Forrest Fenn Treasure FOUND After 10 Year Search

After a ten year search deep in the Rocky Mountains, the famed Forrest Fenn Treasure has been found.

The news has been spreading quickly online after Forrest Fenn, 89, announced Sunday how a man – who wished to remain nameless – located the 13th-century Romanesque bronze chest that was hidden sometime between 2009 and 2010 with an estimated $2 million of gold, jewelry and gems.

Stashed “somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe,” the loot was buried either in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming or Montana, but Fenn would not specify in his announcement where exactly it was unearthed.

“It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn wrote.

The New Mexican art dealer left potential treasure hunters nine clues in his memoir to guide them during their quests. Unfortunately, though, Fenn’s hints weren’t necessarily guaranteed to keep those in search of the treasure safe, and multiple people lost their lives in the decade between its hiding and discovery. This caused officials in New Mexico to urge people to stop looking for the treasure in 2017, and it was nearly a year ago this month that the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office in Montana issued a warning to those seeking the treasure in/around Yellowstone National Park.

And one pursuer died as recently as March, the Denver Post reports.

“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries,” Fenn wrote on his website.

OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow

Keenan Crow is an outdoor writer who graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism and creative writing. He has been writing for OutdoorHub for nearly five years, but anybody he is close with will tell you he has been telling hunting stories for far longer. He uses his experiences outdoors to write about things he loves - bow hunting, fishing, upland hunting, shed hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, dog training, shotguns, ATVs and the outdoor lifestyle he lives in his home state of Michigan. Outside of hunting/fishing, he also loves to cook - especially with wild game - play golf and go on hikes with his yellow lab, Stella.