surprise words from forrest fennWords are so endless for Forrest that I have decided to periodically post “Forrest’s Surprise Words.”

I say surprise because I don’t ever know when I might get them, and so won’t know what day or time I may post one.

I’ll just be posting them when I get them- which could be anytime! 🙂  (And, I should mention, I will still be doing ‘weekly words’– these Surprise Words are just added treasures!)

Here is the first of Forrest’s Surprise Words:

Mr. Forest,
I was just wondering. If I can find the blase, why should I worry about where warm waters halt? All I need to do is look “quickly down” like the poem says, and there is the treasure, right? ~ Philadelphia Franklin

 

That’s correct Philly, but that’s not a plausible scenario. If you can find a fish already on your hook you needn’t go fishing, right?

Don’t force those kinds of aberrational thoughts on yourself or you’ll likely walk back to your car with a very light back pack. f

 

Best of luck with the Thrill of the Chase and all that you seek!  Treasure the Adventure!

77 Comments

    1. You are right about your feet being on the right path, Forest always said start at the beginning of the poam, so if you have the first clue right by the time you read the part about the blaze your on the right path and then and only then you will know it’s the blazeyour looking for.

      Thomas

  5. Hi Jenny!

    I like the new category. Does Forrest send both the question and the answer or have you previously sent him questions you get that he chooses from and just sends you an answer to post at an unexpected time?

    Thomas

      1. Thank you Jenny, Forrest & Philly.
        Who selected the title “Find the Blaze”?
        I know you have stated before that the picture is picked by you for Weekly Words, is this picture also your choice.
        Had to ask, considering it’s a new theme.
        Thanks again,
        Jake

        Jake Faulker

  7. It has been said, on a blog, that Mr. Fenn changes the name of the questioner (to protect the innocent.) So let’s “hypothesize” that he wants us to look at the word/name Benjamin, is he saying turn right from the blaze?

    “From the Hebrew name בִּנְיָמִין (Binyamin) which means “son of the south” or “son of the right hand”. Benjamin in the Old Testament is the twelfth and youngest son of Jacob and the founder of one of the southern tribes of the Hebrews.”

    BW

      1. JCM, I have ask a couple questions also and he didn’t change my name either. But I did read that on one of the blogs that he does change names on occasion. Not sure where this takes us, but thought I would bring up this point.

        BW

    2. It’s funny how you spell “gray”, well not funny, that’s how I spell it as well. In TTOTC Forrest spells it “grey”when he mentions his hair color but “actually white” he comments, grey is not incorrect but that’s how people from Europe spell it. I think that’s interesting! Maybe it’s nothing.

      Wild Bill

  10. Correct, what one does after they find the blaze is specifically associated with how heavy your return trip is. Get back in the fly box, pick out the best fly for the game fish at hand. One might have to tie a special fly right there on the spot to attract the brown or golden trout if you do not have a prepared attractant already in your box. This will demand a certain amount of skill and experience together with the imagination of an artist schooled in entomology.

    sunbuddy

  11. If I can find the blase, why should I worry about where warm waters halt? All I need to do is look “quickly down” like the poem says…. ~ That’s correct Philly,
    and there is the treasure, right? ~ but that’s not a plausible scenario. If you can find a fish already on your hook you needn’t go fishing, right?
    Don’t force those kinds of aberrational thoughts….
    ****
    Call me crazy, But there seems to be more work to do when at what the blaze represents.

    “I mean, there’s people driving down the street looking for a blaze, because that’s one of the clues, but you can’t start in the MIDDLE of the poem and find the treasure, I don’t think, I mean, it would be a miracle if someone did.”

    Just a thought.

    Seeker

    1. Seeker:

      The BEST way to find the Treasure is to start at the beginning. However I do believe it’s “possible” – with luck – to find a clue in the middle and trace your way to the treasure .. as an example, on one of my early searches, I found what I believed to be one of the clues. I spent two days searching the area and found what I considered other clues. But the clues pointed into an area that I did not have maps for – it was an area I had not planned on searching. And I could not determine how much of a walk I had before me. My vehicle was parked in a “public” area and I was afraid I would not make it back before ‘cops’ stopped and gave me a ticket or towed it away. So I hiked back out to my car, drove back to Texas and spent the next month searching the area with maps and the internet. I then returned and travelled backwards until I found what I deemed to be WWH – then explored that area, getting my bearings, studying the terrain, travelling in different directions to see where they led, and the followed the clues back to the clue I had found the month before .. as I continued searching the area, finding new clues, the clue I had initially found changed in position and identification .. What I am saying is, you can find a clue in the middle, but because you don’t know where Clue ‘A’ is .. you may think the clue you found is CLUE “F” – but as you find other clues, leading you closer to the treasure – remembering that they have to fall in order – Clue ‘F’ may suddenly become clue ‘C’ or ‘D’ .. So if you do find a clue, don’t go forward, looking for the treasure .. go backward and look for the earlier clues .. until you find the First Clue .. then you will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where you are and where you are going ..

      Brad Hartliep

  12. What comes to mind is FF’s San Lazaro Pueblo. We know the treasure chest isn’t there but perhaps a hint. Pretty certain the ancient dragonfly (back to back FF’s) image on inside cover illustration TFTW is from pottery uncovered at San Lazaro.

    anna

    1. I think I get it. Well maybe. If you take the inverse hypotenuse of the square root of 7. 8. cancel them out and revise to insert the corrected tangent you arrive at 9 instead of 10? or something like that… lol

      C.M.R.

  14. “Blase” is akin to “too far to walk”. Here at Jenny’s site is an idea of her own somewhere that the phrase might be after the short story by the same name. I had a note on it somewhere, perhaps it’s become a buried treasure in itself.

    The fish on a hook reference is probably related to “teach a man to fish”.

    Philadelphia Franklin is Ben Franklin. Who probably was Forrest’ brother Skippy’s inspiration for the electric fly massacre.
    Also, Ben Franklin was the first known person to lay out the “pro and con list”.
    In other words, as Forrest has said many times, “use logic”.

    Forrest is trying to get people back in the box.

    Buckeye Bob

  16. Hi Jenny and other searchers,

    I’ve been wondering if Forrest would tell us the type of wood he had the chest lined with and if there is any special significance for the choice of wood used. -Cholly Q Ukiah, CA

    cholly

  19. I think he might be telling us (or someone), we are missing something. He’s done this over and over in his posts, reversing letters, words, and phrases… to what end I do not know. But look at the question…
    In Forrest’s name, an R is missing. and the word is written “BLASE”. So if you sound it out….
    “R missing/ reverse S” or “ARE MISSING REVERSES”.
    And I still, for the life of me, don’t know why he keeps doing it! 🙁

    Iron Will

    1. Thats real good IW,
      Perhaps someone needs to back up their solve just a bit, I can here it now all the beepers going off like on the trash trucks when they back up.
      Seriously though maybe someone needs to reverse from there put in point, look for a little creek that you can not paddle up or traveling downstream from the HOB it would possibly be on the left side?

      sunbuddy

  20. Thanks for the surprise Forrest and Jenny.

    It is my opinion that Forrest is saying it is not plausible. Not maybe or possibly. It is not plausible. We have to worry about WWH. If we don’t understand WWH we won’t see the blaze when we arrive at his special spot.

    I like the word plausible- root meaning applaud,clap. Clap just like slap,flap, thunderclap. I have always thought Forrest portrays Miss Ford as a thunderbird in TTOTC. Thunderbirds create a thunderclap and there is an interesting story the native Americans tell of these mighty birds. Also the story on Dals site a scrapbook where the little girl sent in a letter and Forrest ( paraphrase) says he gave her a special hint on the back of the envelope that will take her to a special place in the Rockies north of Santa Fe. A flap. That’s what I think the answer is to the little girl. A flap is on the back of the envelope. How else would she get his answer unless he sent her the envelope back?
    Also scenario means stage. Seems like I am standing on a soapbox . That way I am in a box, or wood and feel nice and comfortable in the single seated sedan or litter alone. And I could throw myself into that single seat or stage. Isn’t a stage also flood stage or water high? Interesting. Almost like a single seated F100-C or D. Didn’t they also use those as Air Force thunderbirds?
    Isn’t a soapbox also a Billy cart like Billy goat or Billy the kid? And if I am not mistaken a soapbox is also considered a go cart. But then again a go cart is also called a baby walker. Cart is an interesting word. Just like the cart in the picture that Forrest is in the picture of him kneeling. And the two wheeled cart the car turns into from Cody the buffalo. A cart or carriage is also a Gig. Like the Texas A and M students chant. Gig em .
    When I think of WWH I think of the word halt, to walk limp or lamely. Like a baby that needs help to stand. Kind of like the headstone that Forrest Righted in both TTOTC and TFTW. Upright. Stand. Like burying Skippy standing up. Upright.
    Could that be a bath chair or bathtub? Yes, my kids say WWH is a bathtub.

    I know Forrest built a bike at a dump, I wonder if he could have built a soapbox racer for a chase. Or is it a chaise lounge like a gig or carriage for heavy loads. All very interesting. I hope I can put all of this information together. If not I hope it helps someone in their search.

    Thanks again Forrest!

    DPT

  21. Didn’t Mr. Fenn say in an interview about the blaze “I was careful. A blaze can be on a tree, in a fire, on the face of a horse, a scar on a rock, and a host of other things.” The “on the face of a horse” is the only impossible one unless there is a horse somewhere dragging a 42 lb chest around with him. Maybe the blaze looks like it’s the face of a horse when you see it.

    Sunbuddy, I’d never want to have to backup that far, with or without the beeper.

    C.M.R.

  26. Pingback: On the hunt for a $2 million treasure - Page 146

  29. I thought about this for a while and after some other encounter with searchers. ‘If you can find a fish already on your hook, you needn’t go fishing, right?’ Accepting the thoughts of finding the blaze and not WWWH is accepting the solution without the work. While it appears that one could just find the blaze and finish and snatch the chest, it isn’t what the poem is about. I have come across quite a number of searchers who just want the solution or the pictures (which give the solution) so they can go out and just get the chest. If you find a fish (or someone else’s work) already for you on your hook (available, including leaving the originator out), you needn’t go fishing (you do not have to do the work of figuring out the poem). ‘You will likely go back to your car with a very light backpack’ (you will end up empty handed or end up without the chest). There are no shortcuts – IMO the pictures of someone’s solve even if it is correct will not help nor will pieces of someone’s solve. In a way, this is like saying that even if you glean something from the blogs, it doesn’t mean you got enough to snatch the chest. The poem takes tremendous thought and the chest is difficult yet not impossible. IMO the post means there are no shortcuts – if there were, this would have been totally accomplished years ago. While searchers will display compassion for others in need, I have experienced the opposite when it comes to $2M in bronze and gold. It is my experience and IMO; it may be different for others. This statement gives some insight into the unending dilemma about if one were to find the chest, why don’t they retrieve it? There is more to this thrill of the chase than finding the blaze and setting one’s eyes downward and lifting the chest and running to a vehicle. IMO Besides, I would not want the chest unless I personally did the work of the poem. For me, success is figuring it out and not fame and fortune of a bronze box full of stuff. Didn’t ff say something about they will discover it was the thrill they sought and not the bounty? IMO – no shortcuts will work 🙂

    Crow

    1. Nicely stated Crow, people will do anything for an easy nickel. That’s why a person should be very cautious with who they confide in. Like a good fishing hole, if you want to keep it a secret don’t fish it when others are fishing. I always thought the cutthroat trout was the easiest to catch, even so, they are still fun to play with. Their are no shortcuts in this chase, if you find one your on the wrong path. IMHO

      Strawshadow

      1. But in the end would it really matter. Isn’t the point all along to get out and fish, breath the fresh air, look at nature and enjoy the thrill of the chase? if you come out a few nickles short, isn’t it worth it? Any day he wanted to, Mr. Fenn could retrieve his cache, leave it to his heirs and there would be none the wiser. People play games, but what is the reward in playing people?

        sooth your exhibit

        1. Sooth, in the end it should not matter if all one did was go out and enjoy nature. The problem begins when people sacrifice way more than a few nickels in search of something other than nature – $2M or so and the fame of being the ‘one’. In the end, the loss is time, money, resources, relationships, dignity when the gain should have been a good time at the parks could become overwhelming. Interesting: ‘what is the reward in playing people?’ I guess that depends on the person. I doubt that people would be played if they focused on reality and tried things for inner joy rather than becoming rich and famous. In the end I think the person who solves the poem is not only one who ‘thinks deeply’ but one who is not particularly interested in fame and fortune. It is like an old ‘test’ that students were given. They were handed a paper and told to read all of the directions completely first and then mark their answers. The directions were complicated when read one at a time and required a lot of marking; however, the last direction stated to skip everything above and write your name in the top left corner. Amazing how many spent 20 minutes struggling with the ‘directions’. This may be similar with over complicating the poem.

          Crow

          3. Crow,
            I like your thoughts above. I think you are “Spot On”, especially about the person not really being caught in the fame and fortune. If I “Caught Indulgence”, only Mr. Fenn would be privileged to know who I am. I would give his bracelet back via P.O. box (free of charge), and be on my way. The “Thrill is in the Chase”, not sure I want to be at the “End”! I had that test, as well. I passed, because I go overboard when it comes to being thorough! Happy Hunting!

            Chesney

        2. Life is like the thrill of the chase, enjoy it, time is short. There is no “reward” in playing people. A fair game is one that does not end in foul play. Go in peace, go fishing, that will be worth the nickel, as long as you earned the nickel:) I never mind going home with an empty pack and I wouldn’t mind if it was full either. Yesterday I found a broken arrowhead, it didn’t fill my pack but maybe it filled the pack of the Indian who knapped it. Gotta go my chamomile tea has finished its seep:)

          Strawshadow

          1. I always liked the ones that were not broken, that is until F mentioned why he preferred the broken ones. Now I look at the broken ones a lot differently then I did before. I have one I think is made out of moss agate. I only have the middle 1″, I look at it and can see the craftsmanship is much better than some I have that are complete. I sit and wonder what type of person would put in such time and workmanship in one point and then risk it all on one single flight?

            JL

            1. JL, now you have me thinking? My guess is a true craftsman, one that learned his skills with many errant flights. One with a good eye and the ability to repurpose. I found one that had been reshaped so many times that it had taken on a wedge shape. A hungry hunter with a repurposed point is much more accurate than a tribe with a full quiver. IMO

              Strawshadow

              1. Strawshadow,
                Now the feeling thought is likewise, I would think that necessity creates diversity and creativity. We have become a wasteful society, my grandfather would have never thrown away the things I see people discard nowadays. Some of the things he repurposed I would look at in awe wondering what sparked such ingenuity.

                JL

      2. Thanks, Strawshadow. It’s even better when one is able to ‘set up’ a thief with a good sounding solve that leads to . . . trouble and no Indulgence. I like your statement that if you find a shortcut, you are on the wrong path. NM fishing seems not so good this year – it is so hot. I could see fish doing nothing, not even trying to reach for food coming their way. At one point, I chased one with my net to see if it would actually move! Just too hot this year for any fun let alone a catch. With global warming, I think I would like to enjoy a cooler summer in another state next year.

        Crow

  30. Here’s a thought. Maybe the point of the poem is to make you experience the thrill, twice. the poem will lead you to a specific point on a map, you will go there thinking it’s the blaze and experience failure. Then, on your way out of the area if you keep an open mind, maybe the blaze is now viewable where it was not on the way in. If you are wise and don’t think you know it all. If you do not give up and adapt perhaps you “will return and know the place for the first time” from a different view…. again, just a thought.

    Jacob

    2. I think sometimes we actually see something on the way in, we recognize it for what it is on the surface. We don’t stop and smell the roses, even though our minds somehow tell us we should, we are just not ready yet. Someone or something tells us in the end it really isn’t indulgence that matters in the first place. It’s the people we meet on the journey, it’s that clerk in the gas station that smiles because we smile and compliment her. It’s the waitress in the restaurant that sits and talks with you because she senses you are happy and content with the cards life has dealt. There is always the next hand, right? A fox is better off chasing a rabbit than he is chasing his tail.

      sooth your exhibit

  31. This irritates me greatly. The guy spelled blaze as blase. Yet Forrest has said in the past not to mess with his poem. Yet he did not correct him on spelling nor has anyone else. I have been avoiding altering the words in the poem because of what forrest said. Should I begin altering the words then?

    Anthony

    2. Hey Anthony,
      I asked Jennie for some clarification;
      Jenny, “May I ask you if “blase” in the question to you was misspelled by Forrest, or by you, or perhaps by the lady
      that asked the question? Thanks for the reply.”
      No reply, yet.

      LMN

      1. Hi LMN, thanks for the reminder. I apologize for not answering beforehand.

        When Forrest sent me the Question/Answer, I copy and pasted. So I assume the spelling of ‘blase’ is from the person who asked the question and left alone. But I don’t know that for sure.

        Most times, I don’t ask or correct things like the above Q/A, because if there is (or isn’t) hidden meaning to it, I shouldn’t know myself and so I don’t get involved. I just copy and paste what Forrest gives me and don’t ask questions about them. If something is unintentionally spelled wrong or intentionally spelled wrong….. I don’t know. It is what it is. I try to remain in a very neutral, messenger only, position on this.

        Jenny Kile

      1. Chesney, Can you confirm where/when/how Forrest said the Blaze was “white?” That clue has completely evaded my radar and would be important for many people, if true. Have never seen/heard anyone say that before…

        LMN

        1. LMN, Do not listen to Chesney!!
          https://mysteriouswritings.com/questions-with-forrest/

          Question posted 6/24/2014:
          Did you really say the blaze is a white streak, as has been rumored? Thank you. ~Deb

          Thanks Deb,
          No, I did not say that. There is a lot of bad information floating around the blogs and many posts that are not well thought out. One person said (I’m paraphrasing) “He said the treasure is hidden in the trees. Then he contradicted himself and said it was in the sun. How could it be both.” Makes me wonder if that person has ever been in the forest.f

          locolobo

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