Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 15 JESSIANNE WRIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH "I had cancer and they gave me a 20% chance to live. I decided that if I had to go I would leave a treasure chest full of gold and precious gems so others could have as much fun looking for it as I had collecting it. e country was in a recession when I hid the chest, and despair was in all the headlines. I wanted to give hope to any adventurer who was willing to smell the sunshine while searching for my golden trove." Fenn spent 18 of his first 20 sum- mers in Yellowstone and west of Yellowstone. e nature-loving boy loved every minute he could spend in Montana. He was a professional fishing guide by 13 and took clients to the Madison, Firehole, Gibbon, and Gallatin Rivers. In later summers, he worked as a dishwasher at the Totem Cafe, lumberjack, and cleared trails for the National Forest Service. He cultivated a sense of adventure that would allow him to make his fortune in art and artifact dealing. "Some of my fondest memories are of hiking and fishing in the backcountry. Once I spent four hours up in a tall pine tree waiting for an unreasonable bull moose to go home and leave me alone. When he wandered into the trees I ran so fast I lost the coonskin cap that my mother made for me. I always wanted to be in a spot where no human had ever been before," Fenn recalled. "I was hik- ing in Yellowstone one time with a friend and a new geyser spurted up beside us. Hot water was falling everywhere and we had to run to get away from it!" He started this treasure hunt to get people off the couch and into nature. "Get off the couch and the game rooms, leave your texting gadgets on the kitchen table, and head for the wonderful Montana outdoors. I will soon be 87 years old and one of my dreams is to die at age 90 under a tall pine tree way out in a forest someplace, and let my body go back to the soil." e most important thing that Fenn stresses, however, is safety. e wilderness in the American West is vast and untamed, and it can be easy to get into trouble if searchers don't practice caution. Several people have drowned. As Fenn himself has said, the trea- sure isn't anywhere that an 80-year-old man couldn't get to. Whether you find the treasure or not, you're sure to have an unforgettable Montana adventure! "Researching and studying Fenn's chest really makes me have that feeling of discovery and exploration that I can't get with a typical hike." Warm Creek KELSEY SINCLAIR (3) X

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