Carnation Falls

Rachelle peared over the top of the diner menu at her newlywed husband Mathias. He was carefully reading the plethora of options to find some much needed breakfast.

"See anything good?" Rachelle had already made up her mind on pancakes and breakfast sausages. 

He grinned and kept his eyes on the menu, "I'll let you know soon." It was a running joke that she was always first to decide about anything they did.

After they were married, Rachelle and Mathias immediately left for the Canadian north to search for a legendary ghost town. They had not eaten anything for the last 18 hours as they rushed toward adventure and the prospect of treasure.

The ghost town was a topic of much discussion in Mathias' family. His great great grandfather was a prospector who lived in

Carnation Falls at the height of the Yukon gold rush and rumour was that some of the riches were still hidden there.

Rachelle joined in the fascination of the ghost town and the stories Mathias retold. When they were deciding what to do and where to go for their honeymoon, she was the one to suggest the treasure hunt. Mathias was completely on-board with the plan from the start. 

Both of their families thought it was an odd way to spend their first days together, but at their wedding, Mathias' father gave them an old looking key that belonged to his great great grandfather. Could this key belong to some hidden treasure in Carnation Falls? For years the family debated what the key was for. No one knew.

Rachelle saw that Mathias had made his decision as he laid the menu back down on the tabletop across from her. The waitress took their order and brought it to the kitchen.

As they waited for their meal they pulled out their map along with their notes and looked for the best way to Carnation Falls.

Soon the waitress returned with their meals and noticed their map.

"Where ya headed?" The waitress asked. 'Jill' was what her nametag said.

"Ever heard of Carnation Falls?" Replied Mathias.

"Oh sure. Never been myself. Some from around here have. Though no one recently I don't think."

"Well we hope to get there and take a look around," said Rachelle. "But we can't find it on this map.

Jill looked at the map that Mathias had temporarily moved to make room for the plates, but now laid over the food.

"You're here," she pointed to the map. "And the old road that goes to Carnation starts about here," she pointed to a place on the map that was maybe half a kilometer from the restaurant. "Carnation is about 200 kilometers further to the north from there."

She traced her finger a little further up the map and stopped at a river clearly visible as a blue line. "Carnation Falls is on the other side of that river. Some still panhandle that river and find gold"

"Thanks!" Rachelle and Mathias said in unison.

"Anything else – let me know."

They quickly finished their breakfast feeling a new sense of excitement. After they finished they made their way back to their pickup truck with an attached truck bed camper. They left the diner and proceeded down the paved road to where Jill mentioned the dirt road to Carnation Falls began. 

Finding the dirt road was easy, but by the look of it, the going would be tough. There was so much overgrowth that their truck would barely fit. They turned in and slowly proceeded down the road.

They drove for another 4 hours through the thick woods and came to the river Jill had pointed out on the map. But, unexpectedly, the bridge had collapsed and the 20 meter drop to the bottom was impossible to traverse with the truck.

"Maybe we camp here tonight," suggested Mathias. "We could try climbing down into the river and back up the other side in the morning."

"There was a clearing five minutes back," recalled Rachelle. "Maybe we should camp there for the night."

Mathias agreed with the plan and started backing up to where they saw the clearing. Once there they got comfortable in their camper and soon fell asleep, too exhausted from their frenzied drive to the north.

They awoke in the dark to the sound of wolves howling in the night. The sound was frightening but also thrilling. At times it sounded like the animals had to be right next to the truck; curiously examining this intruder to the woods.

Shortly after, Rachelle and Mathias fell asleep again as the wolves moved on and howling grew quiet.

In the morning, they each had a muffin to eat and some orange juice which they bought from the diner before they left the day before.

After breakfast, Mathias found about 30 meters of rope in the truck's emergency supplies and brought it to the cliff's edge to prepare for the descent.

"Luckily, this side looks more steep than the other side," he said. "We can probably just climb the opposite bank without a rope."

Rachelle agreed and tossed Mathias the backpack of supplies.

They tied the rope to a tree at the top of the cliff and slowly descended one at a time. At the bottom, the river bed was much wider than the river itself.

"Imagine this in the spring with all the snow melting," said Rachelle.

In the river, along with the wreckage of the bridge they could see flakes of gold just like Jill had mentioned. They collected some with their bare hands from the very cold water and kept them in a plastic zip-top bag from the supply backpack.

At the opposite bank it was a more gradual slope and they easily reached the top. Once there, they could see the dirt road's path as it continued to Carnation Falls.

After a 10 minute hike they could see the trail beginning to open up and soon a main street lined by old wooden buildings.

They each turned to the other with big grins and celebrated with high-fives and hugs.

"We made it!" Said Rachelle.

"It's amazing!" Exclaimed Mathias.

"What should we do now?"

"Well we could try to find where great great grandpa stayed while he was here. The stories say that he lived next door to the post office.

"What do you think? Does that building there look like a post office?" Mathias pointed to a low one story building that had what appeared to be a spot to hang a flag from a short pole perpendicular to the wall. There was one other wall that remained standing but the other two had long fallen over. 

Rachelle agreed that it must have been the post office or some other government building because of the flagpole. Next to the post office stood another one story building, but this one had all four walls still intact.

They made their way to this potential residence of great great grandpa and walked in through the open doorway. Nothing remained in the small room and there were no other doorways. The room took up the entire space of the building.

"It'd be too easy to expect there to be a dresser or some other furniture just waiting with treasure inside," Mathias remarked.

"Maybe your great great grandpa wouldn't have hid something so valuable in an easy place to find it anyway. Let's check the floorboards."

By the look of it, the floor was sitting directly on the dirt below it but they made their way around the room looking for any clues. Soon, Mathias noticed that one of the boards in a corner opposite the door almost seemed to rebound or spring as he stepped on it. He knelt down to have a closer look and found that he could lift it free.

Underneath there was a depression that was dug into the dirt below and deeper inside the hole was a small wooden chest about the size of a watermelon.

Excitedly, Mathias called Rachelle over and hauled the chest out of the dirt. The front of the chest had a small keyhole.

"Do you think…" Rachelle looked at the keyhole and then to the key that was in Mathias' hand.

Mathias put the key in  the keyhole and tried turning. The lock was stiff but eventually clicked as the lid separated from the chest bottom.

As they opened the chest further they discovered a piece of paper. But this paper looked new and clean.

They each looked at each other confused. Mathias picked up the paper and found a note.

Dear newlyweds,

We hope this letter finds you well. Your adventure has nearly come to an end.

Mathias, while growing up you were always so fascinated about the stories of your great great grandpa and so we wanted to give you an adventure that you would remember forever.

We hoped that in giving you the key that it would spark the idea to venture north and look for lost treasure. And to be sure, there is still treasure out here in the wilderness in the shallow river you crossed. Just not under these floorboards.

But to leave you with nothing would just seem cruel after all the work you just put in to get to Catnation Falls. 

So back on the paved road, there's a diner you may remember passing. A woman there named Jill will be waiting for you. She has instructions on how to get to a wilderness resort where your next week's stay is paid for.

Go enjoy your time together.

Much love,

Mom & Dad

Mathias, still kneeling on the floor, dropped the letter in his lap. "I can't believe my parents tricked us."

Rachelle picked up the empty chest. "As the letter said, there's treasure in that river we crossed." She smiled at him. "Feel like playing in the water and seeing what we find."

Mathias stood up, brushed himself off and folded the letter before tucking it in his front pant pocket. "Jill can wait a little longer for us. Let's see if we can fill this chest with gold."