Who made the fake blaze?

[Sherif Billy]

Forrest made a fake blaze. The trouble was my daughter and I found it. For a year and a half, we were stuck on it. It was so convincing. I mean; like who meticulously puts the effort and time into building a lattice fence around a fire ring? This was planned to last a long time. The basic structure was built with neatly sawed wood "ribs" tied together with polypropylene rope so it would stand the test of time. The fire ring was composed of neatly arranged rocks with smaller ones wedged between the larger ones to give it strength. Wild grape vines were then woven between the ribs to give it a look of substance. Now to finish it off, this structure had survived several years without any maintenance and was slowly becoming dilapidated. It was in an overlooked secluded area, close to a creek and obscured from the view of an occasional hiker or treasure searcher. Wow! It is an excellent camping area with plenty of history to explore nearby.

It was clear to us that no one had been there in a very long time. However, we suspected it was a secret camping area of Forrest's because they had left some of their camping stuff and among these items were a couple of olive jars. (Like who takes olives or olive jars camping with them?"
me next to the fire ring on the day we found it

[wwwamericana]

I dunno what Jack or his "disciples" are thinking about a "fake blaze", but I saw a (fairly solitary) boulder, almost the size of a VW beetle, on a hillside. The boulder had a big splotch of bright yellow (or gold) colored paint, and was visible from where I was hiking (toward my search area). This was about a mile from the nearest road, and pretty isolated. I can think of no reason for someone to paint that boulder, other than as a marker to be seen by a searcher for the Fenn treasure. But I don't guess Fenn is the person who did the painting. I was quite irritated at seeing the thing, an eyesore in an otherwise beautiful wilderness location. By the way, I found an occasional bit of trash on my hike(s) there, and removed them. What a shame that litterbugs are so plentiful.

Painted stones always make you stop and wonder - especially blue ones.....

[Space Hopper]

Painted stones always make you stop and wonder - especially blue ones.....

Ronny Wood is an accomplished artist, but far from a Rembrandt...

[Leaf Blazeikson]

An author made the fake blaze. It's a fabrication that exists only in writing. The real blaze exists that way too.
Take as long as you need...

[Grizzbait]

In my opinion, f made both. You had to be wise to find the blaze.,The correct one…You must choose, but choose wisely.The real blaze will bring you fortune and glory- The false one, only memories of a nice vacation. F stands for fake, Ferd, Ford and of course, Forrest.

[Gideons Gate]

As for a fake blaze..someone had painted a rainbow on a tree stump about 1,000 feet from where I believed the chest to be.

[Suzy]

Forrest made a fake blaze. The trouble was my daughter and I found it. For a year and a half, we were stuck on it. It was so convincing. I mean; like who meticulously puts the effort and time into building a lattice fence around a fire ring? This was planned to last a long time. The basic structure was built with neatly sawed wood "ribs" tied together with polypropylene rope so it would stand the test of time. The fire ring was composed of neatly arranged rocks with smaller ones wedged between the larger ones to give it strength. Wild grape vines were then woven between the ribs to give it a look of substance. Now to finish it off, this structure had survived several years without any maintenance and was slowly becoming dilapidated. It was in an overlooked secluded area, close to a creek and obscured from the view of an occasional hiker or treasure searcher. Wow! It is an excellent camping area with plenty of history to explore nearby.

It was clear to us that no one had been there in a very long time. However, we suspected it was a secret camping area of Forrest's because they had left some of their camping stuff and among these items were a couple of olive jars. (Like who takes olives or olive jars camping with them?"
me next to the fire ring on the day we found it

S. Billy, now that's true grit if I ever saw it. Ha! I guess you could say you toad me so.

[wwwamericana]

Ronny Wood is an accomplished artist, but far from a Rembrandt...

A bit abstract but that's ok - we all see things thru a different pair of eyes.

[Presque vu]

I have to admit I did carve a lower case f into a tree, and also a D with a lower case f inside........ f..in..D......but I didn't find the chest....

[Leaf Blazeikson]

In my opinion, f made both. You had to be wise to find the blaze.,The correct one…You must choose, but choose wisely.The real blaze will bring you fortune and glory- The false one, only memories of a nice vacation. F stands for fake, Ferd, Ford and of course, Forrest.

Turns out... the blaze that would last a thousand years isn't mentioned (jack's was damaged). The fake blaze made a guy rich. He saw it and wrote about it.

[DanNun]

In my opinion, f made both. You had to be wise to find the blaze.,The correct one…You must choose, but choose wisely.The real blaze will bring you fortune and glory- The false one, only memories of a nice vacation. F stands for fake, Ferd, Ford and of course, Forrest.

What if Jack was sure it was a searcher who designed the fake blaze?

[DanNun]

Would people be willing to accept that the fake blaze was an X? It’s as simple as that imo. I don’t know if it was etched in stone or carved into a tree...but imo the fake blaze was just that.

[Star Shadow]

Would people be willing to accept that the fake blaze was an X? It’s as simple as that imo. I don’t know if it was etched in stone or carved into a tree...but imo the fake blaze was just that.

That's the spirit!

[Presque vu]

Yes two y's one upside down makes an X.

[Danny]

I don't believe Jack is lying about the damaged blaze. You can easily reconcile Jack's statement with Forrest's statements about the durability of the blaze.
In my opinion, Forrest left number of markers leading to the place where the chest was hidden. The markers start at the point 'if you've been wise and found the blaze...' and end at the hiding spot. Only the first maker is natural and indestructible. The remaining markers were erected by Forrest and could be damaged by nature or humans. Forrest must've left a marker at the final spot, which somehow got damaged. IMO, only the first, natural marker 'if you've been wise....' is absolutely required to find the treasure. The remaining markers, like the X mark, are to assure a seeker that he's on a correct trail. IMO, Jack calls the whole set of the markers The Blaze and therefore, if the last marker was damaged, he's saying, The Blaze was damaged.

Interesting take. I came up with a similar idea. With something like agate stones to direct you but I never fully flashed the idea out. Jack would be playing fast and loose with the term blaze if additional markers were damaged but certainly possible