Finding in the Forrest

Winter 2019. The light was fading fast across the mountainside, the once golden sky that scattered brightly through the towering Engelmann Spruces had illuminated most of my path as I was making my yearly journey through Yellowstone. I had always taken the same route year after year so I was familiar with the territory. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account daylight savings time and the horizon began to fade into an arcane blend of Velvet and gold, the moment of beauty was quickly interrupted by a jolt of panic, and the dread quickly washed away my fantasized mind and was instantly overwhelmed with panic and the darkness slowly descending upon me. I was not on the public trail, I was off the beaten path carved out by myself and other travelers over the years, But I was now lost. Going on three days now, I was at the end of my rope. Just as I was about to fall to my knees I somehow spotted one of my landmarks from the trail! A large cluster of boulders usually covered in moss, now covered in a sizeable amount of snow. I knew If I dropped about 15 lbs. of my gear and Jogged I might just make it to my campsite ahead. It would take an hour and 15 minutes. I had no food to my name beside my half bag of trail mix. I had strategically stashed my next set of food rations at that site and had hidden it well. I quickly pulled out a small tarp and discarded everything I knew I could afford to come back to retrieve. Time was against me, and worse yet the wind had begun to pick up and was accompanied by a moderate snowfall. I quickly ran behind the boulders. With time against me, I decided to bury my gear directly behind them...But something caught my eye... The melted snowbank where the sun beamed revealed what had seemed to make an almost perfect circle of fresh gravel against the mostly dense trees...odd I thought, but less work for me to do. I decided that this is where I would hide my stash, with my hands I furiously began to carve into the raw earth. Fearful, it might be taken, I took out my small spade and decided to dig just one more foot deeper. Then I heard a loud "thunk" as I made my final plunge into the ground. I was puzzled, there were no immediate trees for this to be a stump I thought, I drove my spade harder down this time hearing a muted "Clank" below..." something wooden and metal?" I said to myself. Curiosity got the better of me so I continued to dig quickly but with care. What happened next changed everything, I hoisted out a small wooden chest. As I lifted the chest open, I couldn't believe my eyes... countless gold coins, and nuggets; a Spanish 17th-century gold ring and a large emerald. countless necklaces ordained with expensive gems. On top of the treasure was a small packet that contained a note. It read "Congratulations! you've found my treasure! Yes, it's all real. Please do good things with this fortune which has no been bestowed upon you. If I'm still alive, come find me at (address redacted) we have a lot to talk about. Your journey finding this is worth far more than what's in that chest and all the money and treasures in the world combined, but I have a feeling you probably knew that. Life rewards those who take the path less traveled." - Signed Forrest Fenn.

With new a renewed spirit and energy in my soul, I slowly started walking into the snow, disappearing into the woods towards the campsite, treasure in hand. I knew that whatever happened from here on out, I would be alright... Suddenly the snow stopped completely, along with the wind. Something inside me stopped me dead in my tracks, I turned around and walked back to where I had found the treasure. I knew I could find a way to take all of this treasure, and never work a day again in my life. I would be so rich I could buy anything I ever wanted... I took a moment to think about this. I set the treasure box down on the ground next to the hole. I looked inside of it one last time. I took out 10 large gold coins and one ring. There were still hundreds of coins and just as much remaining jewelry to match. I took out my journal, ripped out a page and wrote: "On (date redacted) I found Forrest Fenn's treasure, and now you have to, whatever you decide to do with the treasure is up to you, but if you're anything like me, the real treasure has been the journey, if you've found this please call or email me at (redacted) I would love to hear your story." I also ripped out another piece of paper and wrote down what I had taken before setting it underneath Forrest's letter and burying the box, careful not to leave any traces, I made sure I covered my tracks around the area and filled in the hole doing my best to make it look identical to how it was before I found it. For good measure, I covered it with leaves and then a layer of snow before finding another spot to stash my gear and start heading back to the campsite as originally intended. As I walked off into the distance towards the campsite in the dark, a sense of peace and warmth ran through my body and a genuine laugh erupted out of me along with a smile. A smile along with a feeling that I had never had or experienced before, If you could harvest the feeling I'd call it bliss, but it was something more. I guess that's the kind of happiness you feel when making a smile like that. I'll never be able to put it into words, and that I think makes it a valuable and beautiful thing. It's been years and I still have that smile on my face, and people ask me "what are you so happy about." I just tell them, I was lost, and found something beautiful. I hope you find it someday too"