u/ordovici

Fenn told us that every word and its location was intentional; that all words and punctuation had a purpose (to aid in finding the chest.)

He was challenged with the enormous task of reducing the search area from the Rockies to a more manageable region by the fifth line and first clue without the casual reader recognizing it. Absent that, looking for a geographic place he described as WWWH was unmanageable.

The first seven words of the poem may have accomplished that.

"As I have gone alone in there....." A casual reading is that Forrest went by himself into a place with boundaries. He adds that he has with him his 'treasures bold'. So the saga of Forrest hiding the chest and its contents had begun or had it...?

His use of word choice was exquisite. Reading the first seven words in the context of TTOTC and asking, 'What does it accomplish, what is its purpose?' brings a more subtle interpretation.

As= 'as' also means 'when', meaning 'going on at the same time'. Ex: When I was alone

I = ff

have gone =present perfect. The 'going' happened before now, but the statement is being made from the perspective of now, emphasizing ff's present experience, while acknowledging his past.

alone= an adverb telling us the condition or status of ff when he went. The definition for alone includes: unattached or unmarried. (Forrest refused to answer the question about when he found the location saying that it would be too much information.)

in= a directional movement for the motion verb 'gone', Fenn is describing a boundary crossing.

there=Here and there are deictic words, the meaning depends on ff's perspective. It implies that Fenn recognizes a 'here' and therefore a 'there' as being a place other then here where he imagines himself being.

Now rephrased we have, 'When I was alone and unmarried I went into a place with boundaries.'

These words along with his memoir suggests that Forrest was referencing the act of going from West Yellowstone into YNP as a young unmarried man, most likely using the West Entrance road. A huge reduction of the 'search-verse.'

He would make this trip both, alone on his bike, and with his Dad many times, "So dad would take the car just inside the (west entrance) gate and park it so we could get up at 0500 and go fishing, before the gate opened."

In seven words he effectively reduced our search area and path........ nicely played.

JMT

Fenn said on numerous occasions that several parties had solved the first two clues because they emailed them to him. He also believed that others had solved the first two clues as well, based on where they told him they went.

Then he tells us repeatedly that they must not have solved the third or fourth clues because they went right past the chest with a few stopping nearby but then continuing on. (Mysterious Writings Aug 23, 2019)

Solving the clues in order tells us that the third clue was most likely incorrect.

The third clues is , 'Not far but too far to walk'. The idea that people repeatedly went passed the chest suggest that their solve distance was incorrectly determined to be a distance farther then what it is.

Maybe they were all headed to 9MH.....

So if you have a solve following the Madison or wherever maybe consider somewhere slightly closer to clue one.