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Post by goldilocks on Apr 17, 2019 16:37:10 GMT -5
Hi Ralph: yep, that Gascoigne quote is one which I've shared on the Fenn blogs many times over the years. Fenn's treasure hunt is no different in this regard, judging from the vast number of deluded searchers who become blinded by their own confirmation biases. Williams' Masquerade was the first armchair treasure hunt, and yet it's surprising how few Fenn searchers have ever investigated its solution to learn some of the common methods that puzzle creators utilize. I agree. One trait that many high-end puzzle designers seem to share is an irresistible urge to pay homage to their forebears by recycling their clue-setting techniques. It definitely pays to be familiar with older puzzles and hunts. Thank you Ralph for your reply. I am familiar with Masquerade and I absolutely believe there is much of the same transpiring here, both within the puzzle and within the Fenn search community. Your posts had me worrying that maybe you weren't familiar with this syndrome (which we are all clearly suffering from).  If I start to see Forrest Fenn's face in my morning toast I will have to consult the DSM V to see which treatment is recommended. |
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Post by heidini on Apr 17, 2019 19:42:38 GMT -5
I agree. One trait that many high-end puzzle designers seem to share is an irresistible urge to pay homage to their forebears by recycling their clue-setting techniques. It definitely pays to be familiar with older puzzles and hunts. Thank you Ralph for your reply. I am familiar with Masquerade and I absolutely believe there is much of the same transpiring here, both within the puzzle and within the Fenn search community. Your posts had me worrying that maybe you weren't familiar with this syndrome (which we are all clearly suffering from). If I start to see Forrest Fenn's face in my morning toast I will have to consult the DSM V to see which treatment is recommended. I can’t even drive around without thinking of the Chase. There is an omega restaurant near me. There is a road called Giddings. There is a forest Avenue. Everywhere I look, something provokes a thought about the Chase. My husband is thoroughly annoyed with me. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2019 11:12:24 GMT -5
There is one more fun place in the poem where 2 pi is hidden.
Look at the poem.
Go to "Look quickly down" and, well, look quickly down.
You will promptly run into "But tarry" and "Just take"
Remember that TT looks just like pi.
Voila!
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Post by astree on Apr 24, 2019 13:51:42 GMT -5
I can't recall if you already posted "TiTle To The gold".
edit: I think you're just posting adjacent T's. Disregard.
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Post by kaotkbliss on May 14, 2019 10:41:11 GMT -5
While I am still trying to find my warm waters and am not this far in any solve yet, I did want to record my thoughts here so I don't forget them late (I know, I already have a word doc full of notes as well as a traditional notepad, but those are just my thoughts only. Here those thoughts can be expanded on by different methods of thinking by many other people) and perhaps inspire some inspiration in others.
2 things of note in dealing with the blaze, when asked if the blaze was a single item, Fenn's response was "In a word, yes" which sounds to me like it's multiple items making up a singular landmark
The other being when asked what direction it faced N, S, E or W, basically he said he didn't check but that it was probably none of those. So maybe it's either a tall spire or formation made up of a couple of large boulders? Probably more likely something like an ancient teepee ring, a circle of stones...
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2019 11:01:27 GMT -5
While I am still trying to find my warm waters and am not this far in any solve yet, I did want to record my thoughts here so I don't forget them late (I know, I already have a word doc full of notes as well as a traditional notepad, but those are just my thoughts only. Here those thoughts can be expanded on by different methods of thinking by many other people) and perhaps inspire some inspiration in others. 2 things of note in dealing with the blaze, when asked if the blaze was a single item, Fenn's response was "In a word, yes" which sounds to me like it's multiple items making up a singular landmark The other being when asked what direction it faced N, S, E or W, basically he said he didn't check but that it was probably none of those. So maybe it's either a tall spire or formation made up of a couple of large boulders? Probably more likely something like an ancient teepee ring, a circle of stones... "In a word, yes" was a conventional British-style cryptic clue. One simply rearranges the letters of A WORD to yield DRAW O (Hanging Lake is a circle). The Blaze (Hanging Lake including the log across its midsection) indeed does not face N,S, E, or W. It faces up.  |
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Post by kaotkbliss on May 14, 2019 11:55:59 GMT -5
But isn't hanging lake a pretty popular location? From my interpretation of the first stanza and Fenn's description when hiding the chest, it sounds like he didn't have to worry about people seeing him and he had said he followed the clues when he hid the chest.
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Post by zaphod73491 on May 14, 2019 12:46:37 GMT -5
While I am still trying to find my warm waters and am not this far in any solve yet, I did want to record my thoughts here so I don't forget them late (I know, I already have a word doc full of notes as well as a traditional notepad, but those are just my thoughts only. Here those thoughts can be expanded on by different methods of thinking by many other people) and perhaps inspire some inspiration in others. 2 things of note in dealing with the blaze, when asked if the blaze was a single item, Fenn's response was "In a word, yes" which sounds to me like it's multiple items making up a singular landmark The other being when asked what direction it faced N, S, E or W, basically he said he didn't check but that it was probably none of those. So maybe it's either a tall spire or formation made up of a couple of large boulders? Probably more likely something like an ancient teepee ring, a circle of stones... You can rule out an ancient teepee ring or a circle of (small) stones. Can't be something easily destroyed, either by man or Mother Nature. |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2019 12:58:04 GMT -5
But isn't hanging lake a pretty popular location? From my interpretation of the first stanza and Fenn's description when hiding the chest, it sounds like he didn't have to worry about people seeing him and he had said he followed the clues when he hid the chest. That's an excellent point, kaotkbliss. In the first place, bear in mind that the chest was hidden no later than 2010, nearly ten years ago. Shortly thereafter, Hanging Lake was designated a National Natural Landmark by the then Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Furthermore, during the interval since TTOTC was published, there has been a surge in the use of social media to share information about desirable travel destinations in general and unique hiking opportunities in particular. Starting just this year, because of the rapidly increasing traffic on the trail leading it the lake, visitors now must sign up ahead of time. In short, when Forrest went up with the chest, it wasn't nearly as busy, and one could imagine that when he first went up there, presumably years earlier, it was even quieter. It was, and remains, a fairly rigorous climb, so passersby aren't going to explore it while on casual walks. You will probably not like my second point. Go back and read through my post about the tenth clue. In it, I argued that it was unlikely in the extreme that Fenn carted an actual 42-pound treasure chest somewhere and left it in the outside world. On the other hand, I firmly believe that he did leave something that was significantly smaller, lighter, and more easy to carry. This was most likely described by the ninth clue and represented the "title" to the chest or, at the very least, some of its contents. Finally, If my solve is correct, he did not leave whatever it was on the shore of the lake in plain sight, but ducked in to the east for ten or fifteen yards, away from the water, to an area that was surrounded by trees and was relatively secluded. |
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Post by kaotkbliss on May 14, 2019 13:49:48 GMT -5
You can rule out an ancient teepee ring or a circle of (small) stones. Can't be something easily destroyed, either by man or Mother Nature. Many of the old rings are still around after a couple hundred years. After seeing pictures of some of them, while it is possible for a person to ruin the circles, I believe many are on protected land so it wouldn't be likely that someone would. *edit* And I completely forgot to add the reason I mentioned seeing the pictures of them, there were so many large stones making up the circles that it would take a lot of work to completely destroy the rings (and usually there are multiple rings in an area) |
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Post by kaotkbliss on May 14, 2019 14:10:26 GMT -5
That's an excellent point, kaotkbliss. In the first place, bear in mind that the chest was hidden no later than 2010, nearly ten years ago. Shortly thereafter, Hanging Lake was designated a National Natural Landmark by the then Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Furthermore, during the interval since TTOTC was published, there has been a surge in the use of social media to share information about desirable travel destinations in general and unique hiking opportunities in particular. Starting just this year, because of the rapidly increasing traffic on the trail leading it the lake, visitors now must sign up ahead of time. In short, when Forrest went up with the chest, it wasn't nearly as busy, and one could imagine that when he first went up there, presumably years earlier, it was even quieter. It was, and remains, a fairly rigorous climb, so passersby aren't going to explore it while on casual walks. You will probably not like my second point. Go back and read through my post about the tenth clue. In it, I argued that it was unlikely in the extreme that Fenn carted an actual 42-pound treasure chest somewhere and left it in the outside world. On the other hand, I firmly believe that he did leave something that was significantly smaller, lighter, and more easy to carry. This was most likely described by the ninth clue and represented the "title" to the chest or, at the very least, some of its contents. Finally, If my solve is correct, he did not leave whatever it was on the shore of the lake in plain sight, but ducked in to the east for ten or fifteen yards, away from the water, to an area that was surrounded by trees and was relatively secluded. Good point on the time-frame of the popularity. While there have been other armchair treasure hunts where the creator had placed the treasure into a trust or legal teams hands for whoever solved it, Fenn did say he hid the chest on his first trip and filled it with the treasure on the 2nd. That and since he told no one until some time after he hid it... makes me believe that the actual chest is out there. I also don't think he would have went on about all the coins and gold nuggets and such that he put in the chest, if the solver wasn't actually going to find that stuff. I agree that it's unlikely to be on the shore of a lake or some such, but I do believe it's "out in the open" so to speak. I believe in one of his answers to a question he has said something along the lines of it would be unlikely that a person 12 feet from the chest would not see it. Of course in the years since that comment, grass and weeds could have covered it. (Which also leads me to believe it's not buried, or under anything, etc.) |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2019 16:22:03 GMT -5
That's an excellent point, kaotkbliss. In the first place, bear in mind that the chest was hidden no later than 2010, nearly ten years ago. Shortly thereafter, Hanging Lake was designated a National Natural Landmark by the then Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. Furthermore, during the interval since TTOTC was published, there has been a surge in the use of social media to share information about desirable travel destinations in general and unique hiking opportunities in particular. Starting just this year, because of the rapidly increasing traffic on the trail leading it the lake, visitors now must sign up ahead of time. In short, when Forrest went up with the chest, it wasn't nearly as busy, and one could imagine that when he first went up there, presumably years earlier, it was even quieter. It was, and remains, a fairly rigorous climb, so passersby aren't going to explore it while on casual walks. You will probably not like my second point. Go back and read through my post about the tenth clue. In it, I argued that it was unlikely in the extreme that Fenn carted an actual 42-pound treasure chest somewhere and left it in the outside world. On the other hand, I firmly believe that he did leave something that was significantly smaller, lighter, and more easy to carry. This was most likely described by the ninth clue and represented the "title" to the chest or, at the very least, some of its contents. Finally, If my solve is correct, he did not leave whatever it was on the shore of the lake in plain sight, but ducked in to the east for ten or fifteen yards, away from the water, to an area that was surrounded by trees and was relatively secluded. Good point on the time-frame of the popularity. While there have been other armchair treasure hunts where the creator had placed the treasure into a trust or legal teams hands for whoever solved it, Fenn did say he hid the chest on his first trip and filled it with the treasure on the 2nd. That and since he told no one until some time after he hid it... makes me believe that the actual chest is out there. I also don't think he would have went on about all the coins and gold nuggets and such that he put in the chest, if the solver wasn't actually going to find that stuff. I agree that it's unlikely to be on the shore of a lake or some such, but I do believe it's "out in the open" so to speak. I believe in one of his answers to a question he has said something along the lines of it would be unlikely that a person 12 feet from the chest would not see it. Of course in the years since that comment, grass and weeds could have covered it. (Which also leads me to believe it's not buried, or under anything, etc.) More good points on your part as well. As long as successfully finding what Forrest left out there led, one way or another, to an appropriate reward for the solver, I don't think there would be much complaining on anyone's part. The Chase is certainly much more alluring with an image of the actual chest out there, so I would not blame Forrest a bit if he employed a physical proxy and told a white lie about using one. Perhaps we'll all find out someday. Perhaps not... |
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If I start to see Forrest Fenn's face in my morning toast I will have to consult the DSM V to see which treatment is recommended. 
