Can the Poem Be Solved Before You Leave

Yes!

The poem can be solved before you leave to go to the treasure!

Hints Fenn Drops

Since I started trying to solve the poem, I've looked to identify patterns in what Fenn writes and says, and he frequently says the same things, again and again; as if making a point because he knows no one understood what he's been trying to say.

One of my favorite hints is his use of the word quarter - never underestimate the power of a quarter!  

Now ask yourself, why does he repeatedly bring a "quarter" into play?

A physical quarter, twenty-five cents, 25, 25%, a coin toss, 50/50, one quarter of something, 25/100, portion, or something else?

Quarter?  To quarter is to house, it can also mean an area (for example "the Latin quarter" in a city), and let's not forget it can also mean to cut into four pieces.

Fenn also brings up time a lot.  Is a quarter then 15 minutes after the hour?  Is it 25 years, a quarter century?  

Or is he bringing up the concept of forgiveness or grace?

Identifying which is correct isn't possible when you're starting the solve; what is possible is to look at the options, then keep them in mind as you're working on the solve - so that when something does "fit" you can then play with that concept within the framework of that piece of the poem.

The Set-Up

In The Thrill of the Chase, Fenn introduces us to the poem we are to follow to find the treasure; he sets the poem up with a lead-in sentence that ends with a colon.

What normally follows a colon?  A list.

How is that list usually formatted?  Bullet points.

So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:

• As I have gone alone in there And with my treasures bold, I can keep my secret where, And hint of riches new and old.
• 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.
• If you’ve been wise and found the blaze, Look quickly down, your quest to cease, But tarry scant with marvel gaze, Just take the chest and go in peace.
• So why is it that I must go And leave my trove for all to seek?
• The answers I already know, I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak.
• So hear me all and listen good, Your effort will be worth the cold.
• If you are brave and in the wood I give you title to the gold.

Long Time No See

Life got in the way, so I haven't posted in quite a while!

After having to set aside the chase, I returned to the poem a few weeks ago to tease out any issues with my solve and still believe I have solved it correctly.  What I didn't know was that I was missing a critical piece of the puzzle and it is with that, that the poem literally is unlocked to reveal where you need to go and why!

It is very exciting!  But, there is the chance that I'm wrong - I'm not sure at this point how it is possible that what I have uncovered is wrong, but it does remain a possibility.

Between now and when we head to our area, I'm going to start to slowly reveal the poem and its hidden elements; if it turns out I'm wrong, then it's one more incorrect solve, but if it is correct, I'll have the treasure and you'll have the solve!

The 270° Triangle

Dear Forrest,

You tell us that we should find “where warm waters halt” before trying to solve any of the other clues. Imagining that we haven’t seen the rest of the poem, and all we have to go on is:

a. “begin it where warm waters halt” and
b. “somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe”

Do you think that we can confidently determine the starting place for your treasure trail? ~ Steve

No, if all you have to go on are those two clues you cannot proceed with confidence. Look at it this way. If you were making a cake and you left out a few ingredients, would you achieve your goal?

Your question reminds me of another:  You leave home and walk a straight line for a mile, turn 90 degrees left and walk a curved line for a mile and shoot a bear. Then you turn 90 degrees left again and walk a straight line back to your home. What color is the bear?f

↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝↜↝

Once Upon a While

Stories in the order that they appear:

Supplemental Punishment - Forrest's father assigns him the dishes as punishment, and Forrest sings an aria the entire time.

The Long Jump - The story about Forrest jumping off the bridge in the middle of the night.

Sweet Fragrances - The story about the spices in the drawer.

An Education from Stanley - The story about Forrest selling fake art, and his friend compares it to the two ladies wearing mink coats from different stores.

The Loom of the Desert - This is about a book titled with the chapter name.

Me and Little Beaver - This story is about Forrest's Red Rider BB Gun.

Shelling Corn - Joseph Henry Sharp's painting of two people shelling corn. 

Experiences with Joe - This story is about how Joe used to give him the torn comics without the covers to read, and how Joe used to have dinner at their house often.

Glory is Never Enough - Very short story about the Central Junior High School Kittens, the football team Forrest briefly played on.

Explosion on 3rd Street - Skippy's fireworks stand explosion

Divorce logic - It is about a woman that Forrest knows getting a divorce, and she is very distraught. Forrest suggest to her that she make a piece of pottery and they will bury it together, symbolically burying her problems at San Lorenzo.

Once in a While I do Something Right - Forrest unswears himself as a witness in a court case. 

Annabella's Hat - About a hat Forrest bought from a sheepherder for $300.

I Never go Shopping, But... - This is the story about Forrest going to the grocery store and pissing off another patron.

The Unfortunate Hiccup - This story is about a flask and a gentleman that was drinking from it during a golf game. 

In a Tuck - The story about Forrest jumping from the tower diving board at the swimming pool.

Rainy Night Blessings This story is about Forrest playing a game of Bingo and winning, only to find out he still didn't have enough money to buy a bus ticket back to Radio school.

The Quahada Chief on a Black Pony - This is about an old battleground Forrest tried to locate as a young man.

Prince of the Comancheros - About a man named Jose that was tortured and snitched on the Comanches, and about a bronze that Forrest helped create of the man.

Montana Golden - This is the story where Forrest goes fishing at Avalanch Lake, and hides a Dr. Pepper under a rock.

Remnants of the Past - This is the story about the Mammoth tusk that Forrest found, and later gave away pieces of.

Things I covet - This is the story about the Paint Pallets that Forrest collects.

Well, Here's Moses - This is about a small wooden statue of Moses that was carved, and Forrest purchased.

Salute to a Warrior - Story about Renelle.

The Iron Rooster of Santa Fe County - A story about a bronze chicken that Forrest purchased, and then commissioned an artist to paint it.

Lessons from Forrest - A story about a bronze artist also named Forrest.

Memories that Never Die - Story about George Dabich, a friend Forrest made in Vietnam.

Me and Mummy Joe - Story about Forrest's bone knife carved from a bone found in Mummy Joe's cave.

Algernon's Relative - A story about Algernon Smith, a military leader that dies along General Custer in the famous battle at Little Big Horn.

Cultures on Top of Cultures - A story about a cave Forrest explored on his friend's ranch in Arizona. He found a stone knife in the ashes of an ancient hearth.

The Evolution of My Art Opinion - Story about how Forrest sold his gallery. 

Doug Hyde in Stone - This is about the 2 Alabaster sculptures that Doug made and Forrest possesses, and about Joe Medicine Crow.

Apaches in the Garage - The time Forrest flew to a garage sale and bought everything in it from a famous collector's estate.

Me and Michael Douglas - The story about the time Forrest flew statues to Michael Douglas' house and met Elton John without knowing it.

Is It My Candy Ann? - A poem in the style of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.

The Graciella Experience - About a painting Forrest purchased for someone else, then decided to keep, only to sell it to the lady later.

Partying with Suzanne Somers - The story about Forrest and Shiloh going to the party at Suzanne's house.

The Bullet Comes Home - The story about Forrest getting the Bullet back.

The Price of Freedom - The story about a bronze sculptor that Forrest knew, but died rescuing someone from a river.

Revisiting Nine Clues, Nine Sentences

In the spring of 2016, Fenn did an interview and it's contents are available online here:

Spring 2016 Interviews

The interview is broken up into shorter segments and the one I'm interested in for this post is San Lazaro - Part 1.  It is about writing and in it, Fenn says 

"...you can't end a sentence with a colon, so down there by the page number I put a period..."

What's interesting about this is that in the book, The Thrill of the Chase, before the poem is a sentence and it ends with a colon, then the poem.

So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:

There aren't many people who are including that sentence as part of the poem, but I believe the colon connects the sentence to the poem and is part of what is necessary to solve the poem!

What normally follows a colon?  A list.

How is that list usually formatted?  Bullet points.

So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:

• As I have gone alone in there And with my treasures bold, I can keep my secret where, And hint of riches new and old.
• 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.
• If you’ve been wise and found the blaze, Look quickly down, your quest to cease, But tarry scant with marvel gaze, Just take the chest and go in peace.
• So why is it that I must go And leave my trove for all to seek?
• The answers I already know, I’ve done it tired, and now I’m weak.
• So hear me all and listen good, Your effort will be worth the cold.
• If you are brave and in the wood I give you title to the gold.

New Article About the Chase

“I designed the hunt to be difficult, but certainly not impossible,” Fenn insists. “Most searchers don’t put enough emphasis on the first clue, and without it their effort is futile.

“The poem is written in plain English words that mean exactly what they say. No need to figure pounds per square inch, head pressures, acre feet, square roots, or where true north is, to find the solution.”

Those quotes, and more, are in a new article about the Thrill of the Chase on MSN:

On the Trail of Forrest Fenn's Hidden Treasure

Imagination

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
-Albert Einstein

Imagination isn’t a technique, it’s a key. f
-Forrest Fenn

--------------------------------

Imagination
4.
a : a mental image, conception, or notion formed by the action of imagination
b : a creation of the mind; especially : an idealized or poetic creation

Imagination: reverie, daydream, conception, pie in the sky, speculation, fancy, cup of tea, rainbow, castle in the air, art, adroitness, idea, visualization, invention, warmth, fish story, yarn, pot boiler, Einstein, aptitude, charade, disguise, legend, lore, myth, twist, flash, contemplation, reflection

Adjusting to Solve the Poem

The blueprint is challenging so the treasure may be located by the one who can best adjust. To illustrate my point go to YouTube – Smarter Every Day. f

Adjust: 
 to put in order :  reduce to a system :  regulate

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What does “warm” mean to you?
It means being comfortable.

http://dalneitzel.com/2017/02/08/forrest-gets-mail-13/

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Comfortable:
:  enjoying or showing comfort and ease:
a :  at ease physically :  in a restful situation :  without urgent unsatisfied wants :  free from pain, irritation, stricture, or other unpleasant feelings :  relaxed

Relaxed:
:  easy of manner :  free from stiffness :  informal, easygoing

Synonyms: calm, unstressed, rested, resting, easy

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For each clue Fenn provides a wide variety of hints to help you adjust and see what he means.  He does that with specific things, and with things that he just implies.  All of the hints direct us to finding the right word, the word he wants us to use, to solve the poem.

So using warm waters halt....how does that work if warm = comfortable

If comfortable is warm, and comfortable is easy-going, and comfortable is calm, then warm waters are waters that are calm and easy going and they're going to halt being calm and easy-going.

Where do calm and easy-going waters halt?  If it's the waters we're thinking about, they halt being calm and easy-going when they change to rough and raging waters.

So where to easy-going and calm waters stop being calm and easy-going to become rough and raging waters?

That would be a place where the topography either becomes rough and rocky causing the water to become raging rapids, or when they go over a waterfall and land at the bottom with force before continuing along the creek, river or other water way.

My Two Sense

The Big Picture

Forrest Fenn has told us that the poem is a "map".

MAP:  appearance, face, globe, layout, blueprint, plan, representation, drawing, approach, scheme, prototype, outline, plan, organization, road map, big picture.

Wait, what?  BIG PICTURE?

If you look at the poem, and start at the bottom line with "I", then go to each letter around the four corners of the poem, you'll spell the word "IDEA".  Is this the "big picture" that Fenn has said we need to look at?

Big picture: Idea, encircling, approach

Decipher

In the above video, there are a few quotes worth reviewing; they begin at 10:34.

"You're not going to find the treasure unless you decipher the nine clues in the poem."

"The poem is a map and it'll take you to the treasure if you can follow its directions."

"You have to read the poem and comprehend what the clues mean."

"If you don't have the first clue, you don't have anything."

Decipher:

• convert into normal language
• convert into intelligent form
• represent by oral description or pictorial art
• unscramble
• find the key
• straighten out
• spell out
• put in plain English
• set right
• get to the bottom of
• throw light upon

Comprehend:

• grasp mentally
• see daylight
• realize
• get the picture
• imagine
• understand
• tell apart
• recognize

Once Upon A While

Here is the cover of Forrest Fenn's third memoir, Once Upon A While:

And here is the inside cover spread:

Musical Connections

Call this one a rabbit hole.  It's interesting, but still just a rabbit hole.

There are 10 octaves in the range of human hearing, which is 20hz to 20khz It doesnt go back to zero, just goes higher than humans can hear. There are 24 lines in the poem, or 2 octaves.

Maqam

Arabic maqams are based on a musical scale of 7 notes that repeats at the octave. Some maqams have 2 or more alternative scales (e.g. Rast, Nahawand and Hijaz). Maqam scales in traditional Arabic music are microtonal, not based on a twelve-tone equal-tempered musical tuning system, as is the case in modern Western music. Most maqam scales include a perfect fifth or a perfect fourth (or both), and all octaves are perfect. The remaining notes in a maqam scale may or may not exactly land on semitones. For this reason maqam scales are mostly taught orally, and by extensive listening to the traditional Arabic music repertoire.

Since microtonal intervals are impractical to accurately notate, a simplified musical notation system was adopted in Arabic music at the turn of the 20th century. Starting with a chromatic scale, the Arabic scale is divided into 24 equal quarter tones, where a quarter tone equals half a semitone in a 12 tone equal-tempered scale. In this notation system all notes in a maqam scale are rounded to the nearest quarter tone.

The 24-tone system is entirely a notational convention and does not affect the actual precise intonation of the notes performed. Practicing Arab musicians, while using the nomenclature of the 24-tone system (half-flats and half-sharps), still perform the finer microtonal details which have been passed down through oral tradition.

Maqam scales that do not include quarter tones (e.g. Nahawand, ‘Ajam) can be performed on equal-tempered instruments such as the piano, however such instruments cannot faithfully reproduce the microtonal details of the maqam scale. Maqam scales can be faithfully performed either on fretless instruments (e.g. the oud or the violin), or on instruments that allow a sufficient degree of tunability and microtonal control (e.g. the nay or the qanun, or the Clarinet). On fretted instruments with steel strings, microtonal control can be achieved by string bending, as when playing blues.

The exact intonation of every maqam scale changes with the historical period, as well as the geographical region (as is the case with linguistic accents, for example). For this reason, and because it is not common to notate precisely and accurately microtonal variations from a twelve-tone equal tempered scale, maqam scales are, in practice, learned auditorally.

The central tones (nucleus) of a maqam are created from two different intervals. The eleven central tones of the maqam used in the phase sequence example above may be reduced to three which make up the "nucleus" of the maqam.

There are nine maqam families:

Ajam
Segah
Bayātī
C minor
Rast Panjgah (means right or direct)
Hijaz, aka Phrygian Dominant Scale (aka "Spanish gypsy scale")
Saba
Kurd
Nawa Athar (aka "Hungarian Gypsy Scale")