Days 11-12-13, May 16-18, 2014: Fennboree

A lot of words for the weekend, not all of them nice in view of the weather.  However, I think everything is wrapped up by "Fennboree."  That was a camp-out for folks chasing Forrest Fenn's treasure at the Gallinas Canyon Ranch, well out in the boonies "near" Abiquiu.  It's a very scenic area, and the camp had limited facilities (it did have cold water & places to cook). 

 Our tent, scene of misery

We were second to arrive, so we set up our tent and then went out hunting for a small treasure hidden by our host, directions coming from a poem similar to Forrest Fenn's.  I'd done some research from the info and Google Earth, and we found it rather quickly.  Here's Sandra proudly displaying the old pawn necklace & brooch.

As more folks came in, we watched or helped them set up, without letting on we'd found the local treasure (which we'd replaced with a $5 bill & put back where it was).  A stir occurred when the author of a major blog, accompanied by an Aussie filming the chase for a magazine program back home, showed up.  All of us there at the time were interviewed, and hope to see it all on u-tube before too long.  Dal threw us all for a loop when he announced Fenn's latest clue - forget using a dam as the starting point.

Searchers discussing the latest clues

When we set up, we'd had a bit of trouble getting the double high queen air mattress into the tent, so we let out quite a bit of air.  That made our sleeping rather gamey, as the mattress moved every time we did. Sandra ended up curled up in the SUV.  Morning came cold, and we had breakfast with searcher friend who goes by Tim Nobody on the blogs, and his wife.  We then took a walk upriver, opposite of our trek for the necklace the previous day.  Lots of pictures, looking for a future prize winner.

As the last campers arrived early Saturday afternoon, the rest of us sat around in the shade talking about clues and "solves" for the FF treasure.   As we started preparing for the pot luck dinner, we discovered one of the campers was missing.  That set off a major search, until we heard a faint cry for help way up the mountain.  Another camper had a couple of hand held radios, incompatible with mine, so she, her son & our host (blog handle Desertphile)  set up the mountain leaving me with one of hers, while one of mine was back at base camp.  They soon reported the missing camper found, and brought the person down to civilization, and the lady in the rescue was awarded one of the bracelets that "Deb" made to be given at the host's discretion.  The adventure was certainly worth some of Desertphile's wine, as well as other adult beverages.

We took down our tent Saturday, blew up the air mattress, and set up in a sheltered spot - which turned out to be not as sheltered as we thought as the wind accompanied the evening cold.  At least the bed behaved.   In the morning we finished tearing down, packed up, paid our last homage to the Shrine to Forrest Fenn & the Chase, said farewell to the host & other campers, and headed for Raton, via Tierra Amarilla, Tres Piedras, Taos & Cimarron.  A good dinner at El Matador, a couple of long showers at the HIE, sorting thru about 250 emails, and updating our status, took up the rest of the evening. 

The shrine, representing things discussed in his books, plus a well-worn copy of the poem

Tomorrow it's the Dry Cimarron Scenic Byway, cross the Santa Fe Trail, visit the "totem poles" at Mullinville, KS, and spend the night at Pratt.  We're up to 2033 miles on the trip.