NM Man: Want to find his hidden treasure worth millions?

A New Mexico multimillionaire wants you to get off the couch and go searching for hidden treasure. Forrest Fenn, 82, believes too many Americans spend their free time watching TV or playing video games. He hopes the bounty he hid — a chest filled with millions of dollars in gold coins, diamonds and emeralds, among other gems — will prompt some to explore the outdoors. "Get your kids out in the countryside, take them fishing and get them away from their little hand-held machines," he told TODAY. Fenn hid the chest in a secret spot three years ago with two goals in mind: Getting people to fall in love with America's scenic trails and passing on what he calls the "thrill of the chase," something he has experienced over more than seven decades of hunting for rare objects. "The Thrill of the Chase" is also the title of Fenn's self-published autobiography, which contains an unusual map to the treasure, a poem with 9 clues in it. "Begin it where warm waters halt, and take it in the canyon down, not far, but too far to walk," reads part of the poem. The chest, weighing in at over 40 pounds, contains items Fenn has accumulated over more than seven decades of a life that reads like an adventure novel. In the 1970s, the father of two opened Fenn Gallery on Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe. The family slept on a mattress on the floor, but eventually moved into a house complete with a home office for his objects, made by Southwestern tribes that he either dug up himself or purchased. "I never went to college, I never studied business, I never studied art," said Fenn in his studio, surrounded by perfectly organized rows of leather moccasins, pottery, beaded dolls and book-filled shelves. "I had imagination, I had guts that made my imagination worth something to me and I was willing to work."...more