Cheryl Carlson was breaking her own rule Monday.
She and her daughter Sara were with dozens of other people searching for the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion in the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary near downtown St. Paul. They had been there on and off for several days, intrigued like other hunters by clues suggesting the $10,000 medallion would be in a new park visible from the newspaper’s new offices just across the Robert Street Bridge.
But they left the crowd early in the afternoon and struck out on their own.
“One thing I’ve learned from that stubborn lady is don’t leave the crowd,” Sara Carlson said of her mother’s No. 1 medallion-hunting rule. “And then she leaves the crowd.”
Nine clues into the hunt, the nature sanctuary still seemed to be the most popular spot Monday, but more people were spreading out after a weekend when the sanctuary was heavily searched but the medallion remained hidden.
The Carlsons left the sanctuary, but they didn’t go far. They took a walk to CHS Field to reconnect with “Chuck Finn,” a Charlie Brown statue that was suggested in Clue 5. The statue, designed for the 2001 “Charlie Brown Around Town” public art project, stands near the rear entrance of the new St. Paul Saints ballpark in Lowertown.
Sara Carlson looked at the statue and then walked toward the ballpark.
“Mom! He’s pointing at the ticket window!” she called.
Clue 7 mentioned a “Ticket in hand.”
Could the medallion be hiding in such a small and open space? It seemed unlikely, but they scratched around the ticket window and some nearby statues. Clearly other people had poked around before them, but no one was here now. They also walked along the garbage-strewn fence between the ballpark and the U.S. 52 entrance ramp, mindful that the medallion had been hidden near a freeway once and disguised as trash plenty of times.
They didn’t find it.
“Well, I’d rather come here and look than just think about it,” Cheryl Carlson said.
Back at Bruce Vento, the parking lot was still overflowing but some hunters were packing up to check out hunches at other parks.
A number of hunters shifted focus to Battle Creek Regional Park because of its dog park and the Clue 9 reference to dogs and pollywogs.
Ed Brodie was there with a couple of friends after hunting at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary a few days earlier. A lot of clues were pointing toward the sanctuary, he admitted, but after last year’s medallion was found in just five clues, he didn’t think the clue writer would make it that easy.
“I ruled Bruce Vento out after the fifth clue because of the fact it was so obvious,” Brodie, of Maplewood, said. “I knew they would be more obtuse this year.”
The Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt is presented by Fury Jeep. A new clue comes out every day until Feb. 4 or until the medallion is found. First editions of the newspaper with the next day’s clue are available about 11:30 p.m. at Gabe’s by the Park, 991 N. Lexington Parkway. Clues also are published at TwinCities.com/TreasureHunt about the same time.
Copyright 2016 Pioneer Press.