A video screen grab shows the chest worth $25,000, which a father and son found, solving the 2024 Utah Treasure Hunt. (YouTube)
(Tribune News Service) — A father-son duo beat thousands of fellow treasure hunters all vying for the same prize: a chest worth $25,000 “hidden somewhere in Utah.”
The pair was the first to successfully decipher clues that led them to Grove Creek, a steep canyon about a 40-mile drive south from Salt Lake City, where the treasure chest was hidden in the 2024 Treasure Hunt, event organizers said on social media.
This year, treasure hunters had to decipher a poem in Spanish to get hints — though the family had an “aha moment” when they shifted their focus from Spanish history to the native history of Utah, according to Damon, the dad who took his sons on the winning hunt with him.
He remembered something he’d read about the native tribe gathering around Utah Lake for festivals and ceremonies, Damon said. Then he connected the location to a clue in the poem about a choir and another clue about a shadow, which together pointed the dad and his sons to Grove Creek.
It was the third hike they tried while searching and it took them about three hours of hiking Friday, Aug. 9 to find what they were looking for, Damon told organizer Dave Cline.
The organizers sent clues via email every Friday until the treasure was found. The most recent clue included a type of rock that Damon said he knew could be found in the area, which is just east of Pleasant Grove.
That solidified their plans to search in the area, which is about a 20-mile drive east from their home in Eagle Mountain, Damon said.
“Everything is lining up — might as well take the risk and have a good hike,” he told Cline in an Aug. 10 Instagram video.
The family plans to celebrate with some back-to-school shopping, for both Damon and his kids. Damon plans to use the winnings to go back to school and finish his computer science degree, he told Cline.
Asked whether his wife, Marian, still thinks he’s crazy, Damon cheerfully replied: “Not anymore.”
“This is a huge blessing for our family,” Marian later commented on the video.
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