Forrest Fenn s treasure

[F4Fake]

I strongly encourage that families of the deceased victims contact an attorney and look into filing civil lawsuits against Forrest Fenn since law enforcement agencies are doing nothing to stop his fraudulent activities that have led to the deaths of several searchers.

The burden of proof is much lower with civil suits and there is plenty of info on the last several pages of this forum to prove in civil court that Forrest Fenn has purposely deceived searchers and is guilty of fraud and is legally liable. If you know the families of the victims or know how to get in contact with them, please share this info with them. If I were in their position I would feel obligated to sue even if I did not need or want the money because it would get the word out that this is a scam and it could prevent other victims that have been mislead and lied to from fatal accidents and it is the only way they are going to get the answers they are looking for.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Hint, we can see ever ip used by every member. The same person using multiple names to post violates our rules.

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

 

[releventchair]

I strongly encourage that families of the deceased victims contact an attorney and look into filing civil lawsuits against Forrest Fenn since law enforcement agencies are doing nothing to stop his fraudulent activities that have led to the deaths of several searchers.

The burden of proof is much lower with civil suits and there is plenty of info on the last several pages of this forum to prove in civil court that Forrest Fenn has purposely deceived searchers and is guilty of fraud and is legally liable. If you know the families of the victims or know how to get in contact with them, please share this info with them. If I were in their position I would feel obligated to sue even if I did not need or want the money because it would get the word out that this is a scam and it could prevent other victims that have been mislead and lied to from fatal accidents and it is the only way they are going to get the answers they are looking for.

And if you are with the court during the civil suit trial field trip when Fenn points at the " treasure", will you be prepared for a libel suit against you to follow?

 

[DaSeeker]

And if you are with the court during the civil suit trial field trip when Fenn points at the " treasure", will you be prepared for a libel suit against you to follow?

That sounds like you are threatening victims of the treasure hunt and trying to intimidate them from pursuing the recommendation above which is their legal right to pursue if they wish. Witness intimidation is illegal. Haven't the families of these victims been through enough already? Also, in response to the mod above, I assume many people here like myself use VPNs to keep their private info secure since treasure hunting is often frowned upon by the government so that IP address might not show what you think it does since almost all VPN services share the same group of VPN servers and IP addresses. In the intro to the first book Fenn says he killed meadowlarks and magpies to feed his family which is admission that he broke the law to feed his family whether or not you take that statement literally or figuratively. Fenn got myself and many others interested in treasure hunting and I came here today to share more info that I had found that I had not shared with anyone else before but I think I'm done with this site after threats of doxxing and intimidation by forum mods.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

That sounds like you are threatening victims of the treasure hunt and trying to intimidate them from pursuing the recommendation above which is their legal right to pursue if they wish. Witness intimidation is illegal. Haven't the families of these victims been through enough already? Also, in response to the mod above, I assume many people here like myself use VPNs to keep their private info secure since treasure hunting is often frowned upon by the government so that IP address might not show what you think it does since almost all VPN services share the same group of VPN servers and IP addresses. In the intro to the first book Fenn says he killed meadowlarks and magpies to feed his family which is admission that he broke the law to feed his family whether or not you take that statement literally or figuratively. Fenn got myself and many others interested in treasure hunting and I came here today to share more info that I had found that I had not shared with anyone else before but I think I'm done with this site after threats of doxxing and intimidation by forum mods.

Strange, I named no names in my warning yet on a thread with over 3000 posts you feel intimidated when I say someone using multiple names violates our rules.

 

[DaSeeker]

I'm intimidated by threats of doxxing, nothing more. I have no idea of who you are accusing of using multiple accounts. Maybe you thinks it's me or maybe you think it's Sandy or someone else but I had been commenting lately and use a vpn. Maybe you are just making it up but I found it intimidating to everyone commenting no matter who it is directed at. Combined with the comment that followed yours which seemed like someone intimidating another poster for their comments it's kind of scared me off since both comments seemed geared towards intimidation. I'm kind of cautious by nature hence the vpn so I'm going to bail when talk heads in this direction.

Fine, what I was going to say is that I really think it's about 4 corners and digging up artifacts there. There are a lot of news articles, new and old, that link him to illegal artifact excavation in the area and the last news article related to him before the treasure hunt started was about looting in the 4 corners region and people being arrested for it. Fenn admits to bribing people in his second book to get what he wants so it's possible he would bribe people and have them dig up artifacts there for him. I think even his arrowhead collection he sold around a decade ago for over a million dollars came from there. If you research the Fenn cache books and the internet say it was from the general vacinity where utah, colorado, wyoming, and idaho meet but the 4 states don't meet at all, this is a clue pointing back to the 4 corners area where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet. It's all about 4 corners and there are clues to it everywhere. The wetherhill reference, the cliff drawing is a reference to cliff palace, Washington is a reference to the white house ruins, he talks about his Pueblo and finding corn there which is a reference to what Coronado was led to when he was searching for gold, cruise line on the Verde is a reference to Mesa Verde which he said you can't rule out, he talks about the Pecos river which is a reference to Pecos Pueblo, etc, places the government doesn't want anyone going. This is why I protect my ip, because I am sharing secrets the government and others don't want shared.

 

[DaSeeker]

Even the poem and the story about going up red Creek and ending up in Bozeman in a reference to 4 corners because there is a 4 corners right outside of Bozeman at 45.671524,-111.18619

You start at the Grand prismatic spring, down the Madison canyon, up red Creek and go all the way up to 4 corners and there's the title to the gold. It's artifacts at the 4 corners region. He mislead everyone about what it was really about. He said it wasn't the search for gold. It was the search for artifacts. It was a mean joke, all his family knew what it was about the whole time. Adios.

 

[releventchair]

That sounds like you are threatening victims of the treasure hunt and trying to intimidate them from pursuing the recommendation above which is their legal right to pursue if they wish. Witness intimidation is illegal. Haven't the families of these victims been through enough already? Also, in response to the mod above, I assume many people here like myself use VPNs to keep their private info secure since treasure hunting is often frowned upon by the government so that IP address might not show what you think it does since almost all VPN services share the same group of VPN servers and IP addresses. In the intro to the first book Fenn says he killed meadowlarks and magpies to feed his family which is admission that he broke the law to feed his family whether or not you take that statement literally or figuratively. Fenn got myself and many others interested in treasure hunting and I came here today to share more info that I had found that I had not shared with anyone else before but I think I'm done with this site after threats of doxxing an
d intimidation by forum mods.

So, no answer to what if Fenn is forced by a court to show his hand and produces evidence of a " treasure" ,then sues you for
Libel.
Courts do look at more than one side of an issue and seek more than the speculation of J.Q. Public.

Your first line defeats your calling stop,or hoax arguments. Intimidation of searchers is a faux ,but intimidation of the cachee is not?
In court ,free will needs to be considered.
If I write that the ocean is great for swimming ,and someone drowns or gets shark bit ; how strong of a case do you have proving I forced them into the water?

 

[ecmjamsit]

[FONT=&quot]The dopamine rush one gets from virtue signaling on social media is the biochemical equivalent of a participation trophy.[/FONT]

 

[Bryn]

Fenn has been trying to get people to search in Yellowstone and has told people in emails that when he was younger they would all feed the bears and they are harmless and said they'd bathe in the river and some of the pools which sounds crazy because the water temps are hot enough to kill people and they are very acidic. There is that Death in Yellowstone book written in the 1990s so maybe that was his plan, lure people in the backcountry to tragedy.

You're reading what you want into stories Fenn's shared. He hasn't "tried to get people to search in Yellowstone". People search there because they believe Yellowstone is hinted at as the likely location based on their own interpretations of his poem. His story about feeding bears wasn't referring to his own exploits. He was relating what the rangers used to do (set up feeding stations) back when he was younger, and tourists could watch from a distance. That's a far cry from encouraging searchers to share their meals with blacks and grizzlies.

News articles say he had been emailing Eric Ashby before his death too so I wonder what kind of stuff he was coaxing Ashby into doing. I don't think he cares at all about the people that have died looking for it which seems strange. If he has been emailing Ashby you'd think he'd care about what happened to him if he were a normal person. Maybe there is a sinister motive here.

There's no confirmation Fenn was emailing back and forth with Ashby, and Fenn has stated on numerous occasions that he never gives information that can help or hinder a searcher's solution.

 

[Guanaca]

Folks, he is just showing everyone how he made his money selling what he calls junk and his books full of half truths (as I've already proven in previous comments) were used as advertisement for whatever he was selling. This is first hand info straight from the horse's mouth. He got his start from Rex Arrowsmith who showed him tricks of the trade about selling stuff Santa Fe style and he bought Rex's business using his savings and collection of artifacts from the four corners region (see the link below for a source on this). He then sold that particular business to, Nedra Matteucci, one of his understudies. She was his best sales person but she was too pushy and people started figuring it out that he was selling junk. The guy told me to stop looking for it because nobody is ever going to find it and said he never could figure out where to hide it and if you want to get rich then to start your own business and do what he did, fill it with junk, inflate the prices, and write books about it and pretend you're and expert on whatever you are selling then buy up ads and get the media to promote your business for you (like he has done with the treasure hunt). He hinted that he got rich selling fakes to rich people and thought it was funny and I was told a lot of other info I found disturbing. Believe it or not, this is the cold hard truth. I don't lie and could never do what he has done to people.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/10630548/

 

[Bryn]

Folks, he is just showing everyone how he made his money selling what he calls junk and his books full of half truths (as I've already proven in previous comments) were used as advertisement for whatever he was selling. This is first hand info straight from the horse's mouth. He got his start from Rex Arrowsmith who showed him tricks of the trade about selling stuff Santa Fe style and he bought Rex's business using his savings and collection of artifacts from the four corners region (see the link below for a source on this). He then sold that particular business to, Nedra Matteucci, one of his understudies. She was his best sales person but she was too pushy and people started figuring it out that he was selling junk. The guy told me to stop looking for it because nobody is ever going to find it and said he never could figure out where to hide it and if you want to get rich then to start your own business and do what he did, fill it with junk, inflate the prices, and write books about it and pretend you're and expert on whatever you are selling then buy up ads and get the media to promote your business for you (like he has done with the treasure hunt). He hinted that he got rich selling fakes to rich people and thought it was funny and I was told a lot of other info I found disturbing. Believe it or not, this is the cold hard truth. I don't lie and could never do what he has done to people.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/10630548/

Straight from whose mouth? Unless Fenn told you directly what you're posting about here, it's second-hand. Worse, it's second-hand from someone with an obvious grudge against Fenn. You make it sound like Fenn sold fakes while passing them off as real, and he was very clear that he let buyers know what they were getting. And he's right, if buyers were just going for the name and not the quality of the painting, then they aren't interested in art, they're interested in the prestige that comes from owning the art. Plus, he didn't fill his gallery with "junk" as you or your source claim. He had legitimate works of art from reputable artists in his gallery, and you can bet if he tried to pass off a fake as one of them he wouldn't have been in business for long. I don't care what you "believe" you have on Fenn because it has no bearing on the chase. He has plenty of real friends who have vouched for him and they're far more believable than some anonymous troll who can't accept the fact that he couldn't solve the puzzle. Find another hobby - treasure hunting isn't your forte.

 

[F4Fake]

Criminals always justify their actions. With fake artwork and artifacts criminals that sell them justify it as helping people that need money and claim the rich people won't miss it. With charity scams like the treasure hunt appears to be it's justified by saying it helps people get outside and get exercise. I had a swindler at my door the other day that was looking for cash donations under the guise of charity saying it was to send care packages to members of the military. When I said I wasn't interested the guy laughed and said he suckered my neighbors. I looked it up and it's a Nationwide charity scam that is actually a for profit business but the salesman tell lots of lies including that it is for charity when that isn't the case and nobody can check to see how many care packages the company is sending. They can collect millions then send 1 measly package and claim the whole thing is to help members of the armed forces. Sound familiar? Only one person with cancer has been known to have been helped from this treasure hunt that is actually a for profit business under the guise of charity. Fenn Enterprises, Forrest Fenn's for profit business, is the company making money off of this and it isn't allowed to collect money for charitable purposes according the law because it is not registered as a charity.

Criminals Explain How They Justified Their Crimes to Themselves
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gqmz4m/how-criminals-justify-crimes-psychology-gangsters-uk

 

[Msbeepbeep]

....or the edge of a preceived "gold coin" in the hole!!!

 

[ecmjamsit]

If you are so genuine, why don't you become a charter member?

Criminals always justify their actions. With fake artwork and artifacts criminals that sell them justify it as helping people that need money and claim the rich people won't miss it. With charity scams like the treasure hunt appears to be it's justified by saying it helps people get outside and get exercise. I had a swindler at my door the other day that was looking for cash donations under the guise of charity saying it was to send care packages to members of the military. When I said I wasn't interested the guy laughed and said he suckered my neighbors. I looked it up and it's a Nationwide charity scam that is actually a for profit business but the salesman tell lots of lies including that it is for charity when that isn't the case and nobody can check to see how many care packages the company is sending. They can collect millions then send 1 measly package and claim the whole thing is to help members of the armed forces. Sound familiar? Only one person with cancer has been known to have been helped from this treasure hunt that is actually a for profit business under the guise of charity. Fenn Enterprises, Forrest Fenn's for profit business, is the company making money off of this and it isn't allowed to collect money for charitable purposes according the law because it is not registered as a charity.

Criminals Explain How They Justified Their Crimes to Themselves
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gqmz4m/how-criminals-justify-crimes-psychology-gangsters-uk

 

[Guanaca]

Straight from whose mouth? Unless Fenn told you directly what you're posting about here, it's second-hand. Worse, it's second-hand from someone with an obvious grudge against Fenn. You make it sound like Fenn sold fakes while passing them off as real, and he was very clear that he let buyers know what they were getting. And he's right, if buyers were just going for the name and not the quality of the painting, then they aren't interested in art, they're interested in the prestige that comes from owning the art. Plus, he didn't fill his gallery with "junk" as you or your source claim. He had legitimate works of art from reputable artists in his gallery, and you can bet if he tried to pass off a fake as one of them he wouldn't have been in business for long. I don't care what you "believe" you have on Fenn because it has no bearing on the chase. He has plenty of real friends who have vouched for him and they're far more believable than some anonymous troll who can't accept the fact that he couldn't solve the puzzle. Find another hobby - treasure hunting isn't your forte.

We're all anonymous here. Just because you can't handle the truth doesn't make me a troll. Yes Forrest Fenn told me and those I was with this info...that's why it's called straight from the horse's mouth. I spent quite a bit of time with him and got to know him quite well after years of searching and corresponding with him. Here is some other stuff I was told. People started figuring out the stuff he was selling was junk and started bringing it back. He said he figured everyone needed an alabai no matter the line of work, his was always "I didn't know, I just believed them" then he said he was a rake and defined it as not quite a scoundrel. "It's not who you are, it's who they think you are" is a direct quote from him. He said they have to be able to prove it is junk. He said he wrote the books to make money and always used them as a form of advertisement and implied he never had cancer and the treasure hunt was also a ploy to get law enforcement to leave him alone and get revenge on the feds at the same time and a way of confessing and finding people he wanted to share his secret to making money with. I was bullied a lot as a child and told myself I would never tolerate being bullied again so when I heard all this and figured out that he was bullying me and others, people that truly liked him, I knew I couldn't go along with it. The olive jar references in the book reveal that, his childhood bully shoved an olive jar in his face and now he put his life stories in an olive jar. Most bad people really want someone to know what they have done either as a way to confess or a way to brag about what they had done and Forrest Fenn is doing both. He showed me bells and jars he forged and talked about items on them like the buffalo on one he copied from a magazine he saw. He said he learned that he wasn't good and creating original things but he was great at copying. He also told a story about his dog eating cash and saying that after it was all chewed up it could never be put back together again because parts of the money had been digested and said that's where he got the idea for this so he chewed up his life stories and sprinkled clues in and wondered if anybody would be able to figure out his secret (that he sold copies, fake artifacts and artworks). At the end of the second book he thanks Peggy for enduring all this. Wetherhill and Rex Arrowsmith likely did the same thing, sold fake artifacts to tourists and pretended they were the real thing and Fenn just followed in their footsteps. He eventually started selling some fake paintings openly because people figured it out but all the stuff sold before the Elmer de Hory paintings were also all fakes like all the Joseph Henrey Sharp painting. He was just working an angle trying to get people to buy his fake junk again but they quit trusting him and he had to sell the business. Now you know the rest of the story. You guys are so far into this that you can't even see the truth, the reality, when someone gives it to you. People like you who can't handle the truth keep defending someone that is blatantly lying to you as I have proved with the dude and roundup motels. There are real treasure hunting experiences out there but this isn't one of them. I don't care if you don't believe me, you can "believe" whatever you want to just like people believe in Santa Claus. This info is for people that want to know the truth, not for those that want to go on believing and ignore anything that doesn't fit within their beliefs.

 

[USAuPzlBxBob]

So, um… Guanaca, you said in an earlier post you searched for the treasure. Where'd you look, and how much time and money did you blow before you came to your "senses?"

Also, you said you met Forrest, got to know him well. How long did it take him to size you up as a sycophant? Did he run you off? Is that what you mean by bullying?

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned comes to mind by your obsession with "putting him down."
(You gotta let it go, it hurts, but let it go, or it will tear your heart out. Let it go, man. Just let it go.)


By the way, I looked for the treasure chest on Sunday. I looked in 4 places at Castle Gardens Petroglyphs, Wyoming. I knew I wasn't going to find it, but I now have a great story to tell people.

However, I now don't have a chip on my shoulder by not finding it. I thought it was fun. But, you know, he probably got there fifteen minutes before I did, quickly removed it, and then put it back after I left.
(That Forrest, the things he'll do to make a dime. Oh!)

Along the way, on getting to CGP, alongside the Poudre River in Colorado, I saw a "blaze" if ever there was one. From one side it looked like W.C. Fields and from the other side it looked like Geronimo.

Care to guess the name of the famous "blaze" I saw? (It has a name.)

 

[ecmjamsit]

Eagle Nest Rock ?

 

[USAuPzlBxBob]

Nope, not Eagle Nest Rock.

So, I just went on Google Maps, went to the location there in Colorado, dropped the "Google Maps icon guy" onto the main road there, wandered up the road a bit, and there is a side road leading to the "blaze," maybe.

At the entrance to the side road is a sign listing names there, or something to that effect. Can't be sure what it is all about. It's a wooden road sign, not a highway road sign, and about five lines down, clearly it can be seen the name BROWN.

Now, I never saw this sign when I passed by it when I was there a week ago. I was looking up at the "blaze" in the mid-afternoon, commenting how it looked like a "blaze" to my friend in the car.

But, I thought that if I could find a home of brown for it when I got back home, it would be a candidate "solve."

Well, I found the BROWN just now. It's on that Google Maps road sign to that turnoff road, and there is a canyon since the river cut through the mountain there, eons and eons ago.

Someone tell someone, who can tell someone else who lives nearby, to go explore that area.

I have a hard time believing that Forrest would rely on something so temporary to describe "Put in below the home of Brown," but there it is.

If I lived there, I would definitely be searching that site this weekend. It is not on a National Forest. I doubt the "blaze" is owned by someone there. I just don't think their property includes it.

If you guess the "blaze" I'll tell you if you're right. But I won't tell you what the "blaze" is. You have to guess it on your own. Earn it.

Good luck.

- Bob

 

[USAuPzlBxBob]

Review of Castle Gardens and Castle Gardens Petroglyphs, WY; August 26, 2017

Drove in there last Sunday. At the very beginning of the east/west access road, BLM was stopping every car, encouraging everyone to camp elsewhere.

The BLM guy said we could enter, but that we couldn't “go gonzo off trail” with our car, and that we'd have to stay on pre-existing ATV type roads, at the very minimum. He explained that there were no facilities available, too, but that we could park and camp if we could find available space, and good luck finding room. We explained we had already found a different site elsewhere, we were just going in to visit the petroglyphs, and then we would leave. As we toured the area, I counted 150 vehicles before I gave up trying to count them. This was mid-afternoon, Sunday, August 20, 2017. Cars kept streaming into the area for the next twenty hours, and I hope the place isn't ruined because of this convergence on the beautiful remote area that it is.

Within Castle Gardens Petroglyphs, proper, the terminus of the entire Castle Gardens area, 5.7-miles down the road, it has had a barbwire fence around it since the 1960s. This fencing was put in place to originally protect the fragile petroglyphs from cattle that would graze the region. Back then you were allowed to drive right into the petroglyphs area and park, literally, within 50 - 100 feet from them. Since then, vandalism and just lack of respect for the petroglyphs-site has prompted the BLM to upgrade the barbwire, and the petroglyphs, themselves, for quite some time, have all been fenced off with chain-link fencing. You now have to pass through a gate to enter, and that gate can be padlocked, and probably is padlocked at the end of each day after visiting hours.

The surrounding Castle Gardens hillsides are all available to camping, and it is the usual "what you bring in, you take out" primitive camping policy. No fires allowed.

Within the barbwire area, I'd estimate that potential minor FF treasure solves could number 1000. But, most likely, serious solves would be 100 or less. There are a lot of places to look, a lot of "quickly down" available spire-heights, and they are far enough off the paths to allow them to meet the restriction that Forrest imposed, which is that the treasure chest is not hidden near a human made trail. The question here is, how far away from a human made trail does the constraint of "near" apply? 100 feet? 200 feet? (who knows)

The petroglyphs-site is very safe. I worked my way in and around some spires, walked up near the top of them, and during this I only scared a few jack rabbits off. I saw no other animals.

A few people, working together as a team, could go in there, catalog the most likely places to search (i.e. where a spire exists, and at its base may be a cubby hole), and then do the entire search the following day. If they were to do this, I would hope that they would avoid walking on any of the grey "volcanic-like" stretches, because deep footprints would be left that could remain for hundreds of years. Don't ruin the place, it's very beautiful.


I also believe that the treasure chest could be alongside the Castle Gardens access road, where everyone is allowed to camp. (This would not be the petroglyphs-site barbwire enclosure.)

That five mile stretch may easily have 1000 "serious" possible solves, and would take a team days to search thoroughly.

Along that five mile stretch, at what I believe are these coordinates, 42.952419, -107.642692, is a spire/balancing-rock formation that had me do a double take. My head literally snapped around to get a better look of it as we passed it. If ever there was a "blaze" to be seen there, this one had it in spades. Kids were on top of it. Somehow they climbed up onto it. There were a few trees around its base. The top section of it was intense scarlet rock. It stood out like nothing else I saw that day. From the road it is around 600-feet, and a possible cattle trail comes within 140-feet. (this from taking measurements off of Google Maps)

Other activities and time constraints precluded me from looking around the base of that scarlet spire/balancing-rock, but that's the way it goes.


One last thing, here, concerning Castle Gardens having possible solves. (I've detailed a "general" solve several pages before this post (posts #3096 – #3101 of this thread) addressing why Castle Gardens might be a good location to search.)

I’ve never mentioned an additional clue, and I've never seen anyone else mention it either in this regard, but here it is, it follows the excerpted posts, inserted so that they reset the context.

Prior Post Excerpts

In TTotC, the only color photograph in the book is of his wife, Peggy Jean. And he writes a poem about her, too.

The very last photograph in the book, a full page photograph, is of his father as a boy. It is the best photograph in the entire book.

But the most heartfelt chapter in the book is The Long Ride Home. This chapter is the one where Forrest encounters his first significant "halt" in life, perhaps his lowest of lows that he discusses when recollecting his youth. I suppose it could be argued that this is where his WWWH exists. He mentions that he had to bribe a couple of Mexican officials to get Skippy home. Mexican is capitalized, most all Mexicans are brown-skinned, home is mentioned, and when everything is taken together "home of Brown" can be derived.

Could this chapter be the first two clues solved?

"In Wyoming, between Shoshoni and Casper, we had some kind of slight misunderstanding and I told him to just stop the dumb car and let me out."

"I remember sitting down beside the road for about an hour to consider my lot in life and ponder if anything was left in my future."

WWWH is a metaphor for life's comforts abruptly ending, and it aptly applies as life's comforts came to a screeching "halt" for Forrest for a couple hours that day, as he watched his brother, Skippy, putt-putt away in his Model B Ford, leaving Forrest behind with no money, no coat, no shoes, and to make matters worse, it started to get cold.

And to think they were having such a good time together just earlier in the trip.

Forrest was perhaps 15 years old, Skippy was maybe 17. The year, best I can tell, was 1945, WW2 had just ended, though the documents were not signed until September.

This all took place most likely on Route 20/26, and Castle Gardens Petroglyphs is adjacent to the south.

So, the above has Forrest’s personal WWWH occurring between Shoshoni and Casper, and we have a “canyon down,” by name, resulting from Canyon Creek which runs alongside Castle Gardens, and which is also between Shoshoni and Casper. But look what else can be derived from The Long Ride Home chapter, which is the additional clue I alluded to above:

“Looking back now, after almost sixty-five years, I have fond memories of that road trip. Skippy died in a scuba diving accident in Cozumel, where they found him in ninety feet of water with his weights on.”

Forrest has said that the treasure chest is hidden in a special place to him, and I believe it ties into his brother, who he undoubtedly adored:

“I have fond memories of that road trip.”

Also, there is:

"After another hour or so, off in the far distance, I saw Skippy coming back for me. I didn't think he would and neither of us said a word. I just crawled in and we drove off. I loved him forever after that and we never fought again."

So, these few lines, combined, get us to a “special place” for Forrest like no other place in the book.

But we can tie in yet another half stanza from the poem with The Long Ride Home chapter:

There’ll be no paddle up your creek,
Just heavy loads and water high.

"Skippy died in a scuba diving accident" (There'll be no paddle up your creek,) "with his weights on" (Just heavy loads) "in ninety feet of water" (and water high.)

This all adds a little more oomph to a possible Castle Gardens solve because everything neatly fits to metaphorically paraphrase Skippy's drowning. By employing these lines from the poem metaphorically, there is no need to have an actual creek without a paddle, one that would involve heavy loads and water high… all of which Castle Gardens has none of.

"His luck failed him in the end and it didn't surprise me at all. At age fifty, he was plucked from life at the moment of his greatest blossom, and I knew he wouldn't go in any normal or mundane way.”

Skippy died in 1978, roughly ten years before Forrest would have begun dreaming up The Thrill of the Chase and writing any possible version of the eventual poem.

By Forrest tying Skippy into the poem, directly, perhaps it is Forrest’s way to “smooth the grass” on the tragedy of his brother’s untimely death, to pay tribute to Skippy, to make his life immortal, too.