$2m treasure hunt set in New Mexico by Forrest Fenn turns into search for lost treasure hunter

Several years ago, an adventuresome New Mexico art dealer named Forrest Fenn filled a 12th-century bronze chest with around $2m (£1.4m) worth of gold nuggets, ancient artifacts and jewellery, and secreted it somewhere in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe. He wrote a poem containing clues to its whereabouts in his self-published 2010 memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. Since then, he estimates 65,000 people have gone looking for the so-called “Fenn Treasure”.

Now, however, Mr Fenn himself has joined the search – not for his treasure, but for a treasure hunter. On 5 January, in the depths of winter, 54-year-old Randy Bilyeu set off along the chilly Rio Grande in a raft with his dog Leo and a GPS device, bound for what he believed was the location of the chest. Mr Bilyeu moved to nearby Colorado two years ago to devote himself to finding the treasure. His dog and the raft were found on 15 January, but he has not been seen since.

The missing man reportedly left maps in his car, indicating the area he planned to search, as well as a sandwich, suggesting he did not plan to be out for long.

State police and a New Mexico search and rescue team scoured the area for several days, but have since left the hunt to Mr Fenn and around 50 fellow treasure enthusiasts, who have come from all over the US to assist in the search, using chartered planes, helicopters and drones as well as looking for Mr Bilyeu on foot.

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“The problem is that we are reaching the end of places to search,” Mr Fenn, who is 85, said yesterday, adding: “Our motivation is still there and we want closure.”

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Mr Fenn first came up with the idea to hide a treasure chest in the mountains almost 20 years ago, when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and told he had a 20 per cent chance of survival. But he recovered, and only revisited the notion after turning 80.

In his 2010 poem, he wrote that the treasure’s location was “no place for the meek”, but he insists it is not hidden in a dangerous spot, and nor should the journey to find it be perilous.

“I’ve said many times not to look for the treasure any place where an 80-year-old man couldn’t put it,” he said last month.

Almost everyone who has gone looking for the chest has had “very rewarding experiences”, Mr Fenn told The Independent. “Kids have moved off the couch and away from the game rooms, and into the mountains where the sun smells good and the air is fresh. Many have discovered hiking for the first time.” He has discouraged treasure hunters from searching in winter, explaining that the 40lb chest is more than 5,000ft above sea level and would be covered by snow at this time of year.

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He receives more than 100 emails per day from treasure hunters, who share clues on websites devoted to the search. Some claim to have found the treasure, but none have been able to provide photographic evidence.

Mr Fenn says he is certain the box is still out there and, despite Mr Bilyeu’s disappearance, he does not intend to disclose its whereabouts, saying it would not be fair to the enthusiasts who have spent so long looking for it. “The treasure could be found this summer or many summers in the future,” he said. “It is out of my hands now. It will not be happened upon. Whoever finds it will have figured out the clues in my poem.”