Just amazed

[indigojones]

Hi all, you know what amazed me most about the way people approached this treasure hunt?, it was the lack of using any system. Most all treasure hunts have one which is built into the puzzle itself to be discovered by the searcher and I have found that if you do not latch on to the system very early on you will be lost forever. The word that is key to the solution.

Did you really believe that Forrest, being the intelligent man that he undoubtedly is would construct a hunt involving four possible states without providing the means to at least reveal within the puzzle the state you needed to begin it in in the first place? He did not design it to be treated like a hide and seek, map scanning places that might just be "warm waters halt"and going there trying to make it fit on the ground, if you did this you grossly underestimated Forrset's intelligence and wasted a lot of time and money in the process.

Forrest has hinted that the location of the treasure will be known before you set out to the site. Finding out how to follow his 9 clues involved precision, "the 9 clues if followed precisely will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure" he said "I felt like an architect drawing that poem" that told me you had to draw on a map using precision which can only mean using geometry and drawing on the right map. That way using degrees of angle into the correct state would lead you on the correct path.

indigo

[annie]

Indigojones Yes i agree, different from many riddles. Not knowing where to start is IMO what makes everyone come up with such diverse search areas. Annoying but he said it would be difficult. And it was.
I am not sure however about bringing architectural drawing skills would be necessary. IMO Felt like an architect relates to the method of ‘building’ each clue.
I like your thinking. My solve is possibly even in the wrong state, i asked someone to check over my solve once. They couldn’t be convinced- even though i was 99% certain, and many of the anagrams fitted.

[findingitfun]

I think that hiding a treasure could be done in different ways. I am betting this has been discussed at length but what the heck heck: one could create a solve from there house in NM. Make it sound sexy and dreaming and then find a cool location which loosely matches. In this approach you could end up with some very random stuff which would take everyone in every direction. OR one could have a pre-determined location and cater a poem around taking you to the spot. I always assumed we were working on the second approach. Now I am not sure it wasn't the first, sexy poem then drop the box.

This might be why the "system" doesn't exist. Thoughts?

[annie]

Findingitfun yes I understand. I think the second approach. He knew the WHERE but needed to tell us in the poem HOW.
Unfortunately at the moment we don’t know either !
IMO always go back to the poem, i tried many times to CROWBAR places just to match my area.

[sangre]

You’re right. But several of us did in fact take a systematic approach to solving the poem. Just read some of Jeff’s post to get an idea what I’m talking about.

Forrest told us to nail down WWWH first and to look at the big picture. He hinted that searchers were overlooking what was right in front of them. What was it then? What were we overlooking that was right in front of us? Did we get to NFBTFTW then we “walk” (ed) right by the location because we overlooked this location?

What’s the big picture? Is it the world? Do we look for warm water seas? The entirety of the Rockies? Do we look for a triple divide point? Do we look at the poem as a whole? Use the poem as a map? Do we set up the letters in the poem as a grid system?

I tried all of the above. Does that mean I was not taking a systematic approach?

IMO, we didn’t understand the crux of poem to extract the precise location coordinates from NFBTFTW.

[annie]

Haha sangre yes you are right. If everyone has different starting points.
Of course they will try to make the next steps work. It is difficult when so many of your other places seem to tie in though. Even after years concentrating on one area i was convinced it was there. I just couldn’t find any more clues or locations. So had to move to a new starting spot.

[annie]

IMO the starting point is As i have gone alone in there -right up to the line And take it in the canyon down. This is all number one.
The big picture - well IMO the state of Montana looks like the profile of a head. (To me anyway). The big picture means border lines and boundaries, not just the small detail like Brown Lake etc but where you are trying to go ultimately with the solve.

[dean]

Fenn has said not to mess with the poem, it wont involve ciphers and codes and other such. That leaves semantic interpretation only, doesn't it? lateral thinking?

[goldilocks]

I think most searchers took a systematic approach at one time or another over the last 10 year and many if not all methods have been tested. I know my strategy was dynamic and ever-changing. I think the monkey wrench in this treasure hunt is the ingredient imagination which Forrest told us we needed. When you throw that into the mix the possibilities become infinite.

[harrytruman]

Saying that Forrest "construct[ed] a hunt involving four possible states" is telling the truth, but not all of the truth, and there's really no point in doing that anymore, unless it's to bolster one's ego.

In fact, Forrest constructed a hunt involving six possible states and two Canadian provinces. He later ruled out two of those states (intentionally, after some cajoling from a TV show) and both provinces (perhaps unintentionally).

When Forrest launched the chase, he could not have foreseen that many/most searchers would become fixated on states. He is intelligent, but it remains highly unlikely that he thought: "Searchers will become fixated on states by 2014 or so, so I should encode state-related hints into this poem/book I'm finishing in 2010."

[indigojones]

Jun 24, 2020 5:04:10 GMT -5 annie said:

Indigojones Yes i agree, different from many riddles. Not knowing where to start is IMO what makes everyone come up with such diverse search areas. Annoying but he said it would be difficult. And it was.
I am not sure however about bringing architectural drawing skills would be necessary. IMO Felt like an architect relates to the method of ‘building’ each clue.
I like your thinking. My solve is possibly even in the wrong state, i asked someone to check over my solve once. They couldn’t be convinced- even though i was 99% certain, and many of the anagrams fitted.

Hi annie and all. If I told you that the word that is key was 'Rainbow' would you believe me? maybe not but hear me out before you condemn ok? Forrest did offer some advice when he said 'simplify'
Prior to the beginning of the poem he mentions: "So I wrote a poem containing 9 clues which if followed precisely will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure" notice he mentions rainbow first. So to simplify which of the four states would you choose to begin your search in if you truly believed the rainbow was important? I am guessing you would choose 'COLORADO' because it has color in it. We are simplifying don't forget, so why not.

'ISAAC NEWTON' conducted experiments in light using a prism, you would need 3 geographic location clues to form one on a map, his initials are 'IN' used often in the poem. However to create one on the map you would need to know where to start and find the elusive first clue. This is where rainbow science holds the key. There are two known colors in the rainbow which have degrees of angle attached to them, RED is 42 degrees and relates to the chest weight, and BLUE is 40 degrees. You can recreate this if you go and Google 'COLORADO' map which presents it without any curvature. In the poem are the words 'warm' and 'cold' which deal with temperature also measured in degrees, on faucets RED is HOT and BLUE is COLD' yes? Verse 6 line 2 of the poem says:
"Your effort will be worth the cold" so return to the degrees of angle of rainbow colors and you should now know you need to use the 'COLD' BLUE angle of 40 degrees, so use this in your effort.
COLORADO map is one of only two real box states, the other is Wyoming.

So if we are to use 40 degrees of angle to get to the interior of Colorado where do we start from? Answer: one of the four corners, the one that get a result is the South East one. Place a protractor center here and project 40 degrees into the map. This is the precision you need to find the elusive first clue, go ahead, try it yourself it will take you to WHERE WARM WATERS HALT. This is the beginning of your search. Of course I have to say IMO. Let me know how you get on.

indigo.

[indulgenceseeker]

Jun 24, 2020 13:02:07 GMT -5 harrytruman said:

Saying that Forrest "construct[ed] a hunt involving four possible states" is telling the truth, but not all of the truth, and there's really no point in doing that anymore, unless it's to bolster one's ego.

In fact, Forrest constructed a hunt involving six possible states and two Canadian provinces. He later ruled out two of those states (intentionally, after some cajoling from a TV show) and both provinces (perhaps unintentionally).

When Forrest launched the chase, he could not have foreseen that many/most searchers would become fixated on states. He is intelligent, but it remains highly unlikely that he thought: "Searchers will become fixated on states by 2014 or so, so I should encode state-related hints into this poem/book I'm finishing in 2010."

IMO, the point could be to satisfy one's curiosity? I know that's what's keeping me at it... that and the sweet release of closure.

To the point of the thread, many seemed to have developed systems that didn't follow his given advice: marry the clues in the poem to places on a map and they will lead you to the treasure. Geography is your discipline; imagination is your milieu.

[annie]

Indigo I understand your deep thinking and system here of taking a key word, i would not get further than the 40 degrees red and blue in the spectrum. If you didnt have the book The Thrill of the Chase how would you know ‘rainbow’ was a key?
Interesting solve for the starting spot. Where did it lead you?

[annie]

If i had a key word to try and find it would be NUMBER.

[annie]

Indulgence seeker i agree that it is important to continue your solves like you say for closure. I still lie awake at night trying to confirm clues and decipher the last stanza. Which I believe you need BOTG. As clue number nine is or was probably written No 9 on the envelope inside. Maybe a rock in the shape of a 9?