Treasure hunters rejoice! Or… lament? Not sure how hardcore treasure heads feel about this, but famed antiquities/ art collector and author Forrest Fenn’s treasure has finally been found. The treasure, which had been hidden in plain sight in the Rocky Mountain Wilderness for 10 years, is said to be filled with jewels, gold, and other artifacts and valuables that are worth more than $1 million (though the idea that they should be returned to the Indigenous cultures that produced them is well-worth exploring).
CBS reports that Fenn told the Santa Fe based New Mexican in 2017 that the weight of the chest and contents combined equal out to more than 40 pounds, so it’s a legit treasure chest.
The treasure was located sometime last week and confirmed to Fenn via photograph by a man who Fenn told the New Mexican didn’t want his name released to the public, only revealing that he was from “back East,” which totally sounds like the way you’d describe a mysterious treasure hunter.
Fenn first shared clues to the location of the treasure in a 24-line poem published in his 2010 memoir, “The Thrill of the Chase,” part of which reads,
“Begin it where warm waters halt
And take it in the canyon down,
Not far, but too far to walk.
Put in below the home of Brown.From there it’s no place for the meek,
The end is ever drawing nigh;
There’ll be no paddle up your creek,
Just heavy loads and water high.”
The treasure was hidden as a way to motivate and inspire people to venture into the wilderness and throughout the decade many have committed hours and money in search of Fenn’s elusive trove, sometimes meeting unfortunate fates, like a snowmobiler who died last March while searching through the Rockies.
In a statement shared to his official website on Sunday, Fenn announced that the treasure had been found but did not reveal its exact location, saying only that “It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forest vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago, I don’t know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”
Serious props to the person who uncovered the location using the clues in Fenn’s poem alone, because I felt sure it was underwater somewhere in New Mexico.