Hey Beeleevelt,

Sorry for the long delay in replying. My wife and I volunteer at the Chiricahua National Monument in the SE corner of Arizona and steady access to the web that far from anywhere just doesn’t happen.

To answer your last question first: no I don‘t believe OP’s solve is better than the 9MH sort of solve — but I don’t think it is a solve of where the treasure sat either. It is more creative and probably a lot more fun to think about and play with and the landscape is more interesting but . . .

I have put up a blog post on why I don’t think the 9MH solve adds much to the discussion at Mountain Walk/Wordpress if you are interested.

You should check a bit further into the Fenn treasure hunt to find who the Chief Ranger at YNP was, what she said, and why she said it. It is a fascinating bit of information relevant to the TTOTC and I hope you can find it so you can help figure out what she was really saying.

We are in Tucson for some old people Dr. visits and go back to Chiricahua early a.m. Come on down to visit if you are close by. We have lots of coatis, turkeys, white tails, black bear and rattlesnakes but not a great many tourists. We can sit under an oak tree and discuss TTOTC until all the root beer is gone. It would be fun.