It was Goldstein who recommended that the board steer clear of making Vallecitos a Buddhist center.
That was our guiding principle, and it has remained so for the last 25 years." – – – – In 1994 the first retreat, for environmental leaders from around the country, was led by the renowned mediation teacher, Joseph Goldstein, who was also on the founding board of directors. "We wanted to create a sanctuary for people to take refuge. "Basically, we wanted to make it a refuge for people, too." – – – – Burnett says that as the board began to formulate a plan, they kept coming back to the words of Henry David Thoreau, who in 1854 wrote, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." – – – – "Those words were the cornerstone of our philosophy", Burnett says. – – – – – "We were clear from the beginning that we wanted to make a refuge and retreat center for meditation", says Burnett, the founding teacher at the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat, as it was initially called. – – – – – When in 1992, Mudd found himself in financial difficulties, he sold the ranch to Burnett and Velarde and TWO FRIENDS (philanthropists who wanted to REMAIN ANONYMOUS), who created a nonprofit corporation, assembled a board of directors, and set out to realize their vision for the property. Mudd hired him, and Burnett, along with his wife at the time, Linda Velarde, began to spend time at the ranch with their two children. Mudd recalls that Grove Burnett, a newly minted environmental lawyer, simply walked into his office in 1971 and offered to help Mudd’s organization. he met the man who would ultimately transform the ranch into a retreat center. Using Google Maps, look at the area south of the Vallecitos ranch house where you will find a large rock wheel, as in "Try the wheel." – – – – The Google Maps coordinates for the Blaze (large painted black "nn" (for Fenn) on the top of a big white boulder) are : 36.6355, -106.2105 – – – – – –Ībout the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat, that "special place in the forest north of Santa Fe": Here is a quote from an article in the New Mexico Magazine in 2015 by Don J Usner: ".While Mudd was writing and working at the ranch and running his environmental organization. If you look at the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat website at: ,and look at the photos (select Why Vallecitos, then Photo Gallery), you will see some hints that were mentioned by Forrest, such as: some cast bronze bells similar to those Forrest made and hid, a photo of the Vallecitos Rio, the "water high" in the poem, and "the poem leads to the end of my rainbow" (see photo of a large rainbow ending near where the treasure was hidden, as Forrest wrote on the inner jacket flap of The Thrill of the Chase).
Now that Forrest has passed on, his "special place in the mountains north of Santa Fe" should be revealed. Mishpacha Article – Forrest & Ralph Lauren Connection: Mount Sneffles Wilderness Camping – Colorado Unfortunately our quest ended last week when it was announced the treasure had been finally found – so we ask you Forrest Fenn…were we even close? After all, the chase practically came to us before we even began.
To all the dreamers out there, the intrigue of a real-live quest was pure magic! Dive into our last hunt for the gold before it was found! A series of too coincidental occurrences led us to believe we were on the right track. Sound Effect's Gabriel Spitzer talks to Dal about his adventures and why he keeps searching for the treasure.The Thrill of the Chase FOUND // FORREST FENN Were We Close?Įpisode 9: TREASURE! The Thrill of the Chase inspired hundreds to adventure out into the wild of the Rocky Mountains in search of Forrest Fenn’s hidden treasure. Dal has gone out searching over 60 times and he runs a websitewebsite about the treasure from his home near Bellingham, Washington. However, these days his main exploit is Fenn’s treasure. As a search and salvage expert, Neitzel has looked for old shipwrecks and downed WWII planes along the West Coast.
However, no one has found the treasure yet, not even professional treasure hunter Dal Neitzel. The treasure, suspected to be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, is estimated to be worth over a million dollars. When he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, he decided to put some of his valuable collection in a chest and publish a poem with clues leading people to its secret location. Some adventurous adults are following through on those dreams, scouring the western United States for the treasure of Forrest Fenn.Īfter serving in Vietnam as a fighter pilot, Fenn became a wildly successful art dealer in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Many children dream of buried treasure and fantastical adventures in search of gold and jewels. This story originally aired March 26, 2016.