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The earliest podcast on the Forrest Fenn treasure hunt was released in September 2010 by Irene Rawlings. She says she met with Forrest for lunch in July of 2010 and chatted with him about the Chase and his book. This episode is based on that visit. It basically gives a short introduction to Forrest’s memoir: The Thrill of the Chase.
Although the October 25, 2010 date is cited for the official release of the book, because Forrest, with his memoir, was featured in a book signing event at the Collected Works Bookstore that evening, there were copies of the book already being sold and given away.
In the podcast, Irene mentions the book was available at Collected Works Bookstore, and she herself reads a chapter out of The Thrill of the Chase during the podcast. She read ‘Looking for Lewis and Clark.’
The reading of Forrest’s adventures with Donnie took most of the podcast. But one of the main highlights, the only one really in regards to the Chase, is when she says Forrest hid the Treasure Chest.
After offering a brief background on who Forrest is and mentioning the Fenn Galleries (which is now the Nedra Matteucci Galleries), Irene began talking about his memoir. She says Forrest told her, during lunch in July 2010, he had hid a treasure chest, and was just finishing up his book.
She shares more of the story, that I’m sure we all know if we have the book, about how his idea for hiding a treasure first came to him when being diagnosed with cancer. She says the book contains clues to this treasure chest hidden somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe, and that it includes other stories of Forrest’s amazing life and adventures.
The timing for his hiding the treasure chest is interesting. For those searching the Yellowstone surrounding areas, a video link recently shared on the MW Forum by username Goldilocks showed Forrest and Peggy in Yellowstone around August/September of 2010. This certainly offered proof he could have hidden the treasure there. However, this podcast suggests it was hidden earlier.
We know from different quotes by Forrest that he hid the treasure in the summer, and when he was almost 80. It would seem then, the most likely time the treasure was hidden, based on this information, and if correct, was in the summer of 2010 (when he was almost 80), but before July 2010.
Had he taken a trip up north at that time? Do we know?
Best of luck with all that you seek! And Always Treasure the Adventure!