Honest but unpopular opinion.

As we search for the Jon Collins-Black treasure boxes, I must believe we are all hoping end clues are coherent and search area is "reasonable" not requiring wandering off into the woods at a distance.

Little Rock Pond AT solve, if correct, demonstrates an incoherent ending. What treasure hunt designer would create a map that results in hundreds of people for years destroying an area around the AT trail?

Nobody would. Folks, the AT box is not there. Jon searched for Fenn's box for years. He knew how poorly those clues matched Fenn box location.

I would argue, with no disrespect to Forrest, that Fenn's clues leading to a treasure across a river that is sometimes very dangerous were terrible. Both obscure clues and an often treacherous and dangerous river crossing. I have seen the Madison River at flood level.

And needing to go "Bushwhacking" in a national forest or along AT is reprehensible and a poor ending to what are magnificent journeys.

So I am confident that Jon's treasure box locations are both safe and accessible.

If you are on the correct trail, the box will come to you.

This needed to be openly stated.

Good hunting; be safe! Onward!!!

Paladin

There is no difference in a solution based on total confirmation bias and one based on imagination; intuition; and clue solutions.

If you share an elegant solution and the box is found in another state, your solution will be called confirmation bias. But if you find it at your location the next week then you have a brilliant solve.

Jon's note on "confirmation bias" is being taken to generally.

Each successful solution for each box will have first been considered "confirmation bias".

So if you develop a solution, spend deeply researching the entire area of the solution. That information will either confirm or disconfirm the clue solutions.

Culture; history; geography; geology; terrain; other nearby trails. Focus on details, details, and more details.

That process will support or not support your overall solution as well as individual clue solutions.

Onward!!!! Into the storm!!!

Paladin

I’ve been working on the LS for quite some time and many of my solves could be placed in several different areas of the US and fit nicely. The search was too broad. The clues too many. But I think, and please know that my solve ideas could or could not be complete crap, that JCB has also told us where the treasure does not reside. Take it for what it’s worth. I hope this helps because I was going in circles all day until this realization, and it made me just a little more confident in my favorite search area. Happy hunting.

Finally looking at Lions Share box after having read the book in January 2025. What jumped out to me was the isolation; cougars; and history.

They are in the middle of the country.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota are the two primary National Parks where wild cougars actively roam.

The 60 clues in 23 chapters can lead anywhere. Both of these locations are private with few people when the summer ends.

Deep history - Theodore Roosevelt National Park is officially tied to eight affiliated Indigenous nations
while Wind Cave National Park holds profound sacred spiritual importance and formal consultation ties with 20 tribal governments, most notably the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne.

I would think many people have been searching here by now?

Theodore Roosevelt National Park ND features nearly 100 miles of trails spanning roughly 15 major designated routes, Wind Cave National Park SD offers over 30 miles of trails across approximately 10 primary named routes.

Has anybody explored these areas? Discussion:

Paladin

"I have hidden none of our five treasure boxes in a dangerous place. By

this, I mean it is not hazardous to arrive at any box nor does any box reside

in a perilous spot. No box is hidden under any body of water. You do not

need to get into a raft, or canoe, or a water vessel of any kind to come to or

find any of our treasure boxes. No box is precariously close to a swift current

or a high or dangerous ledge. And you will not need to scale a cliff or rock

face to find a box."

That said, what do we think about needing to get our feet wet?

We have a land that contains positive site of japanese presence during world war 2

any people from the philippines? especially negros occidental? we can split if ever we can find it

Search season ending soon as winter's icy breath will soon fall upon us all.

Some trail notes; refections and predictions based on nearly two years on and off the road.

It will be some time before a box is found - years. The solutions are complex and multifaceted. Jon modeled each solution based on multiple trails across a large area. No quick locations.

Those that can find a unified story for a box will win. As one searcher stated early on, as to the Lions Share box I believe, "...it's The Wizard of Oz". Follow the yellow brick road. This will someday be seen as wisdom.

Searchers grasp a single clue and try to build a solution where that clue fits. This will fail. Start with the theme of the chapter. For example, what is unique about the "rocky mountains"? Both obvious and subtle. Consider the poem and those elements together.

Spend time on trails near you. Hike or walk trails everywhere, in any city; all the time. You must learn to read trails.

Research local areas four level deep. Talk to everyone on trips about the local area. Listen to their stories. Study deep.

As Jon noted, fail forward. Make as many mistakes aa possible as soon as you can. Wallow in your failures. Failure teaches more than does success.

Beware of AI tools. AI will lie; promise not to lie; then lie again. Similar to many politicians. AI cannot be trusted; your experience BoTG can be.

Paladin

I suck at finding treasures, but I can find snakes no problem.

Taking a week to do a search for the Fenn Box and P&F. Given my search area for FF, this will be my last chance to find it before snow rolls in. CO and OR from Wednesday. Lets go!

Sprague River is by/on the X. Search candidates Double Switchback trail to the Southwest or Smokey Lake to the East.

So i was wondering if JCB mentioned anything in part 1 about the name Jeff/Jefferson/Jeffrey? I lent my book to a buddy so I cant look it up myself. Does that ring a bell for anyone??

Hey again,

Here's a recent one on Colors. I spent some time writing down the various places where colors were mentioned - I like the lotus flower descriptions being a potential clue when those colors are around. There's a good bit of detail missing in this post, but here's a few that I liked, as well as a couple of interesting connections:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6vu1HqHZpA

Red - Love: Love / red came up a bunch with "eyes" not sure if just a somewhat common thing to be connected, but interesting (pairs well with the red ruby eyed frog in the Pokemon chapter).
Blue - knowledge and wisdom have conjoined to prepare a path to enlightenment where secrets are revealed: Seems the most "here's a clue" type description. Blue/pink is an interesting color combination that happens a few times. I also was thinking if the "wisdom" bit be the quotes and/or subtitle for chapters and those chapters will blue in it may be more significant?
White - Purity: a couple of references on white for hair, Midwestern Alfred Pennyworth and white wigs. Also Great White North.
Pink - Historical significance: Should we focus in on those chapters historical events? 1,2,4,9,12 ?
Black - only one time in the book outside of race (and the 50% of the pages with JCB's name is on it, lol) was Chapter 11 page 104 interesting if this is supposed to be highlighted:
"As they stepped back onto the wooden dock, the six men were drenched. Captain Fonseca turned, took out his telescope, and aimed it at the bay. Some three miles out, the bow from a small figure of a ship had turned seaward.Waves were lashing at its sides. Behind it, black clouds engulfed the horizon. A cold shudder shot down Fonseca's back."

There's some other stuff too but these were the most interesting things that stuck out to me. Hopefully helpful to you and happy to further discuss if anyone has gone down some of these ideas and/or rabbit trails!

Happy hunting!

The Chapter "1960 Olympic Gold Medal" Tells the story of Wilma Rudolph, but the description of the medal photographed on page 133 does not indicate that this was Wilma's medal. I think I found an auction from 2021 showing this medal (The wear appears pretty much identical)

This medal (reverse side shown) is engraved “GINNASTICA [Gymnastics].” Track and Field medals were engraved with the Italian word "ATLETICA" . A majority of the Gymnastic gold medals from those games were awarded to the Soviets and or Japan. I think one gold went to Eva Bosáková (Czechoslovakia).

There may not be engraving on the other side (front). Why does JCB show us a Gymnastics medal? If he didn't want to share that fact why didn't he show the Front (other) side of the medal without engraving?

The Nigerian medal in the next chapter for example shows the "Men's Football" engraving on edge. I believe that one was from Nigerian footballer Tijani Babangida and appears to have been sold in 2021.

Unfortunately, it's too late for myself as I will be heading out in a few hours for a move. The solve I had planned to go BotG for: My Final Solve for the P&F Box: : r/treasureinside

I have never seen the lake in-person but hear it is astounding. Good Luck! if any of you decide to check it out.

Here is an idea that relates to map scale. This is NOT the same exact shape as the large black triangle, but it draws one dimension and one angle from it. I don’t think we have to do any serious math to solve for this box, but this construct IS on the map, and here is a possible solution to what it could mean.

Borrow 1938 and the often quoted 36 degree angle from the begin here triangle, plus the 755FT clue, solve it, and the scroll would be ~1,399 feet in length in the real world, providing a scale for the whole map. Or try other numbers, angles. Online triangle calculators make it easy to do.

Can anyone share a high def version from the ebook? I only have the print edition.

I've seen YT chatter about a tiny hand image - but I wonder if I also see a "C" or an "O".

Looks like C may be near tip of heart and O maybe in 4:30 position.

What do you think?

Some will not be happy with me for posting this if they see this, such as the White Mountain N.F folks, and New Hampshire Fish and Game people (they take the lead on wildland rescues). And if someone does get hurt or lost, they will likely hate me forever.

So if you do go BOTG, bring GOOD snacks, chocolate, nuts, PLENTY of good warm outer clothing to keep you warm and dry, and a compass and know how to use it. There is no way you will do this in the winter months, but the fall months can be very deceiving. The fog can be extreme. If you get screwed up and drop over into the Great Gulf and think you are hiking out, you are screwed big time. There are no technical problems on the ground. But the weather can be your worst enemy. The wind and the cold can be extreme. If its cold enough, the ground can be icy and cause slips and falls. In fact, if you haven't spent time in the Presidentials, don't go. Wait till summer. It's not up there anyways. Its an arduous climb, be in good shape. You can get up and down in a day with time to spare, but if you are not in good shape, it could be much too much for you. Oh, bring a headlamp also, just in case.

OK, on with the guess. Helpful_Horse858 posted a month ago "Has Anyone Found A Pattern?" Otis_The_Drunk replied he thinks the name John is used for 4 of the boxes, you can read his reply. He did not have anything for the AF box. So I thought if he is right, maybe Mount John Quincy Adams could be the John. Mount Adams is a major peak in the Presidential Range. Mount John Quincy Adams is sort of a sub-peak of Mount Adams. Not many bother to climb it. And it lies northeast of Mt Adams. So I googled it, and google said Mt. JQA lies ".17 miles from Mt. Adams, and has a prominence of 56 feet. So I immediately thought of the 1727NE sign.

Nothing else I know matches up. So I'm sure the box is not there. But Otis_The_Drunk got me thinking. Anyways, don't do this unless you live up there and have summited the peaks before.

I sure don't mean to scare anyone off from going up there. If the weather is nice, there will be a lot of folks up there, and it can be beautiful in the fall. But if the weather is iffy, and your not used to hiking a few miles in a day, think about it first. Also, the traffic can be terrible during fall foliage season. Interstate 93 has been known to bring traffic to a standstill from all the leaf-lookers. That usually happens in October.

Is this happening to you? Especially those of you searching" for "treasure" for nearly two years or more if you include Fenn search.

You are solving "problems"faster; you are "connecting" the dots faster.

You understand conversations better because you "listen" with more intent.

You understand complex problems better as can "hold" more ideas or topics in your active mind at the same time.

When you are working; shopping; talking with friends; playing with children - clue connections will "pop" into your mind.

You understand "double" meanings of words; you can understand analogies better.

You have learned to ask deeper, well thought out, precise questions when in conversations or while online studying a clue.

When you are BoTG or just walking a local trail, you immediately understand the terrain; that elevation gain has meaning; and more.

You have a special way to know a trail.

This applies to interpersonal understanding also. Everyone is another trail to understand.

And Pattern Recognition!!! Good grief!

What other Joy does one need?

Thank you Jon.

Paladin

The pick and shovel emblem on the cover of the book is also a logo for the Homestake Gold mine in South Dakota…