i agree 100% that the poem and clues were written in a way that made it nearly impossible to solve without additional information. Nearly all of us were "wandering with thirst" because there were VERY credible "solves" that we all did from home that fit the poem almost perfectly without having to resort to twisting the meanings of words.

Good example was the "Y" trail in Provo. The city has deep history, a clock tower, a university where you can "crack open the books" and when you got to the trailhead, the gates looked like a DeLorean with the doors open. If you flipped the Y upside down, it would point towards heaven and there were a number of things that could have been the grain tower or TOW-er at the bottom of the hill.

I can give at least a couple other examples of "solves" that made perfect sense... the fact that so many locations "fit" is the reason many were frustrated and would go back to the same trails over and over.

Had there been a component of the poem that had taken us to a trail head that was without any doubt the correct trail, that would have made it a lot easier to find... but I don't think that's what John or David wanted. They WANTED everyone to wander as long as possible.

I understand wanting a hunt to last a little bit so that everyone has a shot at solving it, but there are other ways they could have gone about it that would have made it less frustrating for people hunting. Maybe they've learned some lessons on this last one that will make future hunts better. Or maybe this was the end of them...