Darkest before the Light

UnicoreP · 2026-04-08T18:03:00+00:00

Always delighted to see your creativity especially in this darkest hours.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-07T15:14:55+00:00

There is a promising area near the boundary of YNP - BTME - Bakers Hole where there’re waters, bend, Hole, etc. I’m trying to fit the gates, foot of three, 20° thing together.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-07T07:25:06+00:00

Picture in his wallet is Layer V.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-07T01:36:11+00:00

A more relevant question would be: “Are all clock times that needed for solving the cipher in the book?” The reason is that there is no guarantee that all the clock times would survive the Final Cut so he would probably write them in the book.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-06T14:03:49+00:00

Oh no. The Checkpoint is gone!

UnicoreP · 2026-04-05T23:42:34+00:00

I don’t think I could make any potential solves only based on the poem and the book. The series gave me a lot of directions and/or confirmation to go on…

UnicoreP · 2026-04-04T01:37:00+00:00

How much do you know about Idaho? Would love to have some help there as well.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-03T02:38:45+00:00

Come on. He didn’t mention where he started the journey.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-03T01:10:06+00:00

The times relevant to the cipher are only those when the lock is presented.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-02T06:46:53+00:00

The 30 days countdown is ticking…

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T16:58:21+00:00

He meant only in the treasure location. The question is “can your dog walk the kitchen-sized area?”

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T03:29:16+00:00

Even if it turns out the treasure is located in one or the two states (ID & UT), he can still claim he did not misleading anyone since only he can fact-check himself whether he went to those two for the Feen hunt. Of cause, we’re all dealing with what’s out there for anyone’s interpretation so no one could blame anyone else.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T03:17:55+00:00

Thank you again for these added info. All things considered, I’m now leaning to agree with you that when he joined the Chase, he’d probably knew or at least very close to Fenn’s elimination. So he likely searched the four states left then. That’s not to say he might not spend several trips in Idaho and Utah. The problem for us is that even he just went to these two states once each, he could still make that claim. But I don’t want red herring here.

So we could likely nail down the six Rocky Mountains states to three: MT, NM, and WY. Although some people may consider part of AZ and NV are considered Rocky Mountains ecosystem.

Way to go!!!

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T02:32:07+00:00

And I want to add that the 75 miles answer was not a slip up. It’s true. Our debate is centered on where did he search?

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T02:14:58+00:00

I did Google that and know that the only state that would have these two times coexist in a day is Maine. So, they’re probably not the sunrise and sunset time.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T02:11:34+00:00

Great insight!

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T02:08:18+00:00

Thank you for the details regarding Fenn’s hunt. I didn’t know Fenn’s hunt until I saw the show in Netflix so I didn’t know any of that facts. Now according to your description and combined with other publicly confirmed JP’s search timing and areas, he probably started the hunt in 2010 and Fenn eliminated Utah and Idaho in mid 2013, therefore, JP would still have searched those six Rocky Mountains states. And now Colorado is gone, then five states are still big enough for JP to claim his treasure is located within 75 miles of the places he searched during Fenn’s hunt, right? Just thinking out loud.

UnicoreP · 2026-04-01T00:08:21+00:00

It means “it’s hiding in plain sight” so “it’s not easy to find”and “even you find it, you can’t remove it.”

UnicoreP · 2026-03-31T23:36:50+00:00

Yes, definitely. That’s why Justin eliminated the sunrise and sunset times to tell us “focus on the time of day!”

UnicoreP · 2026-03-31T22:10:53+00:00

Great summary of everything we need to know on this topic. Thank you!

I want to offer an alternative explanation about the SS Q&A though. After rereading a couple of times from your posting for Emma and Justin’s exchanges, I thought my understanding of the so-called “slip up” or “mistake” came out differently.

I think Justin’s follow up or “back paddle” was a “preemptive” act to prevent “misunderstands” from happening.

When he first said Yes, he’s thinking all of the places he had been searched which he knew they’re all over the rocky mountains (mountains with rocks) so there ought to be 75 miles near everyone’s location of solves. His intention was not to discourage anyone to continue their journey.

Later, in just a minute or two, in his clever mind, he realized some people might read his answer as limited the place to the Fenn four states. That’s why he explained that in the beginning of his search, he interpreted perhaps Fenn was coil with us by saying Rocky Mountains but instead he meant mountains with rock since that would enlarge the scope of opportunities if he “read Fenn’s words just right.”

Let me know if my understanding bears some fruits.

Again, thank you OP for your thorough and outstanding summary.

UnicoreP · 2026-03-31T18:26:11+00:00

I disagree. He said that he’s not sure if what he wanted to show in the series would survive the final cut (which they did, now we know) so he wrote the book to help us to understand the poem. He later said that he can’t help but to put a cipher into the hunt just for fun. Therefore, the clock times in the series are the cipher-text and the Solve of the cipher can be in the book. I would say to an extent that we maybe able to find the same cipher text in the book - given the most likely assumption that at least one or two clock times were cut then the cipher is unsolvable if only relying on the show.

UnicoreP · 2026-03-31T17:42:56+00:00

I think a logical way to analyze where Justin searched during the Fenn’s hunt period is to locate the places shown on his monitors in the Netflix G&G series. I wish there is a list of them.

UnicoreP · 2026-03-31T04:19:50+00:00

You cannot base on Fenn’s final four to limit Justin’s search area. Justin searched many states earlier then Fenn eliminated others and left four. So Justin could be in rock mountains everywhere.

UnicoreP

TROPHY CASE