It is only two days into the search for the 1998 Treasure Hunt medallion, but Mark Nicklawski already has a hunch as to where the coveted coin is buried.
"Phalen Park is the odds-on favorite," says Nicklawski, 35, who has been searching for the medallion since he was in grade school. He found it in 1993 with a group of buddies at Hidden Falls Park.
"In the paper on Sunday, they listed all the places where it's been found recently, and Phalen wasn't there. We kind of go by where it hasn't been. I think that's how those guys bury it."
Like every other treasure hunter, Nicklawski and his friend Tom Opatz try to analyze the clues writers' strategy. And with only two clues so far (three as of today), hunters are left to wrestle with their imaginations more than their shovels. Still, even with his Phalen Park hunch, Nicklawski says his crew won't get down and dirty for a few days yet.
"We usually don't look until the fifth or sixth day," he says, noting that this year's weather is shaping up to be far less brutal than the last two years, which forced hunters to dig through snow and ice storms. "Tom has a couple of aunts who hunt during the day, and they usually sniff out where it is, and clue us in, and then we go in and look. Right now, we're not worried. We'll wait until Friday."
Copyright 1998 Pioneer Press.
