Eighteen bold letters, preserved in a clearing, sight a dark room’s view of brave surfers reeling.
From dry ruin’s gate to solar’s tall mast, chart a historic cross — the start of one’s path.
These are the first lines of a rhyming riddle, posted two days ago on r/sanfrancisco, that kicked off a city-wide treasure hunt.
“We always figured treasure hunting would feature more heavily in life,” the anonymous authors announced. “Right alongside quicksand and tattered rope brides.”
So they made it happen themselves. To their astonishment, though, San Francisco harbors extremely efficient treasure hunters. Within 12 hours, the treasure had been found.
The riddle posted to Reddit. Photo: r/sanfrancisco
An ominous riddle led treasure hunters to Sutro Baths
“Omg I totally could have gotten the clues to Sutro Baths if I had seen this!” I texted my editor after skimming the riddle for the first time. As a San Francisco native who grew up with a copy of the famous Sutro Baths painting on my father’s wall, I put high stock in my ability to parse clues leading towards it.
To trace the true route, venture only at night: to be certain of bearing, you’ll need pack a light.
In the steadfast basin, where feet part and agree, dig a shovel’s depth down– you’ll find the treasure you seek.
A basin, swimmers, the idea of dry ruins: All of it seemed to lead to the abandoned wreckage of Sutro Baths, which burned down in 1966.
The post on r/sanfrancisco went viral hours after its premiere. Other San Franciscans came to the same conclusion I did and swarmed the ruins of Sutro Baths.
Every San Franciscan knows this painting of Sutro Baths from about 1896. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Meanwhile, 9km away…
Three friends and their dog thought differently. The men, who all work in tech, and the dog, who presumably doesn’t, decided to work carefully through the whole riddle.
“ We figured that the reference to Sutro Baths was probably a red herring, both because it’s too difficult to conceal digging and it’s also too highly trafficked,” said TJ Lee, one of the three men, in an interview with NPR.
Other treasure hunters had ignored the opening line eighteen bold letters, preserved in a clearing. Instead, this group made the connection to the India Park Basin. There, the remnants of a large concrete sign lie disused. Eighteen concrete letters in a bold face.
This sign overlooking India Basin Park now lies in disrepair. Photo: Sean Karlin
As it happens, near the letters sits a strange San Francisco landmark. A vintage-colored building overlooks the surf, and its brave surfers reeling: the Camera Obscura, or dark room.
Underneath the Camera Obscura sits the ruin of another historical saltwater pool. Like Sutro Baths, years of neglect doomed Fleishhacker Pool long before its official demise, in this case due to a storm.
So the crumbling entrance to Fleishhacker gave dry ruin’s gate. “For those looking at Sutro Baths, we’d note that those ruins are still quite wet,” wrote the treasure hunt authors in their solution manual.
Onward to the treasure
The Point of Infinity sundial sculpture on Treasure Island, visible from the coast, slotted neatly into place as solar’s tall mast. Then the riddle instructed the hunters to chart a historic cross — the start of one’s path.
The four locations above formed the points of this historic cross. And at their center, X marked the spot. The three friends and their dog dug a shovel’s depth down on the coastal West Ridge Trail before hitting something hard.
Only 12 hours had passed since the start of the hunt, and the treasure had been found. Within it: $10,000 worth of historical San Francisco artifacts, gold ingots, and historical currency.
The treasure chest, victoriously found. Photo: TJ Lee
“It’s validating to be like, ‘I know San Francisco well enough’ that we were able to find this in the first spot we checked,” team member Austin Theriault told NPR.
As for the hunt’s organizers? They’re staying anonymous, since they aren’t sure if what they did was entirely legal. But according to NPR, they aren’t the kind of rich tech bros for whom the city is infamous.
“It was a non-insignificant amount of savings,” they admitted.
The city loved them for it.
