I've mostly talked about pig hunting on this blog, but if you go back and read my first post, I did say I would discuss treasure hunting and whatever other things cross my mind. So here we go.
Treasure Hunting-What is the treasure you seek vs. the treasure you find?
I started treasure hunting when I was a kid. It wasn't 'treasure hunting' per se back then, just the idea that if you're not always keeping your eyes open and looking for cool things, you'll never find any. I found money and jewelry, tools, and TONS of fossils. Sometimes I was out for a specific find, sometimes not. My collection of 'things' I've gathered over the years includes cool rocks, fossils, old coins, arrowheads, old license plates, minie balls, musket balls, old bottles, lots of meteorWRONGS (not meteorites lol), a goodly number of scars, a goodly number of scares-like being shot at once even though I was on the right side of the fence...some people!. Encounters of just about every kind except for mermaids and aliens, you can almost name it and that's what treasure hunting holds for even 'Joe average' who just decides to spend time outdoors instead of sitting on a couch.
It became about treasure when I was exploring an old decrepit farmhouse with my sister, and I decided to pull back an old area rug that had been nailed down. That was around 1978 or 79, and I still have the US Silver Certificates that were hidden under that rug!! Of course we were in big trouble with our parents for going into places we had no permission, but who could resist an old farmhouse full of silverware, furniture and just about everything, sitting there abandoned as if the owners vanished? It was that way long ago, when relatives died, the houses would remain as they were, including contents, to mostly rot away. Those houses are EXTREMELY rare nowadays, as ones that old have succumbed to age and bulldozers.
But I digress. As usual.
I've put in many a mile in the backcountry of a couple states. Most times I'm looking for something specific, sometimes not. You see, most real treasure is actually found by accident! I'm not saying that research and focused searching isn't worth it-absolutely it IS worth it! What I mean though, is that the same 'keeping your eyes open' state of awareness needs to become a 24/7/365 way of being. This is how you can find old homesites where no evidence of structures even exist anymore. It's how you can suddenly spot that boulder that just looks like a cool resemblance of a face or animal to everbody else, but you know it was carved, and how to verify that. It's how you spot that arrowhead laying there in a cut bank, or even the silver coin you were just handed in change (it still happens).
So what about the freakin' treasure!?
Treasure is a funny thing. The first idea everybody has is the riches and resulting life of leisure and fun one might have if you can navigate the horribly complicated recovery and conversion to actual monetary value. What-you thought you'd just start passing out gold coins and it would all be good? Well, the real deal about treasure hunting is the experiences you have while 'on the job'. I can think of almost no happier time than when I'm outdoors, totally on MY time, just me, my hiking boots, and God, walking around His creation and discovering every little thing that nature 'is'. Walking in the footsteps of men who came before me by hundreds of years-try it, you'll never know what I mean till you do. So aside from any recovery you make, the INCREDIBLE treasure is the experiences you will have, the FANTASTIC things you will see, and even a little of what you learn about yourself while out there on your own walkabout.
OK-the treasure.
The rules:
1. Never find a cache
2. If you find a cache keep your mouth shut
3. If you violate #1, observe #2
Get out there. That television is no substitute for the real thing!
