Would You Pick Up A Shovel to Dig for Treasure? Part 6

The Story of a Real Life, Secret Treasure Hunt

Not all treasure maps are drawn on parchment or sealed in bottles.

Some are hidden in plain sight.

Welcome to the Secret Treasure Hunt blog series, where every Wednesday from now through 10/22 I take you through the last three years of my life as a treasure hunter. There are secrets and discoveries below, but if this is your first time here (hello!) I recommend starting from the beginning.

PREISS’ THE SECRET, VERSE 7:

At stone wall’s door

The air smells sweet

Not far away

High posts are three

Education and Justice

For all to see

Sounds from the sky

Near ace is high

Running north, but first across

In jewel’s direction

Is an object

Of Twain’s attention

Giant pole

Giant step

To the place

The casque is kept.

PALENCAR’S THE SECRET, PAINTING 1:

Once you’ve taken a look back over Part 5 to see the full theory for the San Francisco treasure, created mostly by Jeff Cross and a little by me, take a look at this: Here’s what the Cervantes monument looked like right after it was installed a hundred years ago in Golden Gate Park:

Jeff has marked this photo to show where he thinks ‘x marks the spot’ will be. But there’s a key issue. Don Quixote’s sword is pointing at rock and stone. So to get as close as possible to digging ground, you’ll need to go either a little to the right, or a little up. Here’s a marked-up image to clarify where we dug in June 2024:

The star symbol represents the exact spot where Cervantes’ sword is pointing. The X marks the first place we set out to dig before we arrived, which was just to right of the staircase. But there was a mature succulent that had been growing there for the last ten years and the park ranger did not want us to disturb it. The arrow marks the place we were allowed to dig.

It's not as crazy to dig adjacent to the exact spot as one may think. The finders of the Chicago treasure dug a humongous hole, only to finally discover the casque just beyond their hole’s diameter. The ultimate ruling on why it was nearly out of their reach? Because Priess had buried it slightly off from where he meant to. There’s a saying within The Secret treasure hunting community: “If you’re off by an inch, you’re off by a mile.” Which becomes all the more tricky when you realize that Preiss himself could have been off by an inch or two when initially hiding the treasures.

 THE SECRET JOURNAL—DISCOVERY, June 10 2024:

As evidenced by the photos from our trip, the old staircase is completely overtaken by the soil and plants around the monument. Even the monument itself looks wild and overgrown. On the morning of the 10^th, we spend a while cleaning spider webs off the statues while waiting for the ranger to arrive.

One of our biggest goals for the dig was to find the top edge of the stairs. No easy task, of course, knowing the entire structure was potentially already a foot underneath us. But lo and behold, twenty minutes into that digging and scraping, we come upon that beautiful smooth stone surface. We have found an “L” in the stonework—meaning we’ve successfully hit upon the very top of the right staircase and to the right of the central back platform behind Cervantes’s bust. This is as exact as our permit has allowed us to be. We have reached the exact spot we set out to as of this morning.

My heart pounds as we spend the next half hour moving the dirt as fast as we can. The ground gets more densely packed as we go. Worse still, after we’re already a foot down, we come upon bits of trash that look extremely modern. When did all this soil get piled up here? Why are we finding current-looking beer cans under twelve inches of dirt?

At last the ground is so densely packed that I decide there is no way Preiss had moved it out and back, even forty years ago. We dutifully refill the hole and thank the ranger for their time. Although we are of course disappointed to leave empty-handed, we knew upon arrival that our chances were slim. We had desperately wanted to dig further to the right and it just wasn’t possible. We have done the very best we could do.

While earlier defeats had felt particularly brutal, something about this entire San Francisco experience buoys my spirits. I’m currently working on a treasure hunt book set in San Francisco, and I decide to spend the rest of the week here doing as much book research as possible. My sister and I travel to every corner of the city. I take constant notes as I begin to create my own treasure hunt within the fictional narrative. I put clues together and make connections in San Francisco’s own history. I feel more like a real treasure hunter than ever before.

THE SECRET JOURNAL—A new treasure hunt, Fall 2024:

I get word from my editor in late July that they are delighted to buy and publish my latest YA book, BURIED FEELINGS—a story about two teens going on a treasure hunt around San Francisco. I finish the manuscript in the fall and send it off, nearly delirious in my elation. I did not think that my fifth published book was going to be the book of my heart, and yet it is. More than anything else I have every written, I have poured my treasure hunting heart and soul into this book.

I turn in my first draft at the end of 2024, then receive revision notes in April 2025 for a second turn-in by mid-June. In July I hear that we’re flying straight on to copyedits, where I will get to hammer out all the exact, fine details of this historically-based (though fictional) treasure hunt. All the while, a plan is brewing in the back of my mind. With every cover sketch I see, every draft of the book I go through, I am thinking of something. And finally, in August 2025, I reach out to my publisher and tell them my plans.

THE SECRET JOURNAL—The Hunt within the hunt, Fall 2025:

You are here now, on October 22^nd 2025 (or sometime after), and the BURIED FEELINGS cover reveal is live and over on the LGBTQ+ Reads website. The preorder details are up. The book will release on July 7, 2026. 7/7. And that is a lucky day indeed…

For on July 7, there will be a real life treasure hunt for YOU to solve. The rules are simple. The prize is substantial. Your chance at fame and glory is now upon you. Do you have what it takes to solve this secret?

Think you’re up to the challenge?