Six Questions with Chelsea Byrd: In Search of Treasure Man’s Hidden Treasure of The Outlaw Cache

Have you searched for treasure? MW would love to share your story! I know how inspiring and exciting hearing about other searcher’s stories can be. We have such a great community of friends here at MW—all in the search for treasures– and love Treasure Stories! So if you would like to share your adventures, please let me know! (Treasure@mysteriouswritings.com)

But now let’s get to the search for a Treasure Man’s (H Charles Beil) Cache and Six Questions with Chelsea Byrd!

You are going to love it! They are such a fun group and share exactly what treasure hunting is all about!

1Q) What Treasure were you searching for?

In 2013 our team searched for The lost cache of Wolf Run.

Currently we are searching for the Outlaw David Lewis Cache- both by H Charles Beil

2Q) What inspired you to search for that treasure?

In 2013, we actually lived in the small gated community of Treasure Lake where the Lost cache of Wolf Run was found. One day my husband Kenny and I got a call from our friends Kaitlin and Ray asking if we wanted to search for a treasure! In our early 20’s then, who wouldn’t want to go on such an adventure!

Ray was a member of the Treasure Illustrated website and they had done all of the research themselves for this hunt. My husband and I just tagged along for the adventure and to help them find the treasure buried just miles from where we lived! We were young, inexperienced, didn’t even have a metal detector at the time, but from our understanding we made it within feet of the hidden cache!

There is more than one treasure that was discovered by the father and son who found the Wolf Run Cache. This father and son were estranged from each other through a divorce. When they met again they discovered that they both enjoyed metal detecting. When they found out about the Wolf Run cache they decided to hunt for it together! They spent every weekend together for 10 months searching before they finally found it!

Thinking of these precious moments – that this father and son shared reconnecting before finally finding the cache and how truly special that moment had to have been for them – I am certainly thankful that the only thing we walked out from the woods with that day were the unforgettable memories of a great adventure! Those two deserved to have a moment like that!

Six years went by with the busyness of life and our growing families. My husband and I have 5 children in total. 4 girls and a boy! Kaitlin and Ray have a boy and a little one on the way! Our children are our greatest blessings and as you can imagine our life is solely focused around all of these kids! The adventures we take and everything we do are for them. It’s not often we get to get out and do anything for ourselves anymore!

Recently H Charles Beil reposted his Outlaw David Lewis Cache and how it hadn’t been found in 2 years! Thinking back to those memories we shared 6 years ago, and how much fun we had together, I thought it’d be great to just step away, if only for a day, from the stress and monotony of just being an adult and do something fun for ourselves! I brought the idea up to everyone else and it was agreed that we needed this!

3Q) What did you enjoy most about your search?

Kaitlin and I have been friends for 26 years! We both met our husbands in 2007 and as a group we have so much fun and share so many special memories together! These trips and memories are amongst my favorites!

At one point someone questioned our ability and commented to our group that we made treasure hunting look like just fun and laughs. Ray said it perfectly when he said “For us it is all fun and laughs.” In fact, at one point we were in danger of driving off a mountain because everyone in the car had me laughing so hard.

We are not professional treasure hunters. We are machinists, engineers, housewives, mothers. That’s just our little group. There are all kinds of people enjoying themselves looking for treasure that isn’t lost, but was put out there to be found and enjoyed. Ultimately, it’s not even about the treasure, it’s about the journey, the comraderies, the feeling of accomplishment when we solve a cipher, or find a new map nobody else has yet.

I believe that is what H. Charles Beil had in mind when he started these challenges.

So far we have taken two photos as a team in the exact location H. Charles Beil and his team took photos at years ago! It’s exciting retracing their footsteps! The scenery is just remarkable. I love sharing photos of our trip and seeing others take interest!

I can appreciate that H Charles Beil picks his locations to hide his caches, keeping in mind those who won’t find it! For those who come up short from the cache, I promise you will not be disappointed in the beautiful day he has set up for you! Seeing a remote waterfall, exploring a ghost town, or seeing the beauty of a massive elk up close! The impact H Charles Beil is making is incredible and I can’t wait for more people to catch on!

In this new generation full of technology it’s sad that so many of us find such entertainment watching others experience the world through a screen, confined to our devices! I am guilty of this myself! H Charles Beil is giving you the opportunity and challenging you with incentive to be on the opposite side of the screen and experience the world for yourself for everyone else to view!

I can’t wait to take our kids on a trip for this reason. It’s a good message to be taught and a great experience for them to have!

4Q) What did you enjoy least about your search?

For me, my activity level is as far as I have to chase the kids! The past two weekends have been pretty tough, putting almost 15 HARD miles in!

Last weekend in attempt to follow up on a couple things, we parked at a different location, it lead us hiking straight down a mountain. By the time we finally made it on site to the old ghost town, it was time to go if we wanted to make it back to the car before dark! The only way to get to the car was up! Our journey started up a 1400 ft mountain and halfway up this beast the ground became nothing but large, never ending stones! When it was too late to turn back and take another path, I highly considered tucking and rolling myself off the mountain to get back down! I cried on that mountain and at one point I remember just laying down from exhaustion and asking to die on the mountain!

While the exercise is great and just what I need, we will not be parking in that location again!

5Q) What is the most unique thing you found while searching?

Aside from a breathtaking remote waterfall, the ghost town, and the natural beauty in literally everything around us!

We have a metal detector this time for the Outlaw David Lewis Cache! I used it once and while in the zone, I turned around to see that my team was nowhere in sight! I drifted off about a half a mile away in a rock field which is where I found my first metal detector find! At the time I thought it was an old mine cart wheel and this thing was HEAVY about 40 – 50 pounds of solid metal!

Most girls like to decorate their home in beautiful decorations they find from the store! I myself find the love in the saying one man’s trash is another man’s (or woman’s) treasure! It is not uncommon for me to re-purpose an old window, soda crate or an old wooden ladder that I pulled out of the dirt from our woods! I love old interesting things and that is just what I had in mind for this!

You should have seen me toting this thing through the rock field and back to base and the expression on my husband’s face when I told him I wanted to use it as decor!

When our trip was over, he offered to lug this thing the 2 and a half miles back to the car just so that I could have it! If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!

6Q) Do you plan on looking for others or have anything to add?

Absolutely! We are anticipating his upcoming Gallows Harbor, the story originates in an area closer to home!

Until then we are becoming familiar with the area we are at with the Outlaw Cache. H Charles Beil picked a beautiful area for his hunters to explore! From our understanding the Lost Cross Cache and Woodsy Swamp Cache are in close proximity! Once our journey with the Outlaw David Lewis Cache ends. a new adventure will begin with one of these for sure!

Q6B) Have any advice for someone else looking for this treasure?

Take it from experience for those searching for the Outlaw David Lewis Cache… just walk the tracks!

Also for those searching for the Outlaw Cache I think it’s important to note that H Charles Beil loves his history! It’s just fascinating how much I’ve learned starting this journey! You will notice that in his other caches he usually creates a booklet with the history of the area already attached and it’s up to you to find the clues within the story. The Outlaw Cache does not have this. The only thing provided was the map and the riddle. If you want to find the cache it will be up to you to do your own research of the history of the ghost town to find out who Avril is!

With the terrain, I promise this is not a cache you will solve at home no matter how much research you do!

Get out there with your families and have fun!

Good luck!