2002 Allison Wonderland Mock Hunt

The coin was hidden just off of a running path as well as the area of the park not being a part of Phalen's main thoroughfare. Also refers to the weather conditions at the start of the hunt when melting snows were making large puddles and muddy messes. The coin was near one such depressed area where large puddles had gathered from the runoff of the adjacent hills. It also hints at the coin being disguised with mud. And of course it tells you it was in a St. Paul park.

The disc in question is U2's (you too) "The Joshua Tree" from which the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" originated. Keeping that disc in mind, but looking for another song (changing your tune), one of the songs on the CD is "One Tree Hill". Near the treasure's hiding location is a small hill with a single tree on it.

The coin, like someone lying in a barrow, was in a box and covered in dirt, yet was above ground level. So essentially this clue is telling you that if you're poor and want to find the treasure, to look for something disguised with dirt (or mud, depending on the weather that day). Also, picture 152 on the Treasure Hunter's Guide website pictures the hiding spot and has some birds (though admittedly not sparrows) in the frame.

This clue is primarily telling you that water (Lake Phalen) is visible from the hiding spot. It also tells you that the hiding spot of the coin is in a place where there isn't a lot of nearby traffic (Wheelock doesn't have that much and Ivy and Earl have almost none).

Can you believe it, there's actually 5 hints in this one. The use of the phrase "one way" is a reference to Ivy turning into a one way street near the treasure's hiding spot. The terrain near the hiding spot (as well as Phalen in general) has a lot of rolling hills and is kind of "bumpy". Near the hiding spot there is a group of fir trees. But also, a group of trees might be a forest and Forest St is the first street one encounters to the west of the hiding spot. And finally, a "stealth" clue in that it was there but there was nothing to call your attention to it other than perhaps the stilted language of the clue, the first letters of each line spell out CMHC (See MHC, the Minnesota Humanities Commission which is visible from the hiding spot).

This clue is basically just saying to stay in the vicinity, or rather "domain" of Earl St. as an earl is another type of noble.

General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was the Jackson who would help you solve this mystery as well as being the general whose moniker you needed to keep in sight. Which is to say that a stone wall was visible from the treasure's hiding spot.

The tiny deadbolt was the "key" to this clue. Another way of saying tiny deadbolt is "wee lock" which of course refers to Wheelock Parkway, the street to the north of the hiding spot. All the Irish references in the clue were meant to hint at the use of the word "wee".

"Not succeedin'" is the same as "failin'". Use a homophone and the last line then reads, "Cause your plan to get to the right park, it's Phalen." The southern sort of accent also hints at it being in the southern part of the park as well as hinting that to scour the land up north by Frost Ave. would leave you lost.

The plant with clinging parts is ivy, as suggested by the first letters of each line. Ivy is the street that borders the part of the park where the coin is on the south.

The treasure was basically right across from Wheelock from the main gate (so you didn't have to worry about it being closed at night) and was located almost on a perfect line extended from Clear Ave. Lining those two up as your axes, you should have been able to find the brushand weeds it was hidden in.

Basically just telling you where the treasure was, across Wheelock from the main gate in some tall grass and weeds there. "Digging it up" again refers to the box it is in being covered in dirt.