Clues to Park

Clue #1
The phrase “come around again” hints the treasure is hidden in a location where it has been hidden before. “Circulated in PiPress news” refers to the Pioneer Press circulation area and the word “explore” suggests expanding the search beyond St. Paul into all of Ramsey County. The treasure is hidden in a public park.

Clue #2 
The colors red and blue, when “mixed” create Viking purple – more treasured Minnesota lore. The Vikings are seeking to build a new stadium in the City of Arden Hills, where the medallion is hidden and was hidden in the past.

Clue #3 
Lake Johanna Blvd divides the Tony Schmidt Park recreational area – it separates the Lake Johanna beach front from the trail area where the medallion is hidden.

Clue #4 
The words “Woof” and “Babble” are onomatopoetic – they imitate the sounds made by a dog and a brook and suggest that sound is important in this clue. The last line of the clue – “a Roman should do,” evokes another reference to the Vikings Arden Hills stadium effort – wide receiver Devin “Aromashodu.” “Woof” also sounds like the last name of Vikings owner Ziggy “Wilf.” (Also the previous time the puck was hidden in Tony Schmidt, it was camouflaged in almond (nut) “bark.” “Babbling” about a stadium is what politicians have been doing for a long time. “Make book” references “gambling” – a suggested funding source for a Vikings stadium.

Clue #5 
“Chattin’,” “crackin'” and “brighten way” refer to Chatham Court and Chatham Ave, McCracken Lane and Brighton Way. All are streets north of Tony Schmidt Park in Arden Hills. The medallion is hidden north of “interfacial road” in Clue 3 – Lake Johanna Blvd.

Clue #6 
confirms the medallion is hidden outside the city of St. Paul – “outside the box”– in an “incorporated” Ramsey County city. “Sort it out as you like it” refers to Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It,” which contains scenes in the Forest of “Arden.”

Clue #7
pinpoints Tony Schmidt Park in Arden Hills. Clue 7 quotes Mike Madland, who found the treasure in 1988, the last time the medallion was hidden in Tony Schmidt Park. He found the treasure at 10:30 at night by “following the crowd.” His advice to hunters was to “dress warm,” and he believed his son, Donny, was his good luck charm.

Clue #9 
The earliest known history of Arden Hills and Lake Johanna is as a resting place for the Dakota people on their trek to harvest wild rice in other places.

Clues to Medallion Camouflage

Clue #2
In the very first treasure hunt, 1952, hunters sought a small metal chest but “off our chest” means this year’s treasure is NOT in a chest. 2012 is the 60
th
or “diamond jubilee” year of the hunt – a clue to how the treasure is camouflage (see Clue 3).

Clue #3
“Bag the treasure” reveals the medallion is in a bag; “crack the nut” further describes the bag as a bag of nuts. Combined with the “diamond” reference in Clue 2, the medallion is hidden in a Diamond nut (pecan) bag.

Clue #6 
“Gem” is another reference to “diamond,” which refers to the Diamond Pecan Bag holding the medallion.

Clues to Medallion Location

Clue #3
“There’s a place to cook and a place of leisure” refers to the picnic pavilion with a kitchen that is near the medallion location.

Clue #8 
The “many there are in many a park” refers to picnic pavilions/gazebos. “Think big” describes a larger structure with a kitchen (a “place to cook” from Clue 3) on the “big” hill in Tony Schmidt Park. Near the pavilion is a playground where children get “in the game.” Reference to a place with “a special claim” refers to the handicapped parking in the nearby parking area.

Clue #9
The medallion is hidden on the Lake Johanna (south) side of the railroad tracks running through Tony Schmidt Park.

Clue #10
“Taken aback” means look away from the lake toward the treasure site – across Lake Johanna Blvd – the “interfacial” road from Clue 3. Don’t “sit or rest but “scramble” the phrase “nearer end smell,” an anagram for Elmer L Andersen, namesake of the trail head near the large pavilion in Clue 8. “Respect the land where people dwell” refers to all the private homes visible from the lake and along parts of the Elmer L. Anderson Trail.

Clue #11 
The “right sign” is the marker for the Elmer L Andersen Trail (the anagram in Clue 10). Looking up, one sees wires. Follow them up the hill past the pavilion (Clue 8). The “what you will see” that “aligns” with the rhyming words “sign,” “fine” and “align” is two groves of “pine” trees. The medallion is hidden near one of the two groves.

Clue #12 
The medallion is hidden in Tony Schmidt Park in Arden Hills up the hill from the post marking the head of the Elmer L. Andersen Trail. Follow the trail past the large pavilion (with kitchen) and the children’s playground. The medallion is hidden in the woods just off the trail –NOT in the sand around the playground equipment and NOT in the marshlands off the lower trail. Near the pavilion are poles supporting the overhead power lines. Standing by the poles, one can see two groups of pine trees “dead ahead” The medallion is hidden six paces north of nearer group; it’s hidden “low”- on the ground frozen in a wrap of leaves in a Diamond Pecan Bag.

Copyright 2012 Pioneer Press.