Everything But The Blaze -- Madison (Nine Mile Hole)

[Broken arrow]

I didn't search it, but of course I considered it. For me, it's an inferior choice to Nine Mile Hole, for a few reasons:

1. Slow Bend is west of Seven Mile Bridge, where the road is south of the river. If you put in there, the Madison draws on your right, not nigh (on your left).
2. Slow Bend has small rocks in the river bed and shallow water, compared to the heavy loads and water high at Nine Mile Hole.
3. Slow Bend is a well known fishing spot, but it doesn't have nearly the same lore surrounding it as Nine Mile Hole (IMO, as this requires a judgement call)
4. The Big Picture in TTOTC with Forrest's family at all the fishing spots. Slow Bend is not among them.

Also, I don't get hung up on attaching a certain number of miles to "Not far, but too far to walk"

It's a subjective distance that varies from person to person. It can not be quantified. That line of the poem simply advises us to drive.

We don't have to quantify the distance, because the next clue tells us where to put in.

If it’s to far to walk what should one do. Run
if your running why
marathon are a lil over 20 miles so that could be to far to walk. I went looking at a old map of this place one time but like this post it has everything but the blaze

[Must Listengood]

That was my biggest problem with the solve too. I flew out to West shortly after discovering the chase and reading TTOTC. It fits too well. Crossing the Madison can be done safety in June, but not here IMO. There were other pull outs I investigated that seemed to be safer crossing points, but I couldn't make them work smoothly with home of Brown or later clues so I ultimately moved to canyons further downstream.

In working to test this solve now, I think we should keep considering other possibilities for the home of Brown. I'll accept brown trout if it's proven, but I haven't found actual evidence yet. Also, consider that searchers would need to determine this spot with the poem/map/TTOTC. How would we arrive at Nine Mile Hole using just those tools?

Well if this is the correct solution, and it certainly appears to be the case, then we are supposed to cross just past the hole at upper 9 mile. Looking at GE, there is the lava shelf and the bend and the hole drops off from the lava shelf on the south side. But just past the bend, the water gets shallow again, and the river gets a little wider. The place to cross would be right there where its starting to get shallow, but hasn't sped up too much. I would think that this is where anglers cross all the time to fish the hole. It seems to me that the best way to fish the hole might be from the south bank where you can cast to the edge of the lava shelf. The fish would like to come out of the hole and feed on insects at the edge of the shelf. I'm not a fly fisherman, but I would presume that any good fly fisherman that's done 9 mile hole has crossed the river right there and fished on the other side or near it. So it can't be that hard unless the river is raging. I'm sure its much easier in July and August, but what was the river like last June 5th? Was there a big snow run off last year? Even so, I would think that you do it at the right place, and you figure it out the first time, you may realize that you can do it safely. So your not scared to do it, even if it's June. I don't see this as a place you can easily drown - its just not very deep and it's not really that swift.

Forrest must of done it many many times, and had no doubt he could do it at 80 years old. He wouldn't have given it a second thought really.

[Vertigo]

In working to test this solve now, I think we should keep considering other possibilities for the home of Brown. I'll accept brown trout if it's proven, but I haven't found actual evidence yet. Also, consider that searchers would need to determine this spot with the poem/map/TTOTC. How would we arrive at Nine Mile Hole using just those tools?

Re: using just the poem/map/TTOTC

I didn't discuss methodology in the original post for fear of putting people to sleep, but here's a process I use repeatedly at each step of the poem:

EXPAND -- Broaden the scope to capture all possible answers. We need ALL possible answers in order to figure out the BEST one.
CONTRACT -- Narrow the possibilities by process of elimination. Often involves applying what I call the standard of "MOST SIGNIFICANCE"
REPEAT -- Change the frame of reference (sometimes this is drilling down). Expand and contract once again. May be performed multiple times.

Applying this to home of Brown (with the understanding that Brown in the poem is a name, not a color. That's why it's capitalized.)

EXPAND the frame of reference to be ALL of nature. Brown could only be something: geologic, hydrologic, flora, or fauna.

• Research the names of rocks, soil, minerals, etc. You can go very deep without finding anything named Brown. Certainly none that are abundant in Madison Valley.
• There are no named waterways (rivers, creeks, etc.) joining the Madison river between Junction and West Yellowstone. At most, there are some unnamed springs or draws with run off.
• Research the names of trees, bushes, plants, grasses, etc. You can go very deep without finding any named Brown. Certainly none that are abundant in Madison Valley.
• Research the names of animal species. You will find a couple that are named Brown. Brown Bear and Brown Trout are examples. (Not Bison, because it isn't named Brown Bison)

CONTRACT the possibilities as in the bullets above and only a couple of animal names fit.

Which one is most associated with Madison Valley? (i.e. apply the standard of MOST SIGNIFICANCE) The best fit is Brown Trout.

TTOTC confirmation is the chapter Flywater. The "hint" is the whole chapter, not a miniscule detail. (Similarly, the whole chapter "In Love with Yellowstone" is the hint for warm waters.)

Now, change the frame of reference to fishing holes on the Madison

EXPAND by identifying ALL the fishing holes on the Madison (Big Bend, Water Hole, Nine Mile Hole, Mt Haynes, Slow Bend, Low Riffle, Cable Run, Barns Holes, Greeny Deep, Willow Run, Beavers Meadows, Bakers Hole, etc.)

CONTRACT by identifying which of these possibilities fit the subsequent clues in the poem (no place for the meek, heavy loads, water high). The best fit is Nine Mile, mostly because of the heavy loads.

TTOTC confirmation is again in Flywater. Many of the holes we've considered are not mentioned there, or shown in photographs. But we have Forrest's father shown at Nine Mile Hole.

If you read the original post again, with an eye for this EXPAND & CONTRACT methodology, you'll see I used it for everything: warm waters, canyon, home of Brown, drawing nigh, etc.

Sorry if I've bored anyone with this discussion of methodology. The only thing more boring I can imagine is a lecture about cognitive bias. (Just kidding)

[Broken arrow]

I got a x marks the spot right up from 9 mile hole. But math of the grey F was no where to be found out there

[CardanoBlockchain]

I got a x marks the spot right up from 9 mile hole. But math of the grey F was no where to be found out there

The fake blaze maybe? Coordinates?

[Must Listengood]

Driving alongside Nine Mile. Estimated date of video is early to mid April, 2014.

0:00 Drive begins at Lower Nine Mile
0:45 Reaches the Upper end of Nine Mile

Great Video. Here is a still pic that shows everything:

[Broken arrow]

The fake blaze maybe? Coordinates?

[Vertigo]

Great Video. Here is a still pic that shows everything:

You might like these as well. Both are driving videos capturing all of Nine Mile

14:58 Start of Lower Nine Mile
15:26 Same perspective as the still you posted
15:55 The end of Upper Nine Mile

This next one is cool because it's a 360 degree video. You can change the camera view, zoom, etc.

01:48 Start of Lower Nine Mile
02:37 Video ends approaching the Upper Nine Mile pull-out for cars.

[nomadicMadman]

Me: Would it have been safe to take an 8-year old child with you to the treasure location on the day that you found the treasure?
Jack: Yes

I think I remember when I was eight years old. I tend to agree that an 8 year old could go to the location...if they are well behaved and a little adventurous.

[Must Listengood]

Those are great too. The 360 degree video is really nice, but it's a little too low resolution to pick up detail.

I think this is another possible place to cross, which is just downstream from lower 9 mile hole. It might be too silty, not sure, but otherwise I would probably give this a try. It looks pretty good on GE and also on this video:

[minotaur_moreno]

If someone can convince me that it would have been safe for an 8-year old child to cross the Madison River on June 5, then I'll consider your Nine Mile Hole solve to be a serious contender. So far I haven't seen anything.

I took my family to Yellowstone in mid-July of last year for 10 days. At the time, my daughter was 10 and my son 14.

For three of those 10 days we stayed in West Yellowstone, fished at Baker’s Hole, fished at Barns Hole, soaked in Ojo Caliente, swam in the Firehole, and checked out various places along the Madison in the park.

In mid-July, my 10 year old daughter with some, but definitely not life-threatening effort crossed the Madison at Barns Hole and the Firehole multiple times to the other side while we fished and swam. There’s no way I would have let her attempt it in May or June.

That said, I would imagine a healthy male who can swim well could pretty easily get across the Madison in early June.

Also, FWIW, we saw thousands of bison while we stayed in Cooke City and explored Lamar Valley for three days. We didn’t see a single bison on the Madison for three days while we were there.

[Vertigo]

Okay, here's the last one of these I'll post for now. Some adult and baby elk crossing at Upper Nine Mile Hole, just above the Upper Nine Mile car pull-out.

The adult elk breeze through, while the babies struggle a bit, but eventually make it.

[Must Listengood]

I have to say that helps convince me that it's not difficult at all. Put on a pair of waders, go across where it's not too deep and it's not much of a challenge, even for an 8 year old. It's not likely any deeper than about 30 inches. Of course you could cross where its too deep, too silty, or to swift, but I think that's partly why we have these instructions. You are going to be fine "below the HOB".

[Must Listengood]

Here's one thing that bother's me just a little: Wouldn't someone have seen Forrest crossing the river in 2010 and remember it? There are people all over in the summer - a constant stream going down the highway - wouldn't a man wading across the river kind of stand out in your memory if you thought back to that time? I guess not, but it would seem risky to cross there because someone might see you do it and remember it. Convince me that's just not realistic.

[thehomeofBrown.com]

Must Listengood If you don't mind swimming, you could cross safety at any of the slow moving areas. But I think wading is more what Forrest had in mind. There's is fisherman all along the Madison River so I don't think wading is particularly suspicious. Especially if you're going directly into the trees on the other side. Remember the story from TTOTC where Forrest was fearful of being seeing while shopping at "Border's"? Might be a hint.

Here was my solve for that area:

Begin it [your drive/your quest] where warm waters halt [Madison Junction] and take it [Madison River] in the [Madison] canyon down[stream], not far [to drive], but too far to walk. Put in [Cross at the pull out] below [downstream from] the home of Brown [fishing hole].

From there it’s no place for the meek [crossing The Madison River], the end is ever drawing nigh [left bank]; there’ll be no paddle up[stream] your [unnamed] creek, just heavy loads [downfall/scree field] and water high [source of creek].

If you’ve been wise ["choose wisely"] and found [identified] the blaze [something that stands out, but also blends in], look [search] quickly down [underneath the blaze], your quest to cease [you've finished the chase], but tarry scant [get out of there] with marvel gaze [after visually identifying the blaze], just take the chest [from X] and go in peace [cross back to where you parked].