specifically regarding distance and ‘trail’: …/) The trail, if followed, will take you almost directly to Burnt Top (“the blaze”). It just so happens that there is a trail beginning exactly at Ramshorn Lake, called Buffalo Horn Creek. I believe the blaze to be both a trail, and a feature on a map.
If you’ve been wise and found the blaze: Several have posited that the blaze is a physical feature or marking. ALL THREE PATHS lead up to Ramshorn Lake, which is “water high” if there ever was a lake at elevation (and “water high” is also an anglers’ term for a lake at elevation): from Wikipedia – “Ramshorn Lake sits at the base of Fortress Mountain and Ramshorn Peak, the highest mountain in the Gallatin Range at 10,289 feet.” Just heavy loads and water high: Alternatively, slightly further up is a “Rock Creek Road” (heavy loads), which, if taking the aforementioned creeks, is situated on your right – “just”, as in “justice and righteousness”. Incidentally, this creek takes you past Steamboat Mountain, though you never actually touch it (“no paddle”). There’ll be no paddle up your creek: We’re now ascending up the other side of the valley, using Dry Creek, which follows Tom Miner Creek Road (no paddle, because it’s a Dry Creek) “your”, indicating that the creek is named after a person: Tom Miner. Alternatively, there could be an extra layer of meaning in that we are looking for “draws” i.e.
Rather, look at the end of the word Sphinx. The end is ever drawing nigh: Not, as some have said, that you are now always moving to your left (though this solve does now take you West on the whole). Furthermore, right across the river from Joe Brown boat launch (“from there”) is a place called Sphinx: a mythical creature known both for its penchant for riddles (which seems to strike me as something which appeals to ff in his setting go the poem), its ferocity (no place for the meek), AND GUARDING TREASURE. Joe Meek was run off by Blackfeet Indians not more than 10km away (no place for the Meek), and the land across the river is also the Gallatin Petrified Forest (no place to be meek!). Except you don’t physically do that.įrom there it’s no place for the meek: Here’s where our background research comes into play. this is where you would “put in” to the river, in the sense of launching a small vessel into the water. If you follow the river/riverside road down about 50km, you will reach the Joe Brown boat launch (and…) Not far, but too far to walk: Both an indicator of mode of transport, and distance. It has many interesting features including Artist’s Point, rather fitting for an ex-gallery owner. Waters halt (or temporarily stop) at a lake: hence, Yellowstone Lake is our And take it in the canyon down: Naturally, Yellowstone Canyon. Fenn’s “where” is located within the “there”.Īnd hint of riches new and old… Hiding the treasure at his spot has now allowed Fenn to set the puzzle, the Nine Clues: The Chase! How thrilling!īegin it where warm waters halt: Most people, especially those who are international (The “Little Girl from India”?), when they think of warm waters in the Rockies, will think of Yellowstone. I can keep my secret where… He’s intending to keep it: which I take to mean that the poem won’t actually lead to the exact spot (the where), but that the general location (the there) – which is still a relatively small and private place that will be where we’re led to. This line should stoke our imaginations, even though we know of some of the treasures already! Think BOLD, rather than bold in the sense of audacity. Treasures bold means just that: treasures which are striking to the eye. I believe they act as a kind of prologue to The Chase: a setting of the scene, so to speak…Īs I have gone alone in there… Because Fenn has found a secret place (there) where he has gone on his own, he can keep his secret where, or in other words the precise spot he has hidden the treasure.Īnd with my treasures bold… Many have read too much into this, I’m minded. That said, it’s unlikely that Fenn will have spent a number of years composing these words in particular without intending them to be of some use or meaning. In my reading of the poem, I’m persuaded that this stanza holds no clues: at least none that function as directions to the treasure.
Go and get it if you think the below is legit.Īs I have gone alone in there/And with my treasures bold,/I can keep my secret where,/And hint of riches new and old. My solution to the Thrill of the Chase – Samuel Lovell