Written by By continuing to read you agree to give me 20% of the treasure <——— LOL, for those suffering from a lack of humor detection, That was a joke
Forgive the editing and incoherency, I wanted to put this up quickly, I will update and refine later.
First, I need to explain my perception of Water’s silent flight and the first stanza.In the traditional sense most people will think running active water, I don’t think this is necessarily the case. Water , bend, hole could probably refer to thousands of locations in the American west and trying to start the search for that location would be a fool’s errand. I think stanza 2 should be used as a check once you have a good candidate for stanza 3. Also Waters’ silent flight sounds more like an area that water is not in normally, but shows evidence of being there once or once in a while. The erosion shows the flight and it is silent due to not currently being there. Most importantly, I think these lines were meant to possibly echo part or stanza 4
Beyond the Map’s Edge
Can you find what lives in time,
Flowing through each measured rhyme?
Petroglyphs that are sacred, well protected, memories, happyness, adventure?
Wisdom waits in shadowed sight—
Could be two meanings, hidden message in the poem and possibly the finding the treasure shows wisdom and it can be found in an area that is shaded yet enough light to see well. Indeed my solution area has large parts that are shaded much more of the day. Although I imagine it is hid in a nook .
For those who read these words just right.
So, just saying learn to read the nuances right?
Or just read the last letter of each sentence ( The poem consists of two sentences per stanza?) if you take those letters and rearrange it can say “See West” (admittedly with three letters E, D and T leftover, however that could be some type of reference to departure time he writes in the book I haven’t figured out yet)
Stanza 2
As hope surges, clear and bright,
Walk near waters’ silent flight.
Round the bend, past the Hole,
I wait for you to cast your pole.
Stanza 2 is probably my weakest solution, as it could refer to the wash north of the hole, or dry creek to the northeast that would bend into the aforementioned wash, or a dry creek west of the hole that runs south then bends east to run south of the hole. The Hole could possibly also refer to the Vortex near the Kachina Woman. So, here we go:
As hope surges, clear and bright,
This could just relay the excitement and hope of beginning the adventure,
Possible but unlikely it references Rachel’s Knoll, a well known spot that offers outstanding 360 degree clear and bright views of the area, a place to watch sunsets. Interestingly, while likely not walkable, on a map you would round the bend around the golf course, walk the dry wash, pass where the Hole is, then directly to kachina woman
Walk near waters’ silent flight.
As explained above a dry creek, riverbed or wash. I am not an English Major, but doesn’t the apostrophe show ownership of something? That tells me the word flight is the noun water is possessing and the main word and is used as Water’s silent path, silent because it is not there. The evidence of the flight is tangible though.
Round the bend, past the Hole,
Again this can be met in different ways, I don’t feel this was literally meant to be walked, and I did not have time to do BOTG there. There are bends in the mesa it could apply to. But the important past is the Hole. I believe the hold has to do with the Birthing cave, a well known sight in Sedona. It is a cave with a half spherical hole in it that is said to be a womb, and the entrance resembles a part of the female anatomy. Here are pictures.
I wait for you to cast your pole.
This line is a reason I don’t believe stanza 2 is referencing water as in a river or fishing hole,
The poem says cast your pole, an avid fisherman such as Justin would not tell us to cast your pole, fisherman say cast your line. This probably references the book and how his brother lost his pole in the lake on a fishing trip. The sentiment of the story was along the lines of even though they thought they had lost out on a fish and the pole, a pleasant surprise was the massive amount of crawdads they caught in a trap. So i think this line is motivational and saying just because you may not be right the first time, or get thrown a curveball, keep trying and things may still turn out for the better.
Stanza 3
In ursa east his realm awaits;
His bride stands guard at ancient gates.
Her foot of three at twenty degree,
Return her face to find the place.
This is where it gets good.
In ursa east his realm awaits;
Bear Mountain and his Realm is in the east, the direction of Kachina woman.
His bride stands guard at ancient gates.
Kachina woman is the bride and she stands at the entrance of various canyons in close proximity
Her foot of three at twenty degree,
This can work in two ways, but most likely is the mesa due north of her that could be 20 degrees north
Or there are three mesas and valleys due north of her
Return her face to find the place.
Look West to see in the direction Kachina is facing to find the place. I was unable to see her in person, so I could not verify, but everything I see online shows her facing due west, in the direction of bear mountain. I am somewhat confident this is correct due to the next clue.
Stanza 4
Double arcs on granite bold,
Where secrets of the past still hold.
Beyond the reach of time’s swift race,
Wonder guards this sacred space.
Double arcs on granite bold,
Every person seems to be reading this wrong. It says arcs! Not arches. And it says ON not OF.
The picture below shows it best, Double arcs.The symbol associated with water . Note that there is a similar vertical line, possibly indicating a waterfall, rain, or lightning, seeing as how it represents a river horizontally, it is most likely a waterfall, which it appears there are a few that flow during heavy rains. It is at Woo Ranch at the base of Bear mountain in an alcove, right next to Palatki Heritage site. Woo ranch is a lesser known site of the forest service and would be beyond the map’s edge of the controlled Palatki heritage site. Woo Ranch is located on Forest Rd 575, I’m assuming that is normal for forest service lands, but if this is the spot I can see that being a Nod to Forrestt Fenn. There is an abandoned Red House on the property from previous owners. The gate is locked, you can not take your vehicle in. cross over gate or under fence next to gate, bottom wire is not
NOTE: THE ROCK ART AREA IS DESIGNATED AS AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AS WELL AS A COUPLE OF OTHER AREAS! IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN JUSTIN WOULD NOT HAVE HID THE TREASURE AT THESE PLACES , OR ANYWHERE TOO CLOSE. IT IS MOST LIKELY NOT TOO CLOSE. THE SITE DOES NOT GET MANY VISITORS, BUT I DID NOTICE A COUPLE PER DAY.
Where secrets of the past still hold.
Beyond the reach of time’s swift race,
As far as i can tell, these two lines are intertwined, talking about the unknown secrets of the lives that were lived here, what is the rock art saying? That is the secret and they still hold, remarkably well preserved due to being well protected from the sun and elements.
Wonder guards this sacred space.
This Line is probably the most important. WONDER is the Key Word. In the book Justin writes about the Quiet WONDER they felt watching Raccoons that lived in a Felled CottonWood tree. He was amazed about how the Raccoons were given a place to live in this once grand tree. This leads me to believe that the treasure is hidden in or near a feature on the ranch that has fallen or otherwise created a sanctuary in its demise. The most likely area would be in an extremely large area of a rock fall. Or a downed tree, or some other area that has created a sanctuary or home for wildlife. These areas may guard the treasure
There is a rather large waterfall, or remnant of one at the very back of the alcove, it is actually a beautiful area. At the low point past the rockpile is a dry creek you can follow to the end of the waterfall. The is also a section of the dry creek before the rockpile, but I was not able to explore much due to brush and lack of time.
Truth rests not in clever minds,
Not in tangled, twisted finds.
Like a river’s steady flow—
What you seek, you already know.
Truth rests not in clever minds,
The answer is pretty straight forward, do not think it over too much, no need to think of it as a brain teaser
Not in tangled, twisted finds.
This line is interesting, double meaning would again be to not think of it too much, which he already stated in the last line, why would he repeat? I think the second meaning is telling is not to look in the area of the Bride. It has a lot of trees and branches that are tangled and twisted and he is slyly telling us not to look there.
Like a river’s steady flow—
Likewise, I believe this line is a confirmation and referring to the double arcs that represent water. You would not realize this line was tied in like this unless you see the double arcs yourself.
What you seek, you already know.
Best guess is the treasure is hidden in the fallen rock pile. I searched as much as I could. It is a massive area, and easy to miss. I do have a fear that after 18 months other rock falls or leaves, forest trash could have covered it. There is an upper rockfall I was not able to check as well as the lower rockfall, but lower should probably be checked again due to size. I also checked a fallen tree that was stretched over a dry creek bed, but found nothing
COINCIDENCES:
The town I stayed in was named Cottonwood, the same as the felled tree that the Raccoons lived in! It seems like it is actually faster to get to Woo Ranch from Cottonwood rather than Sedona. Certainly cheaper!
The road Woo Ranch is on is called Forest Road
By my Estimate Justin would have been 17 or 18 when Woo Ranch was purchased and became public forest land, Timing would have been good for him and his brother to visit.
The second stanza also fits very well on the way to the rock pile, while further away from the waters silent flight, you are a few hundred feet away uphill, but you go around a bend, Past a hole, this hole is very high up on the cliff side. There is also a VERY interesting Hole in the cliff at ground level past the upper rock fall.
Impressive run down. A Sedona solve is interesting
Definitely a place Justin could have visited.