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The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Hints of riches new and old All the items that Fenn put in the treasure chest correspond to hydrothermal features that drain into the Firehole River in Yellowstone. Remember, Fenn said to “get back in the box” and “the treasure chest is wet”. The new riches (Fenn’s treasures) and corresponding old riches (natural wonders) are as follows: • Bronze Chest: Bronze Spring/Box Spring • Gold coins—Liberty heads: Liberty Pool, Maple Leaf: Leaf Pool, Middle Eastern: Middle Geyser Basin, Double Eagles: Doublet Pool • Gold (gold nuggets = yellow stones): Aurum (gold in Latin) Geyser/Pot of Gold • Chinese jade face carvings: Chinese Spring • 17th century Spanish emerald ring: Emerald Pool/Emerald Lake (GPS) • Dragon coat bracelet: Dragon Spring • Sapphires: Sapphire Pool • Diamonds: Diamond Spring/Black Diamond Pool • Silver and turquoise bracelet won in a game of pool: Turquoise Pool/Silver Spring • Jaguar claw: Lion Geyser/Bear Claw Geyser • Quartz crystal fetish: Crystal Spring • Gold frog fetish with bulbous eyes/legs ready to spring: Bulger Geyser/Frog Pools • Gold mirrors: Mirror Pool/Narcissus Geyser • Turquoise disc bead and Mayan gold bead necklaces: Bead Geyser • Gold dust: Dusty Geyser • Olive jar: Green Spring • Gold nose rings and bracelets: Circle Pool/Round Spring • White hairs from Fenn’s head: White Dome Geyser • The “one thing in the chest that I have not talked about”: Surprise Pool Items Fenn said he had originally put in the chest but later removed: • Pocket watches (SB#158): Pocket Basin • Gemstones (SB#158): Gem Pool/Jewel Geyser • Amethyst: Crystal Spring • Topaz: Topaz Spring • Star ruby: Lone Star Geyser/Blue Star Spring • $1000 bill(s), two $500 bills (SB#31)—total two grand: Grand Geyser & Grand Prismatic Spring • $100k bearer bond/bank letter: Bank Geyser Three new items found in the chest: • Twig: Twig Geyser • Scissors: Scissors Springs • Rusty key: Rusty Geyser 2 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The directional clues: Stanzas 2–4 L5: Begin it where warm waters halt (1) Start at Madison Junction, where the warm waters of the Firehole River, a product of the hydrothermal features above, abruptly halt at a T (or Y)-junction/wye. It throughout the poem is the Yellow Brick (stone) Road—follow it (Highway 191). L6: And take it in the canyon down, (2) Take the highway south (down the map) through Firehole Canyon. Firehole Canyon begins at Madison Junction and continues for about 5.5 miles until it opens into the Fountain Flats just south of the Nez Perce Creek confluence. L7: Not far, but too far to walk. Drive (Hwy 2-4-2 a.k.a. 191) through the canyon, 10 miles per the Preface of Too Far to Walk. Also, the treasure is 24.2 miles from West Yellowstone (22 from the WY border). This is the distance between WWWH and hoB. Since this line does not refer to a specific place, I don’t consider it to be a clue. But it is important, because it indicates that you 3 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase need to drive, and this vastly reduces the search space, because there are a limited number of canyons that you can drive through. Also, Highway 191 used to be labeled 242 in some places, and Fenn does seem to use the sounds of words as hints in the scrapbooks, e.g. 4-hole = Firehole in SB#222 and 230. So, too far to » two four two. (Also, 20.2 Troy pounds of gold is 242 Troy ounces.) In addition, while the “down” direction is ambiguous on L6, “because it is too far to walk” is the answer to the joke, “why do birds fly south for the winter”, so this line may disambiguate “down” to mean down the map (south). L8: Put in below the home of Brown. (3) Home of Brown = Brown house = Brownstone. Park (put in) downstream (below) the Brown stone (Midway Bluff). “Me in the Middle” is a chapter in The Thrill of the Chase that may hint at Midway Bluff and Midway Geyser Basin (a.k.a. Middle Geyser Basin). Midway Bluff is exactly 10 miles south of Madison Junction. Park in Grand Prismatic Springs parking lot, otherwise you’ll go right on by. (“Parking lot” is the 10th clue?) Midway Bluff 4 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The reason the B is capitalized is obscure: Brown with a capital B is written on Moran’s painting of the bluffs, Great Springs of the Firehole River.† ¯ Thomas Moran’s Great Springs of the Firehole River (1871) L9: From there it’s no place for the meek, (4) The meek shall inherit the Earth—water and fire are elements that are not earth, and therefore no place for the meek is the Firehole River. Ford it. Also, Middle Geyser Basin, and specifically Excelsior Geyser before it was known to be a geyser, was given the name “Hell’s Half Acre” by early visitors. L10: The end is ever drawing nigh; (5) The end [of Fenn’s rainbow], i.e. Grand Prismatic Spring, a.k.a. Emerald Lake, is continually flowing (ever drawing) and is located on the left (nigh) side of the river and due west of Midway Bluff. The treasure is located somewhere over the rainbow. “So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure” (TTotC pp. 131–132). † This capital B reference was first described by Mike Bibler in “The Art Angle Part Two”. 5 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase L11: There’ll be no paddle up your creek, (6) The waterfall/creek is impossible to navigate and is full of hot water. The creek is located next to the bridge across the Firehole River (see below). L12: Just heavy loads and water high. (7) The creek leads to Excelsior Geyser (water high) a.k.a. Hell’s Half Acre with its heavy geyserite sediment deposits, or the boulders it used to expel when it erupted (heavy loads). The expression “come hell or high water” fits here. L13: If you’ve been wise and found the blaze, (8) The blaze is literally a blaze (there’s no other word to describe it) on a tree associated with USGS Benchmark PY1264 (1956), an X on the map. En route, you pass the Y in the boardwalk and then make a Z to the blaze (been “Y/Z”). Found as in foundry, implying the blaze (benchmark) is bronze? The fourth stanza contains every letter of the alphabet other than X. Fenn said we only need the poem and a good map. The X-blaze isn’t in the poem, it’s on the map. 6 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Hints: “Happy ending” (Scrapbook #222), Skippy, Peggy, pineapple pie, 1 + 264 = 265 gold coins, pyrite (pirate), Benchmark Maps, “under a canopy of stars” (the stars are the famous geothermal features up the hill from the treasure spot). US Geological Survey (USGS): George Washington was a surveyor. “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. Is someone doing that now and I don't know it? It's not what they say on the blogs that may be significant, it's what they whisper.” log → logic → logical… → geological The blaze, a mark made on a tree by cutting the bark, is located on a nearby tree. The USGS benchmark data sheet reads: “REFERENCE MARK NO. 1--COPPER NAIL‡ AND WASHER, SET IN CENTER OF BLAZE IN NEAREST PINE TREE TO NW. OF STATION, 1 FT. ABOVE GROUND, N 25 DEG 33 MIN W, AND 65.48 FT. DISTANT.” The blaze CAUTION: The benchmark and blaze are on the edge of a protected thermal area. Do not step off the boardwalk! It is both illegal and dangerous. Wading in the Firehole River is allowed if you are farther than 200 yards north of the footbridge. Be careful, because the current is strong and the bottom is rocky and very slippery—hiking poles are required. It is impossible to safely cross here when the water level is elevated. ‡Think “copper nails taken from 17th century Spanish galleons” (p. 137, TTotC). 7 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase L14: Look quickly down, your quest to cease, (9) Slide down the wash/slip-up/“chute” (Fenn’s pitch with pine trees) that is the most direct route to the river, starting from west to east (sounds like quest to cease?). The chute with a brown shelf at the bottom L15: But tarry scant with marvel gaze, The Twin Buttes are visible in the distance (“But” and “marvel” could be hints for Twin Buttes). Fenn said that tarry scant means “to get the Hell out of there”. So back away from Twin Buttes first before going quickly down the correct chute. Or marvel gaze refers to Prof. Marvel? Or don’t go down the wrong chute that leads to the nice view? Gaspard Memories: Twin butts? Twin Buttes L16: Just take the chest and go in peace. Fenn stated that this means that whoever finds the treasure could have it. Also, “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” 8 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Instructions and hints in other stanzas L1: As I have gone alone in there The treasure is located at Fenn’s secret fishing hole, somewhere people usually do not go. L2: And with my treasures bold, It is provocative for Fenn to go there (bold[ly]): it is risky (one could be seen) and is on the edge of out-of-bounds. Fenn went there alone as a youth and also later with his treasure. L3: I can keep my secret where, The secret W here is the white W on the ground made from the lines of sediment between the stands of trees (see figure above). Also, somewhere over the rainbow. L4: And hint of riches new and old. The new riches are the treasures Fenn hid, and the old riches are the natural wonders in Yellowstone that these hints and the other clues refer to (see p. 2 above). L17: So why is it that I must go It throughout the poem is the road, which originally started at a “wye”, a type of river or road junction resembling a Y, at Madison Junction. There are several other possible references: You must go to WYoming, the Y from L13, and USGS Benchmark PY1264 (the blaze), and West Yellowstone. L18: And leave my trove for all to seek? Fenn buried the treasure (trove) under a log/tree/leaves. L19: The answers I already know, The solutions to the clues are well-known geographical features. L20: I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak. Fenn bicycled (with tires) to the spot in his youth, but now he is too old to do so. 9 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase L21: So hear me all and listen good, Listen to the sounds in the poem, e.g. “wise”/“why” for Y, west to east, and “I” (eye). At the treasure spot, you can hear the roar of the nearby creek draining Excelsior Geyser. Or “the voice among the trees” from Ch. 32 of Treasure Island? Pirate = pyrite? L22: Your effort will be worth the cold. Finding the F-fort (“Fort Fenn”, a reference to Fenn’s childhood?), or your endeavor, will be worth the cold from getting wet in the river. This might also refer to Longfellow’s poem Excelsior§? L23: If you are brave and in the wood You need to be brave at the spot, as you could be seen by the animals (people). You need to be standing in the middle of the bush (wood) in the forest to find the treasure. L24: I give you title to the gold. The title is some sort of inscription (from Latin titulus)? Perhaps the physical treasure isn’t there, only some token, or perhaps the finder also gets the second treasure chest? § The Excelsior poem idea was suggested by “Beavertooth”. 10 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Synopsis: Drive south from Madison Junction through Firehole Canyon and park downstream from Midway Bluffs at Grand Prismatic Springs. Cross the Firehole River where the creek leads to Excelsior Geyser. Find USGS Benchmark PY1264 and slide down the chute towards the river. Coordinates: 44° 31′ 42.8″ N, 110° 50′ 15.5″ W 11 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Disambiguation of the poem Because I always went by myself to the spot (my secret fishing hole) Where I also boldly brought my treasures, No one else knows about the W, And I can give hints about the treasure items and their corresponding natural wonders. Begin the highway where the river draining these hydrothermal features abruptly ends And continue driving south through the canyon, 10 miles on Highway 242. Park downstream from the Brownstone. From there cross the fire/water (not earth), The (end of the rainbow) spring is continually flowing on the left side of the river; Walk upstream next to the creek, That leads to the sediment deposits and geyser. Once you’ve gone past the Y-shape and found the blaze on the tree, Slide down the chute, roughly west to east, following the most direct route to the river, But first backing away from the M-shaped mountains you see in the distance, And simply take the treasure: it’s yours. In Wyoming I buried my treasure under the leaves for anyone who can find it. The answers to the riddles in the poem are famous locations, To which I rode my bicycle in my youth. Listen to the sounds of the words—they give important hints, The goal is worth getting wet. If you are exposed in this gray area near people and standing in the bush I will also transfer ownership of the other treasure chest to you. 12 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The alphabet code Individual letters of the alphabet seem to be important in the poem. The second line of the poem includes the phrase “my secret where”. This can be read as “my secret W here”, and there is a giant W at the spot. “waters halt” can be read as “water s hal T”, i.e. where warm water shall T. We begin “it” (the letter sequence) here. (Also, there is a T on every line of the poem.) The line, “If you’ve been wise and found the blaze” can be read as, “If U V been Y/Z and found the [X]” (since the blaze is associated with an X on the map). So now we have the letters T, U, V, W, [X], Y and Z, where the letter X is not actually found in the poem (every other letter is found in Stanza 4) but is on the map instead. That’s why you need the poem and a map. 13 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Treasure Island The treasure map in Treasure Island was illustrated by JF, just like the drawing on p. 99 in TTotC, which is a good depiction of the treasure site, with Midway Bluff (home of Brown) on the right, the double mountain Twin Buttes (marvel gaze) in the background on the left, the Firehole River (no place for the meek), and two X’s, indicating the blaze and the treasure itself. Figure on p. 99 in The Thrill of the Chase Map from Treasure Island Wallace Beery (Scrapbook #253) famously played Long John Silver in the movie Treasure Island (1934). The ballad, The dying words of Captain Robert Kidd, contains some of the words in Fenn’s poem, including: brave, bold, hear, gold, nigh, riches, I must go and old. 14 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The Wizard of Oz** We must follow the Yellow Brick Road (Yellowstone Road) from its beginning at Madison Junction to “the end”, Emerald City (Emerald Lake, a.k.a. Grand Prismatic Spring), which is also Fenn’s rainbow. The treasure is located somewhere over the rainbow (north). “So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:” (pp. 131–132, TTotC). Follow the Yellowstone road, Follow the Yellowstone road, Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the Yellowstone road. Follow the rainbow over the stream, Follow the fellow who follows a dream, Follow, follow, follow, follow, Follow the Yellowstone road. “I dreamed the other night that I had been reincarnated as Captain Kidd and went to Gardiner's Island looking for the treasure.” (p. 133, TTotC). (Dorothy’s dream?) “There is no place like home.” (Scrapbook #56) There are 22 turquoise beads on the bracelet. Two-two → “to”-“to” → Toto the dog. Dorothy Massey owns The Collected Works, the only distributor of Fenn’s books. Elton John (Scrapbook #81) sang the song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. 20.2 Troy pounds of gold is 242 ounces (Oz). 2-4-2 is “too far too”. Dorothy uses ruby slippers to get home. The rubies described in the treasure chest are the only treasure items not associated with a hydrothermal feature. Marvel gaze: Professor Marvel is a character in The Wizard of Oz who gazes into his crystal ball, and, deducing that Dorothy is running away, convinces her to return home. **The Wizard of Oz ideas are from Reddit discussions and mostly not original to me. 15 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase WoO in “wood”? If you’ve been WIZe? The three characters who Dorothy meets, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman, are on a quest (your quest) to find brains, courage and a heart, respectively, which are represented in the poem by wise, brave and chest. The movie was released on August 25, 1939, three days after Fenn’s ninth birthday. “One of the prizes in my collection, a Tairona and Sinu Indian necklace from Columbia, is also part of the treasure. It contains thirty-nine animal fetishes carved from quartz crystal, carnelian, jadeite and other exotic stones.” [emphasis added] (TTotC p. 130). In Scrapbook #219, “The odometer reads 19,139 miles.” (Highway 191 is also hinted here.) Gone with the Wind was also released that year (Clark Gable references, Scrapbooks #17 and 167). On August 22, 1939, Forrest Fenn turned 9 years old. One hundred years previously, on July 15, 1839, Osborne Russell visited Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. This is the only thermal feature in Journal of a Trapper that is definitively identifiable. Russell writes: July 15 — We traveled down the stream northwest about 12 miles, passing on our route large numbers of hot springs with their snow white monuments scattered among the groves of pines. At length we came to a boiling lake about 300 feet in diameter, forming nearly a complete circle as we approached on the south side. The steam which arose from it was of three distinct colors. From the west side for one-third of the diameter it was white, in the middle was pale red, and the remaining third on the east, light sky blue. Whether it was something peculiar in the state of the atmosphere, the day being cloudy, or whether it was some chemical properties contained in the water which produced this phenomenon, I am unable to say, and shall leave the explanation to some scientific tourist who may have the curiosity to visit this place at some future period. The water was of deep indigo blue, boiling like an immense cauldron, running over the white rock which had formed around the edges to the height or four or five feet from the surface of the earth, sloping gradually for sixty or seventy feet. What a field of speculation this presented for chemist and geologist. In Scrapbook #81, Fenn wrote, “I keep reminding myself, that I was [Os]born[e] a hundred years too late. f” “One of the things I treasure most of all was the little arrowhead I found when I was nine years old.” 16 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The blaze Perhaps no clue has been discussed more than the blaze. We know it is one of the clues because in a video posted to Outside Magazine on 9/8/2015, Fenn says, “I mean there’s people driving down the street looking for a blaze because that’s one of the clues….” Many people thought that the blaze was the last clue. During the Q&A session at The Lure premiere on 5/18/2017, Fenn’s said (Question 4), “So you have to start with the first clue and let it take you to the blaze…”, and (Question 7), “The clues will lead you to the treasure and whether it’s buried or not, you can find it if you can find the blaze as a result of starting with the first clue. That’s what you have to do.” But what is a blaze? The dictionary definition of the verb blaze is to “mark out a path or route”. That seems appropriate for The Chase, but what does Fenn tell us about the blaze? Fenn said the blaze is “Anything that stands out” (FGM#13), “In a word - Yes” it is “one single object” (Mysterious Writings, 5/28/14), “The blaze is a physical thing. It's not theoretical” (Dateline Australia, Spring 2014), and “While it's not impossible to remove the blaze it isn't feasible to try, and I am certain it's still there” (The Daily Beast, 3/03/2013). When Fenn was asked, “Can the blaze be pre-determined by the poem or can it only be determined at the search area?” (Mysterious Writings, 6/26/2014), Fenn declined to answer. Fenn is notorious for treating questions literally, and he was likely unable to answer this complex question simply. What if the blaze can be determined by the poem but is not in the poem? The letter X is the only letter of the alphabet that is not used in the poem (or the fourth stanza). Could the blaze be an X? An X on the map, but not in the poem? Fenn said, “Excellent research materials are TTOTC, Google Earth, and/or a good map” (SB#62). What is an X on a map? A benchmark. A benchmark is a physical object, a brass or bronze disc, embedded in rock or concrete. It is designed to be permanent, and even if could be removed using heavy machinery, it is not feasible to try remove it from the map—history can’t be erased. A blaze is a marker. In this case, it marks a grave—Fenn’s grave. Or at least that was Fenn’s original plan. In the chapter, “My War for Me” in TTotC, Fenn described his encounter with a circular aluminum grave marker, not unlike the description of a benchmark with words inscribed around the perimeter of its circular plate: “I tripped over something and fell flat on my face…. I came nose-to-nose with a rude aluminum grave marker. How strange and out of place it seemed…. I had tripped over a crudely- made stone grave marker…. A French name and rank [elevation] was followed by arcing English words across the top” (p. 94). These words were the famous epitaph that H. L. Mencken jokingly composed: “If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.” Mencken died in 1956. 17 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Fenn said one time that there was an unintended clue in the map in his book, Too Far to Walk. When asked about it, Fenn responded, “Well I’ve not had anybody tell me the answer to that clue.” Perhaps it is the fact that the map was made by the company Benchmark Maps? Were there any other hints that would support the blaze being a benchmark? One enigmatic quote from Fenn is, “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. Is someone doing that now and I don't know it? It's not what they say on the bLOGs that may be significant, it's what they whisper” [capitalization added] (SB#61). In this quote we have the sequence: log → logic → logical…. What’s next in this sequence? Geological. Fenn mentions George Washington numerous times, including the story about children touching the George Washington painting in TTotC. GEOrge Washington was a SURVEYor in his youth. If we combine the information, we have US Geological Survey (USGS), the organization administering benchmarks in the US. The specific benchmark, PY1264 was installed in 1956 (the same year Mencken died, was this the epitaph?). The benchmark is referenced to an actual blaze on a tree, a mark where the bark has been removed, inset with a copper nail and washer. There is no other word than “blaze” to describe it. The precise location of the blaze (Reference Mark No. 1) is given in station description in the NGS Data Sheet (Reference Mark No. 2 was on another tree but is lost): DESCRIBED BY US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1956 STATION MARK--STANDARD BRONZE TABLET, SET IN CONCRETE WITHIN 5 IN. ORANGEBURG PIPE PROJECTING 0.3 FT. ABOVE GROUND, STAMPED ---MIDWAY 1956, ELEV. 7251---. REFERENCE MARK NO. 1--COPPER NAIL AND WASHER, SET IN CENTER OF BLAZE IN NEAREST PINE TREE TO NW. OF STATION, 1 FT. ABOVE GROUND, N 25 DEG 33 MIN W, AND 65.48 FT. DISTANT. 18 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Fenn’s Hell “Sometimes I just feel diabolical. F”. These were the last words that Fenn wanted read to the Fennboree participants, and they turned out to be the last public words from Fenn before he died. Fenn wanted his body to lay where the treasure chest was hidden. What if it was in Hell? But where is Hell? In the chapter, “The Long Ride Home” (to the home of Brown?), Fenn writes, “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” (p. 56). Could this be a reference to the area that Fenn got out of his car and started on foot when he hid the treasure? Looking on the map, there is absolutely nothing on Highway 26 between Shoshoni and Casper. Except Hell’s Half Acre. Fenn further emphasized this area in his answer to the Featured Question on Mysterious Writings (March 11, 2018): “Two places we always stopped were the giant Montgomery-Wards store in Denver, and Hell’s Half Acre, between Casper and Shoshoni…. I always dreaded those long rides, especially when it was my turn to sit in the middle. f”. But this is not the only Hell’s Half Acre, there is one in Yellowstone. Midway Geyser Basin “used to be known by a much more suggestive name, one attributed to British writer Rudyard Kipling who visited in 1889: Hell’s Half Acre.” (yellowstoneinsider.com). “[T]he 1899 Haynes Guide shares a different account of the ‘Hell’s Half Acre, name that’s worth noting. Indeed, by Haynes’ account, the name refers more to present-day Excelsior Geyser than anything else: ‘Visited by thousands annually, this section became known as “Hell’s Half Acre” a name it retained until, when discovered by Col. P.W. Norris to be a geyser of great force, and then named by him “Excelsior.”’ Excelsior… for a brief time, held the mantle of tallest geyser in the world…. The crowning jewel of Midway Geyser Basin, however, has to be Grand Prismatic Spring…. The third largest hot spring in the world, and the largest in the United States, Grand Prismatic is flat-out astonishing. With a center bluer even than the sky, colors radiating outward as the water temperature, it’s a bona fide thermal rainbow.” (yellowstoneinsider.com) Is this the Hell where Fenn wanted his body to lay? The end of Fenn’s rainbow? Amidst the iridescent Grand Prismatic Spring and the chaotic Excelsior Geyser, two of the world’s largest thermal features, the stars of the show? Fenn’s last words evoke Scrapbook #209, which describes the two dolls, Chaos and Embroidery, whose “armatures are made of spring wire”, and whose faces have “an eerie diabolical grin”, and whose “clothing is made of spangly materials, luscious forested vegetation…. Ancient beads adorn their necks while silent fetishes secret themselves beneath the understated colors.” (SB#209). In the pictures, Chaos is shown with a 19 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase treasure chest underfoot. In the statement Fenn released on June 6, 2020, he wrote that the treasure “was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains….” The treasure of course was located downhill from these stars. When asked by Penelope from Voice of America what “tarry scant” meant, Fenn responded, “Take the chest and get the hell out of here.” Is Midway Geyser Basin, “Me in the middle”, where Fenn put in below the home of Brown? Is this Hell, guarded by Chaos and Embroidery, the final resting spot of the treasure and Fenn’s body? “What is wrong with me just riding my bike out there and throwing it in the ‘water high’ when I am through with it?” (Forrest Gets Mail #2). Did Fenn intend to throw his bicycle into Excelsior Geyser, the water high, where it would dissolve? Come Hell or high water. The treasure location and Fenn’s secret fishing hole, Flywater, p. 105 (hint in Scrapbook #191: George Montgomery was in 105 movies) 20 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Doodles 21 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Note also that the long straight line of cleared trees across the road matches up with the length of the long back and tail of the mountain lion fetish when it is scaled so its head fits to the patch of forest. 22 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Fenn’s “headline” (helmet), from Scrapbook #100 (“Glory is where you find it”— Morning Glory Pool resembles Grand Prismatic Spring) outlines Excelsior Geyser, including the little island. The football overlays the bend in the boardwalk. Fenn is looking towards the treasure? If you get this far, don’t drop the ball. “It was a one-yard dash through the middle of the line.” The walking man in red, from Scrapbook #130, has legs that match the boardwalk path shape. This doodle matches the W, and the treasure is located where the tip of the center flame and the triangular pant leg are meeting/pointing. 23 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The edges of various parts of the elephant from TFtW trace the road, parking lot and footpath at Midway Geyser Bain. 24 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The most important doodle is also the most prominent—on the cover of Once Upon a While. Extract the fisherman (we know it is Fenn because he is wearing the turquoise belt buckle) and place the reel of the fishing rod on the map (facing south) on the blaze on the tree. Then resize the figure (no rotations or distortions) and it matches exactly the contour of the forested area. Fenn has hooked a star here, the treasure. Nice catch! In the revised edition of Once Upon a While, the star is slightly rotated on the cover, drawing your attention to it when you overlay the two covers. This is the only indication describing where exactly the treasure is (just inside the forest from here). The poem only leads you down the chute, within a few steps along the path, but it’s not clear where to stop. This is what Fenn was hinting at when he said that he followed his fishing line to the treasure. 25 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase W As noted above, the “secret W here” is one interpretation of the third line of the poem. There is a big white W on the ground in the vicinity of the treasure. Fenn made significant hints about the W in TTotC and his extra-book writings. Here are some examples. TTotC: Fenn makes a point in the colophon that he used the Adobe Garamond font for the book. The W in this font is shown above. It is also the first letter in the book, shown in the drop cap that looks like this: • It is one of the few fonts where the W looks like two V’s, and it makes an X in the center. Does this X mark the treasure spot? Is the W “the end of [Fenn’s] rainbow” [emphasis added] (TTotC p. 132)? It also looks like the W formed by the palm trees, which also marked a treasure, in the 1963 movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (center picture above). In the stories, Fenn mentions windows unusually frequently, which I think are references to the secret W and also the last clue (i.e. W-in-dow[n]). • “looking out of the big window” (p. 26): refers to the giant W • “slide-down fire escape was just outside that window” (p. 26): the fire escape was actually a chute, and this references the chute in the center of the giant W, which you have to slide quickly down (it ends at a brown shelf into the Firehole River, referenced by the brown stain on Fenn’s pants) • “quickly slip through the window and down and away” (p. 27): a clear reference to the last clue, “quickly down” and a slip, which is a boat ramp, as the chute in the W that goes all the way down to the river • “out the window meant out of sight” (p. 27): you are exposed when you are in the cleared W area, but once you get into the trees you are hidden (like the treasure) • “jumping out of the window by my bed and walking down to the cemetery” (p. 41): references walking down the chute to the treasure, which was also to be Fenn’s grave 26 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase • “if my head was in the window I could hear the sound and instantly knew what it was” (p. 42): perhaps a reference to hearing the roar of the creek at the spot? • “He rolled the window down and yelled, ‘You’re canned.’” (p. 47): “canned” means fired, so you roll down the W towards the Firehole • “with a small window open I enjoyed the ever present aromas of sage and juniper” (p. 116): smells at the site? • Fenn’s mother, when asked about Fenn’s string ball, his childhood treasure, “just kept nodding and looking out of the window” (p. 128) The word “wash” is also mentioned frequently. Perhaps this describes the wash or chute in the last clue. (Or the copper washer that is part of the blaze.) The W itself is also prevalent in Fenn’s other writings. Featured Question with Forrest: New Searcher, Mysterious Writings (5/14/20): “Dear LostChaser, The treasure has not been found so coming late to the search has not hurt you. You may even have an advantage because your mind is fresh with new ideas. When the time is right please hunt safe. Good luck to you. f” [emphasis added] Forrest Gets Mail #23: “While we were in the wood yesterday morning, Donna and I encountered a fully grown wolverine! …. Wolverines in the Wind River Range…” 27 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Numbers The product of the longitude coordinates is 85250. 85 (miles) and 250 (bucks) co- appear in SB#232; 85(th squadron) and 250 (knots) co-appear in SB#168. Their sum is 175.5. SB#196 and #138: 1755 hours. The longitude coordinate hints are consistent, but some variation in the latitude hints. The sum of the latitude coordinates is 117, also in SB#138 (M117s). Their product (using 42.1″) is 57424.4. In SB#224, 57 appears twice, 4 4 4 appears twice, 2 appears twice. In SB#211, “58,688 times”. With 43.0264″, the product (“times”) is 58,688. Fenn used a similar number (68795868679, i.e. 6879 58686.79, for 43.0255″) telling someone in an e-mail if they told him exactly where the treasure was, he’d go get it for them. The sum of all coordinates (using latitude 43.5″) is 294. SB$70: 294,000 miles. The product of all the coordinates (using latitude 42.1″) is 4,895,430,100. 48 (hours), 95(%) and F-100 co-appear in SB#224. The heading from the blaze to the treasure is 24° (SB#240) or 25° (IAFF). The spot is 24.2 miles from West Yellowstone and 22 miles from the Wyoming border. Mt. Washburn is 10,200 ft. high. Get it, “wash” and “burn”? A wash on the Firehole. 28 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The special spot Fenn said, “Your destination is small, but its location is huge” (Mysterious Writings, 2/19/2016). The spot is at the foot of Excelsior Geyser, once the largest geyser in the world, and near Grand Prismatic Springs, the largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest in the world. The treasure was located downhill from these two stars of the natural world. In Fenn’s announcement on June 6, 2020 that the treasure was found, he wrote: “It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains….” “Canopy” specifically, refers to can-o-PY, the benchmark PY1264, is like a can standing out from the earth. “Lush, forested vegetation” is a reference to Scrapbook #209: “luscious forested vegetation”, in which there are two dolls named Chaos and Embroidery, referring to the intermittent Excelsior Geyser and the multicolored Grand Prismatic Spring, respectively. Chaos is shown with one foot on a treasure chest, and indeed the spot above is located at the foot of Excelsior Geyser. Excelsior Geyser has a kidney-shaped crater (there are also numerous moon hints). In Scrapbook #163 (November 2016), Fenn references “the spot” as being just below the kidney: The cancer in your kidney was in more than one spot? It was under my kidney embedded in the inferior vena cava, which is the vein that takes blood from the lower body back to the heart. There was just one spot The kidney-shaped Excelsior Geyser Crater 29 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase Hints in The Thrill of the Chase book Fenn said “… if you want to find the treasure chest… read the book just normally—the poem and the rest of the book—and then go back and read the poem six, eight, ten times; study every line, every word. Then after you do that, read the book again, slowly, with the idea of looking for clues or hints that are in the book that will help you follow the clues.” (Lorne Mills interview on “Report from Santa Fe”, 5/13/11.) The suggestion here seems to be to look for words from the poem that appear in TTotC— in a context that will help disambiguate the meaning of the words as they are used in the poem: Those great places, which were personal secrets to me then, are now busy with the flourish of fishermen and women who cast a midge or floating cadis upon those same waters, never knowing I had been there, or even caring yes or no. I always thought that space was mine alone, and many of the memories there bred are even now still so personal that they exclude the intrusion of strangers. How dare they go there? (p. 125) The suggestion here seems to be that Fenn’s secret place, where he went alone, is a fishing hole. One said to the other, talking about me of course, "He'd run away from home but he's not allowed to cross the street," (p. 20) To avoid detection I ran full speed across an open field, crying all the way, until I reached a small county road that led back home. (p. 70) When my plane and I turned south for home I felt a serene sense of warmth and satisfaction. (p. 117) The home of Brown is across the street, a road leads to it, and you have to go south to get there, towards the warmth. So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure: (pp. 131–132) “The end” in the poem refers to the end of the rainbow. After a brief fight, Russell escaped west toward Stinking Creek. (p. 59) The creek stinks. They put heavy doses of saltpeter in the food… (p. 70) “Heavy loads” is a mineral. 30 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase We experimented dipping the dead thing in scalding water first, and that helped a little, but the smell was terrible. (p. 37) Each dish and pan had to be washed by hand, dipped in scalding water and dried. Whew! My hands turned white and had deep canyons in them. What I really hated to wash were the giant kettles used for making brown gravy. The smell truly assaulted my sensitivities and that's why I don't eat brown gravy anymore. (p. 48) The water is scalding hot and smells bad. The engine was in the water and the fan was throwing sprays all over the place and making noises like a helicopter. (p. 67) The water sprays around (geyser?). … so do the names of those who wade those waters and chalk the memories once again (p. 125) You have to wade across the waters. That was many years before the streets were paved, so the deep potholes on Canyon Street often were filled with water that was fair game for every car that bounced by. (p. 47) … watching the waters deepen into cobalt (p. 125) Deep blue water in holes. … down at the bottom (p. 13) finally found them down by a rivulet (p. 60) At the bottom near the river. … a beautiful old iron, slide-down fire escape was just outside that window. (p. 26) I'd quickly slip through the window and down and away. (p. 27) I'd get even with my father for switching me by jumping out of the window by my bed and walking down to the cemetery, (p. 41) I quickly unfastened the parachute harness and stepped to the ground. (p. 83) Slide downhill, down the chute/slip to Fenn’s grave (the treasure). 31 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The 240-foot cable ride up on a heavy, iron jungle penetrator through a tangle of breaking limbs, leaves, and tree trunks, took my breath away. (p. 90) But I know that as the seasons slowly change and the leaves of life fall and are reborn anew (p. 125) “Leave the chest” means that the chest is covered in leaves. Fortunately, I was the only one in the class who knew that trick, the sliding I mean, and even though that rusty old iron thing marked the tail of my britches pretty good with a heavy brown color, it was worth it. (p. 27) When you slide down to the treasure, your pants will get brown. There's nothing worse than a wet bedroll on a cold night. (p. 63) The long walk home was wet and cold, (p. 67) They couldn't understand why it was cold to the touch when it was in a warm room. (p. 111) “Worth the cold” means that you will get wet. Although you might think it would be warm, it’s not. "Don't make the alligator mad until you've crossed the river." All of the bravery was in my talk and I knew that sooner or later I was gonna get mine. (p. 24) You must cross the river. Helping Father make fire wood… (p. 44) Logs by the fire (Firehole River). 32 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase The precise spot Fenn wrote, “You can’t have a ‘correct solve’ unless you can knowingly go to within several steps of the treasure chest.” (Mysterious Writings, 6/2/2017). To get closer than “within several steps” to the treasure, you would need to do a brute force search of a larger area, or perhaps there are hints in the poem and elsewhere that you can use? The last clue in the poem is “look quickly down your quest to cease”, which means that you need to go down the chute towards the river. But how do you know where to stop? There would be an enormous area to search if that’s all you have. The fisherman doodle on the cover of Once Upon a While brings you close, to the edge of the forest. But the treasure is not precisely there. The poem says you must be “in the wood”, but what does that mean? How is the treasure concealed? In three separate interviews, Fenn said he hoped kids would spend time outside, and specifically, that they would look under a rotten log: “They need to turn over a rotten log and see what is under it.” (Westworld 8/11/2016); “I hope they will fish, look for fossils, turn rotten logs over to see what's under them, and look for my treasure.” (Business Insider 2/8/2018); “Find an old rotten log. Turn it over and see what’s under it.” (On the Road with Charlie podcast 5/8/2017). In SB#207, Fenn wrote about hiding a “forlorn looking” hammer under the wooden floorboards of Sharp’s cabin: “It didn’t take much effort to dig a small tunnel below the footing and slide the hammer in under the floor.” This is reinforced by the prominent picture of an Underwood typewriter, on p. 256 of TFtW. So the treasure is located under “wood”. Fenn wrote about berries on a huckleberry bush in SB#204. In the poem, Fenn asks why he must “leave my trove”, which I interpret as the treasure chest being buried under leaves. In this section of Yellowstone, there are not any broadleaf trees, but a bush would work. We thus might expect the treasure chest to be buried under a rotten log in a bush. From the poem we know that we need to be “in the wood”. Does this mean that we need to get in the bushes? Fenn describes the process by which he hid the treasure in SB#239. There was a “juniper tree at San Lazaro Pueblo” that “was in full growth and seemingly in good health” in 1914. Years later, “It looked melancholy and forlorn, a stump of its former self.” (Note the “forlorn” reference above to the hammer under Sharp’s cabin.) “About 20 years ago” Fenn “brought that beautiful thing home. Now it relaxes under a growing pinon tree…. It has earned a rest.” Fenn continues, “Juniper is a hard wood that grows slowly and rots slowly. Nevertheless, I know that in another 100 years it will be gone. But in leaving, its decomposing body will fertilize a new generation of growth. I planted a small cluster of juniper berries near its soft underbelly, where they will get moisture from the ground, energy from the growing rays of the sun, and nourishment from juniper decay.” 33 The End of Forrest’s Rainbow: The solution to The Thrill of the Chase “Covenants on my 2 ½ acres say that no additional structures can be built on the property.” This sounds like the 2.086 acres of “allotted public acreage” (in Yellowstone?) that Fenn describes in “Forrest Makes Comment”. “So I expect the berries to germinate undisturbed, and enjoy full growth for many years.” In the Medium article, Fenn writes that he hopes “that place will always remain as pristine as when [Fenn] first discovered it.” “Please don’t anyone say I can’t influence the future? f” So, 20 years ago (c. 1999), Fenn slid the treasure chest under a rotten log and planted a juniper bush there that would grow over the years to better conceal the chest (and confound metal detectors, no doubt). The melancholy juniper tree is a metaphor for Fenn himself, who is described as full of melancholy in the Medium article. Fenn planned to fling his body across the treasure chest when he died, alluding to the juniper log on top of the treasure in the woods. In SB#163, paralleling the juniper decay above, Fenn wrote, “If I had my way I would die under a tree somewhere deep in a pine forest and let my body go back to the earth.” How deep was the chest buried? In SB#239, Fenn writes that “Nels Nelson… took a photograph of the juniper tree at San Lazaro Pueblo”. Googling Nels Nelson, we see that he “pioneered the technique of stratigraphic excavation”, digging “a series of 1-foot levels in trash mounds at archeological sites”. So the chest was buried one foot deep. The juniper bush Fenn planted, as seen from the chute, the edge of the forest. 34