It truly amazes me that people who failed to come up a with the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure can be so vile.
The location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure disclaimer – use at your own risk.
For those of you still having the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure pangs and want to figure this one out, this partial solve may be just what you’re looking for. I cannot guarantee the information is accurate. It was formed in my opinion. Use this information at your own will, your own cost and your own risk.
In my opinion, my personal solve for the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure
I have a personal solve for the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure that has been bugging me for quite some time. This may be a lengthy post and it may be done over a couple of days. I decided to post this because I believe in my opinion, the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure area is either too full of coincidences or it is in very close proximity where the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure was. People want to try to figure the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure ‘story’ out, so I think I may have some helpful information.
I think I was “close” to the area where the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure was found. My solve was pretty easy, honestly. I simply listened to what Forrest Fenn said about the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure and what the “special spot”, “a place that is very dear to me” and other hints he offered about the location. This is definitely not overcooked. it is simple.
Another one of his favorite set of words was “why do I have to follow other peoples’ rules?” He was going to do it “his way”. To me, this is simply a matter of convincing some one that the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure was going to be placed some where that Forrest Fenn wanted to place with only a slight concern about where it was placed. Placing something down does not break a rule in this context.
Once the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure was found, and the state of Wyoming was announced, some people have a really hard time accepting this location. I find that mind boggling. Outside of Texas, and later living in New Mexico as an adult, Forrest Fenn spent a lot of time in Wyoming. He even went there every year he could, even when he was in the military. So why would the state of Wyoming not be considered the leading state to hide the treasure?
So, where would the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure be hidden that he considered a special place? For most of his life, he visited Yellowstone National Park from when he was born until he went into the military at 20 years old. So, would this not be considered a “special place”? Forrest Fenn was not willing to allow others to bend his way of thinking. He was determined to bounce off the curbs. Although he would not break any laws by hiding a treasure chest…. It’s not against the law to place a treasure chest just about anywhere. Recovering the treasure chest may be another issue.
In my opinion, the reason the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure – the exact location probably will never be revealed is due to the complications that might come with that reveal. I personally believe that this poem was meant to be fun, and the only hard part of the treasure solve was to be where in the state of Wyoming the location of Forrest Fenn’s treasure was located.
I emailed Jack Stuef shortly after he found the Forrest Fenn treasure location. I didn’t want to offer my solve to him directly because I know I may be a little off. I am sure I would not get a confirmation and may not get a rejection of the location so I told myself why bother. I personally was pretty convinced I too knew the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
Plus, if I was right he may want to throw me off course only to help keep the place a secret not only as a condition to Forrest Fenn and this special spot but to help keep the actual location secret to avoid any sort of legal issues. I did tell Jack thanks for finding the Forrest Fenn treasure and saving me all the issues that come along with attempting to find it, secret it and eventually disposing of the Forrest Fenn Treasure.
In 2019, before COVID, I had a pretty good Idea where the Forrest Fenn treasure was. I was torn between the western side of Yellowstone National Park, to include an area around the town of West Yellowstone and the area immediately around Hebgen Lake. This was the area Forrest Fenn ended up doing most of his adventures from a child to an adult. It make absolute sense that this area was the region that was “dear” to him.
My warm waters halt was in this region as well. I was not able to travel to this area due to the COVID restrictions, and a few other personal reasons. My goal was to travel there when we got the green light to move freely around the United States. That was obviously too late.
Forrest Fenn offered a few snap answers to people over time that helped push me into Wyoming and Montana. One of them was in a really low quality video where a lady asked a question and Forrest Fenn blurted out “Do you have an airplane?” To me it was obviously not close to his home and was quite a distance to travel to the Forrest Fenn treasure chest. Add in the fact that Forrest Fenn did write about using his airplane and traveling north into Wyoming. For my solve, it helped cement the area around the western portion of Yellowstone National Park, Hebgen Lake and the surrounding area.
When I found the letter that Dal Neitzel posted about Forrest Fenn saying he was within 300 feet of the Forrest Fenn treasure, That gave me a grounding rod where I thought I was at least in the right two states. Since Dal travelled off the beaten track, Forrest Fenn could have easily figured the 300 feet range was vague enough and close enough in a generic way. Plus it is a generic distance, not a positively accurate one.
As far as his “special spot” his first hobby in which he talked quite a lot about was fishing. Even in the last words within his chapter called “Flywater” Forrest Fenn relates his death with fishing. It is safe to assume that this hobby he enjoyed a lot. He often sat under trees and watched the wildlife prior to fishing.
In his book titled “too far to walk” Forrest Fenn himself stated that “no one has ever given him the answer to the unintended clue in too far too walk”. This was the second half of the Preface where he talked about the trip he took down the Madison River, leaving from inside Yellowstone Park and heading towards Baker’s Hole which is located in Montana. Could this have been the ultimate clue to the location of Forrest Fenn treasure?
Now, take what we know as of this day and apply it to Wyoming and we should have eliminate some of the region I wanted to go boots on the ground. When I watched a video about the guy and Gal from Voxx who traveled through Yellowstone trying to find Forrest Fenn’s treasure, I winced when the lady proposed her solution for the Forrest Fenn treasure. She was nearly spot on where I thought the “starting spot” was. The problem is, she went too far in distances.
Forrest Fenn stated that you should be able to recover the Forrest Fenn treasure chest in a single afternoon. Another statement was that you should not have to walk great distances in order to find the treasure chest. To me that meant the distances traveled each way should be less than a few miles total/round trip. Heck the Forrest Fenn treasure could have been hidden a few hundred yards off any man made trail.
You need to remember what Forrest Fenn said in one of his last videos he did. Forrest Fenn said that people tend to “overcook” the poem.
“Begin it where warm waters Halt”
Sticking with my solve, I was always concentrating on an area that surrounded the mixture of warm and colder water. If you look at Yellowstone National Park area, especially where people are fishing, you will have a very good chance at seeing steam rising up from the surface of the water.
So, I concentrated on the Firehole River since Forrest Fenn did write about his bathing adventures in too far to walk. The place where the warm water and cooler waters mingle is near Madison Junction. The Firehole and the Madison Rivers merge there. Another thing is, that although in The Thrill of the Chase, Forrest Fenn does not mention the river where he and his father did a lot of fishing. BUT, he did mention it in a local newspaper article out of Bozeman. It was the Firehole River. Another step closer to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
“And take it in the Canyon Down”
Looking on Google Earth or simply on Google maps shows the Madison Canyon which is not far at all from where the Firehole and Madison Rivers merge. This place is more of a confirmation step than anything else, in my opinion. In my opinion, finding “warm waters halt” and a “canyon” in very close proximity should be taken seriously. Another step closer to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
“Not far but too far to walk, put in below the home of Brown.”
I find it hard to believe that “too far to walk” is mentioned in the poem, and people seem to not take these words seriously. Forrest Fenn must have had the second memoir in the planning stages as he finished up the poem. The Preface of too far to walk augments these exact words. In my opinion, it’s another way to confirm your on the right trail. Another step closer to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
The home of Brown Trout – 1866
Anyone that has done some meaningful research may have found out that Brown trout was first introduced in the Madison River in the late 1800’s. I believe it was close to 1866. Is this just another coincidence? I think not.
Even the Forest Service thinks so. There is an information placard close to Bakers’ Hole which talks about the Brown Trout. As a matter of fact, some of the items on this placard coincidentally are words within Flywater story in The Thrill of the Chase.
Why is brown capitalized in the poem? The color brown does not need to be capitalized, but it should be capitalized if it is in reference to a formal name. So in my solve, this fits perfectly for the proper name of Brown Trout.
Forrest Fenn responded to a post when some one asked him about the possibility of Ranger Brown station in Yellowstone and I believe Forrest Fenn’s reply was that the Forrest Fenn treasure location was not associated with any sort of structure. That general statement pushed me in the direction that all of the clues in the poem were not related to man made items.
One last thing. I think it is another coincidence that The Thrill of the Chase and too far to walk are both books of brown as well. Forrest Fenn thought that brown was a neglected color. Forrest Fenn said that he couldn’t walk into a paint store and find a tube of brown paint anywhere. Most were based off different colors of brown but no brown was to be found. So, somehow this “Brown” may have more meaning to those that seriously think about it.
In my opinion, “put in” potentially puts you in the MADISON RIVER in a southerly direction. In my opinion, I strongly believe you have to cross the Madison River and be on the southern side. I have not had a lot of time to sit and ponder on the absolute exact location where Forrest Fenn placed the treasure chest, but this is a pretty solid start.
Instead of searching four states and scratching my head, I was down to less than a 13 miles stretch of land which went from the end of the Gibbon River and the beginning of the Madison River, all the way to the Wyoming and Montana border. Another convincing connection to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
Now starting at the merge of the Firehole and Madison Rivers, it may be closer to 8 miles or so. Once I seen the video where Forrest Fenn described the area where the treasure chest was left, he mentioned a lot of key items – and left one of the key items out….. water. So I figured water was close, but from where you stood at the treasure, your just too far away to see any water. This area has everything he described – minus the pinyon nuts he nullified. Another convincing connection to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
Forrest Fenn also stated that if you found out the Forrest Fenn treasure location of the first clue, the rest of the clues were less hard to decipher and became almost trivial.
Jack Stuef mentioned something about a blaze, how a second fake blaze was less than 1000 feet from the original. Although it is not communicated this way, the blaze could have easily been a heavy carving into a tree. It is highly unlikely that this blaze could be duplicated like a rock formation or other solid item.
Jack Stuef mentioned, the original blaze was damaged. A carving would make the perfect blaze. As a matter of fact, one famous carving in Yellowstone near the upper and lower falls lasted for a very long time. What could be a better blaze than a boldly carved “FF”. Another convincing connection to the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
Going back to the Dal Neitzel and Forrest Fenn email, this area south of the Madison Canyon is covered with trees. It is difficult to say if the canopy of trees in this area is significant enough, but I am sure there is a location where it is.
The Forrest Fenn treasure location could easily have been placed anywhere a person who could walk right past it and not even know it was there. I think that it would be easy to acknowledge that there may have a small ravine, even free of water that had some high banks where the Forrest Fenn treasure chest could have been pushed up close to the bank and partially covered.
I believe Jack Stuef mentioned that the Forrest Fenn treasure location had sunken into the ground some. It was placed in an area that was soft, and the weight of the chest over time would have buried it. This is why Forrest Fenn did not want to tell people that it was or was not, as this would have been subject to time in general.
I did find it very comical that Forrest Fenn answered a question about if the treasure chest was buried or not with the answer of ” The treasure chest is not buried where you’re going to find it”, What is he saying there? In my opinion it means if you find the treasure chest, it should not have ( and was not) buried.
It is getting late, so I will close for now. Should I feel the need to add to this post I will do so at a later date. I hope you enjoyed my solve for the Forrest Fenn treasure location.
Want to buy a copy of an authentic Forrest Fenn autographed book? I have several !
https://missionincredible.org/product-category/shop/
Learn more about Yellowstone National Park and its history – and laws.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
