My solution to "Not far, but too far to walk"
Jun 17, 2020 15:19:00 GMT -5
Jeff, woollybugger, and 1 more like this
Post by zaphod73491 on Jun 17, 2020 15:19:00 GMT -5
Hi All -- just posted this on Dal's a little while ago (minus the formatting)...
- - -
I’ve been claiming for several years now that it’s the 3rd clue that tripped up all the early two-clue solvers. Now that the treasure has unambiguously been retrieved, I’m okay with publicly sharing my solution to that clue, and I welcome community feedback (positive and negative).
I already shared my reasoning behind WWWH being the northwest border of YNP at the point where the Gallatin River exits the park for good. And my canyon down is Gallatin Canyon which begins right at that point. (Most of you probably know that the Gallatin stood in for the Blackfoot River in Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It,” possibly prompting Forrest’s mention of Redford and the line “Movies lie to you.”) So you have a starting location that you can reference on a map. As a reminder, all that follows is just MY opinion. I was not the finder, therefore I make no claims to its accuracy. But I was satisfied enough with its precision to have been using it for the last four years.
The trick to “Not far, but too far to walk” is that it’s a geographic logic puzzle. First, recall Forrest’s mention of Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls in TTOTC. Continuing on the acrostic theme of Gallatin (in the first two lines of the poem), compare the initial five letters of the novel with “but too far to walk.” It’s an interesting coincidence: same letters, but in a different order. Now take a look at the first six creeks that drain into the Gallatin as you head downstream through Gallatin Canyon:
Tepee Creek, Sage Creek, Taylor Fork, Wilson Draw, Flints Creek, and Buffalo Horn Creek
Now do a little word re-ordering:
But Too Far To Walk
Bell Tolls For The Whom
Buffalo, Taylor, Flints, Tepee, Wilson
Now, recall Scrapbook 61:
“It seems logical to me that a deep thinking treasure searcher could use logic to determine an important clue to the location of the treasure.”
The basic logic operators are AND, OR and NOT, and line 7 starts with one of them. So I think this logic puzzle is actually a clue of *exclusion*. Just as the Hemingway storyline that Forrest described in TTOTC is NOT from For Whom the Bell Tolls (it’s A Farewell to Arms), what the poem line is saying is that it’s:
NOT: Far But Too Far To Walk
NOT: Flints, Buffalo, Taylor Fork, Tepee, Wilson
It’s the creek of omission: Sage!
Does the poem provide some confirmation? I think so:
“If you’ve been wise…” (past tense)
Now, go back to the first four words of the poem and look at every 3rd letter, starting with the second:
AS I HAVE GONE
There’s admittedly opportunity for confirmation bias in here, but the triple alignment of the poem words, erroneous book title, and first six creeks intersecting Gallatin Canyon should at least raise an eyebrow. Having the solution be a specific geographic feature instead of some vague down-canyon distance would be a good explanation for why the early two-clue solvers got flummoxed: they were looking for a home of Brown. Prematurely.
A couple final notes: this beginning section of Gallatin Canyon that includes all of these creeks is called Middle Basin — “Me in the Middle.” And to close for now, look at the last six words in Forrest’s caption for the middle picture in "The Chest Has Been Found part 7":
… “when found. The silver tarnished black.”
WFTSTB — this time, Sage got included. 😉
I already shared my reasoning behind WWWH being the northwest border of YNP at the point where the Gallatin River exits the park for good. And my canyon down is Gallatin Canyon which begins right at that point. (Most of you probably know that the Gallatin stood in for the Blackfoot River in Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It,” possibly prompting Forrest’s mention of Redford and the line “Movies lie to you.”) So you have a starting location that you can reference on a map. As a reminder, all that follows is just MY opinion. I was not the finder, therefore I make no claims to its accuracy. But I was satisfied enough with its precision to have been using it for the last four years.
The trick to “Not far, but too far to walk” is that it’s a geographic logic puzzle. First, recall Forrest’s mention of Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls in TTOTC. Continuing on the acrostic theme of Gallatin (in the first two lines of the poem), compare the initial five letters of the novel with “but too far to walk.” It’s an interesting coincidence: same letters, but in a different order. Now take a look at the first six creeks that drain into the Gallatin as you head downstream through Gallatin Canyon:
Tepee Creek, Sage Creek, Taylor Fork, Wilson Draw, Flints Creek, and Buffalo Horn Creek
Now do a little word re-ordering:
But Too Far To Walk
Bell Tolls For The Whom
Buffalo, Taylor, Flints, Tepee, Wilson
Now, recall Scrapbook 61:
“It seems logical to me that a deep thinking treasure searcher could use logic to determine an important clue to the location of the treasure.”
The basic logic operators are AND, OR and NOT, and line 7 starts with one of them. So I think this logic puzzle is actually a clue of *exclusion*. Just as the Hemingway storyline that Forrest described in TTOTC is NOT from For Whom the Bell Tolls (it’s A Farewell to Arms), what the poem line is saying is that it’s:
NOT: Far But Too Far To Walk
NOT: Flints, Buffalo, Taylor Fork, Tepee, Wilson
It’s the creek of omission: Sage!
Does the poem provide some confirmation? I think so:
“If you’ve been wise…” (past tense)
Now, go back to the first four words of the poem and look at every 3rd letter, starting with the second:
AS I HAVE GONE
There’s admittedly opportunity for confirmation bias in here, but the triple alignment of the poem words, erroneous book title, and first six creeks intersecting Gallatin Canyon should at least raise an eyebrow. Having the solution be a specific geographic feature instead of some vague down-canyon distance would be a good explanation for why the early two-clue solvers got flummoxed: they were looking for a home of Brown. Prematurely.
A couple final notes: this beginning section of Gallatin Canyon that includes all of these creeks is called Middle Basin — “Me in the Middle.” And to close for now, look at the last six words in Forrest’s caption for the middle picture in "The Chest Has Been Found part 7":
… “when found. The silver tarnished black.”
WFTSTB — this time, Sage got included. 😉
As you know, I’ve been torn on correct HOB for some time. Grouse Mountain is certainly another possible contender and closer to Sage Creek, though I’ve always been partial to Burnt Top. 
