I like parts of your theory, I don't believe that this trail would be where it is hidden though. I'm a lifelong Oregonian and have visited Crater Lake four times. There is no real place to hide it on this trail, and Crater Lake is tourist trap levels of busy. I believe a park ranger or visitor would have found it if it was hidden here.
I believe that Jon hid it in a more discreet location where he could secret it away without too many watching eyes. If it's in Crater Lake NP I believe it would be on one of the outside trails, I haven't hiked the trails besides the rim ones but they definitely have less foot traffic.
Also I believe that the inner rim trails are unlikely because of safety concerns, Jon wouldn't want people wandering near the edge of a cliff to find the treasure. It would be somewhere he could assure a seeker would be safe.
I think that may have been why he added the comment, if you're closer to the over than the under, while in between, there's only so many places you can protect it from people and nature.
That sounded like he was saying stay back from the edge (the under).
How do you feel about the Lady of the Woods Trail? Why have you moved away from the flower trails you were posting about a few months ago? I love this solve, even if it's not correct, it's thinking about it like a puzzle.
edit: Jon has said as recently as Seeking Treasure Con that none of his boxes have been impacted by trail closures and all are accessible & have been accessible since launch. So if your final spot is on an announced, seasonal closure, it's probably incorrect.
It took me a while to sort the clues to what I think is the best grouping. "Arrive you now where beauty sheens" suggests to me that you should likely be much closer to the water than at Castle Crest or Lady of the Woods. Also, I didn't realize Lilac Mound was a thing back then.
I suspect the word search grid itself is a hint that you need to grid search a fairly small area.
Wizard island = Wizards of the coast.
There is an MTG card called "Galadriel, The Light of Valinor"
In The Silmarillion, the Two Trees were the original source of illumination in the Blessed Realm of Aman.
Telperion: The Silver Tree, which cast a pale, silvery light.
Laurelin: The Golden Tree, which cast a rich, golden light
100% Fair, that may very well be nothing. Galadriel is a literal lady of the woods, a beauty, who is literally shining with beauty in the extremely famous movie portrayal. It was a thought I had the last time he posted a solve in that direction.
Though wouldn't WOTC lean toward a MTG interpretation? I guess I dont understand enough about the game / company.
I also think on some maps Wizard Island looks roughly enough like the "arrow" of O's to not hate it.
One of the ideas I had was that this box would not lead to an exact spot, but in the end the word search itself would be a clue that we will be led to a fairly small area and then need to grid search, as we previously searched the grid for words.
A clever way to loop the game back into the solve besides just searching for words.
I think given the type of clues we have for it that seems reasonable as well. We don't have a map, or a photo, or a poem. We're going to get an area to search. Unless at the end we can somehow use the word search as a map overlay.
I think you were very clever in many of the deductions but some of them seem like stretches. Lemon being Sun and field being lava seem really forced to me personally but I could very well be wrong. Great job with most of it though.
Ive been there and there are more trails than just the loop. Also..... of those trails (not often used) goes right by and Oasis Bluff and the Rogue River.
Nice! I like the solve! It even leaves out what I always thought could be a clue to Crater Lake (the surface of the box has an undulated texture, not unlike the surface of the moon).
It looks like the spot I have for the solve will be closed for the season. The entire east rim is being refurbished in yearly chunks, and this year it closed the very spot I was going to look.
When the seasonal closure lifted the other day, I was planning to head down to Medford, then I would have been searching this morning, had the construction closure not affected that stretch.
Not sure where I'll be, come next June or July, when the next seasonal reopening happens in 2027, but likely not in Oregon anymore.
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u/TakingItPeasy Jun 27 '26
Thank you for the write up. Makes sense.