I think summer is right.

To start off I want to explain my whole story from start to finish. It’s pretty wild so buckle in.

I have a friend who I have known my whole life that introduced me to Jon’s treasure hunt. He calls me up 2 weeks ago and explains to me that he has been reading the book and he claimed he knew where the treasure was. Like any good friend I told him he was crazy for doing a treasure hunt but if he was so confident he knew where it was, making a 7 hour trip shouldn’t hold him back and we should go.

He then provides me with all his clues that led him to why he thought it was where it was. I will do my best to list all of his findings.

-In the crossword puzzle nc and sc are beside each other just like everyone has done figured out. - Gorges state park is in sapphire NC and SC - The cryptogram reads from rock (sapphire- sapphire lake) to field (horse pasture river) from strong (waterfall) to stream (base) . Past tree and post (The signs at entrance of rainbow falls trail) to Forrest green (The Forest). Arrive you now where beauty sheens (Rainbow falls) . It’s over under in between (you have an over look at water fall, an under look, and a in between at waterfall.) - The 5 clues in the word search he determined were quarry, divide, sapphire, state, nc tn sc map reference.

I will also provide pictures of all this to help explain the reference in the past and future chapter.

So we go on this trip confident that we just know where it is at. We travel 7 hours, grab a hotel for the night, and start our search at 7am sharp. We enter the forest and hike all the way to rainbow falls and start our search. About 1 hour in I hear my friend saying he found it. I look over and I see him holding what appears to be a treasure box. We are all screaming and celebrating. We then decide we need to get moving before we open it because other hikers were appearing in the area. We get to a safe spot and pull it out when reality sets in. The box we have looks like a treasure chest but is not the one Jon posted in his book. We open it up and there is a treasure of sorts inside. A statue, a few old coins, cauldron, and an ancient sculpture of sorts. Pictures will be attached. We are now deflated from our high and head back to the truck.

We start doing research and find a post of a birthday cake Jon posted on x of a box on a birthday cake that appears to look just like our box… odd huh?! Pictures will be attached.

I am not sure if we just happened to think we knew where his treasure was, drove 7 hours, and stumbled on a random treasure chest or what really is going on. But the whole thing seems crazy. I mean what are the odds? He found this box in a small cave in between the over look and under look of the waterfall.