Explanations for the 2025 Nevada Day Treasure Hunt Clues

Clue No. 1
The Hunt begins, so join the fest,
It’s clue time here in the Wild Wild West.
Bring all your smarts, and lots of cheer,
Adventure and fun are waiting this year!

Explanation: This clue welcomes Treasure Hunters to the 2025 Hunt, and gives a nod to the theme of this year’s Nevada Day Parade, Wild, Wild, West!

Clue No. 2
Let’s pledge to seek with care not greed,
To honor the land in word and deed.
Respect the ground, leave all as it stands,
The treasure is hidden on public lands.

No digging the earth, no breaking apart,
No climbing on walls or leaving a mark.
No prying at doors, no trespass in kind,
The treasure awaits you, now to find.

Explanation: This clue serves as a gentle but essential reminder for all treasure hunters to respect Nevada’s lands, wildlife, and communities. Each year, the Hunt invites participants from across the state to explore Nevada’s rich history and wide-open spaces – but with that adventure comes responsibility. The treasure is always hidden on public land, never on private property, and hunters must never dig, damage, or disturb the environment in any way.

The Nevada Day Treasure Hunt celebrates curiosity, not carelessness, calling each participant to seek with integrity and leave every place as it was found. Together, searchers help ensure the Hunt remains safe, ethical, and welcome in every Nevada community for years to come. 

Clue No. 3

Not the halls where laws proclaim,
Nor in the valley of bustle and game.
Seek instead where plains stretch wide,
And basin winds through silence glide.

Explanation: This clue steers hunters away from Nevada’s busy cities. The “halls where laws proclaim” refer to Carson City, the state capital, while the “valley of bustle and game” points to Reno, famous for its casinos and lively atmosphere. Together, these lines remind searchers that the treasure isn’t hidden in well-known places. Instead, this clue guides them toward the quiet beauty of Nevada’s open spaces – where wide plains stretch out and desert winds move through peaceful basins and tells them to look far from the noise and lights of the city and explore the state’s more remote and tranquil landscapes.

Clue No. 4

She leaps with grace, the crowd adored,
Her victory claimed upon the board.
No treasure lies deep within this pool,
To linger here makes fortune cruel.

Explanation: This clue honors Krysta Palmer, the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist springboard diver from Douglas County, Nevada. It celebrates her remarkable grace, determination, and the pride she brought to her community through her success on the world stage. Yet, despite the reference to her achievements, the clue reminds hunters that the treasure is not located in Douglas County and steers them onward in their Northern Nevada quest.

Clue No. 5

It began where the blue commands the grounds
Now walks the gold of slumbered rounds
Turn toward the rim where shadows Comb,
The treasure lies beneath the dome.

Explanation: This clue draws on Nevada’s military history while blending color symbolism and direction into its guidance. It begins with a nod to the U.S. Navy, whose official color is blue, and its Ammunition Depot in Hawthorne, established in 1930 in Mineral County. The reference to gold and “slumbered rounds” reflects the later transition to Army control, whose colors are gold and black, and the quiet presence of stored munitions. 

“Turn toward the rim where shadows comb” directs hunters northward, toward the ancient shoreline of Lake Lahontan, whose rim still traces the high desert in Churchill County. There, sunlight and shadow comb across the basin floor like the waves that once filled it. “Beneath the dome” completes the image, guiding seekers under Nevada’s vast blue desert sky, where history, endurance, and horizon meet.

Clue No. 6 

His cornflakes froze and then went to sog,
He stiffened there like a withered log.
The Prince of Darkness danced on his tomb,
And the treasure rests where the desert blooms.

Explanation: This clue recalls miner Cyrus Kellog of the Stillwater area in Churchill County, whose name playfully connects to the mention of “cornflakes.” In the winter of 1894, townspeople discovered Kellog frozen upright against a tree and had to thaw his body before burial, a story recorded in forgottennevada.org. Kellog owned six claims known as the Black Prince Mines on the ridge above Cox’s Canyon, about twenty miles from Stillwater. Following his burial, locals held a lively dance remembered as “the greatest funeral and finest dance” in Churchill County. The closing imagery reminds participants that the treasure lies somewhere in the desert landscape of Churchill County.

Clue No. 7

Our valley sage once went this way,
With wheat in the fields and left stories to stay.
From caves to great fossils the relics define,
A legacy marked by pinyon pine.

Explanation: Our valley sage recalls a past clue honoring Wuzzie George, the Northern Paiute cultural teacher whose guidance we’ve celebrated before. Here, she appears again because she was a close friend of Margaret Wheat, the central figure of this clue. “With wheat in the fields” plays on Fallon’s farm country and on Wheat’s name, pointing to her work documenting local caves (such as Hidden Cave) and championing preservation of the area including the Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park. Margaret Wheat was recently honored by the planting of pinyon pine planted at Rancho San Rafael, tying friendship, place, and memory together. Taken as a whole, the clue directs hunters to focus their search in Churchill County.

Clue No. 8

A pole once held more than a wire,
It bore the weight of a mob’s desire.
No key was struck, no message spread,
The line fell silent and he swung dead.

Explanation: This clue reaches back to one of Churchill County’s darkest days—the 1905 lynching in the railroad town of Hazen. Red Wood, accused of killing a saloon owner during a drunken quarrel, never faced a judge. Before the law could act, a mob stormed the jail, dragged him into the cold night, and hanged him from a telegraph pole that once carried messages across the West. The wires went silent, and justice never came.

For treasure hunters, this clue marks a turning point. It is the first to reveal the greater corridor they should follow  – the historic path of the transcontinental telegraph and the neighboring Pony Express and Overland routes that stitched the West together. Those who trace that line through Churchill County will be moving ever closer to the treasure’s trail.

Clue No. 9

There once were some kin from the Isle,
Who guided the hunters in style.
When pumpkins appear,
The proof will be near,
And banshees burn gold with a smile.

Explanation: This clue tips its hat to the Irish roots of the family behind the Hunt and to the rich farming legacy that runs deep through Churchill County. The “kin from the Isle” are the McKees, whose heritage gives this annual adventure its spark of mischief and heart. When the pumpkins appear and Nevada Day rolls around, hunters know the season is upon them. The hint of “proof” leads to Frey Ranch, where fifth generation Nevada farmers have turned golden grain into fine whiskey – a nod to both discovery and distilling. And when “banshees burn gold,” it’s the Irish spirit shining through the amber glow of Frey’s craft, grounding this clue in the fertile lands and proud history along the old Overland route.

Clue No. 10

Beneath wide skies so vast and fair,
The land was carved with strength laid bare.
Through time’s long course, the scars still view,
Where paths converge and meet half true.

Explanation: This clue points the treasure hunter further east to the Fairview Fault, where the desert still bears the scars of the 1954 Fairview Peak earthquake. Those fault scarps remain among the most visible in the nation, reminders of the power beneath Nevada’s wide skies.  If you follow this State Route 361 (Faultline Road)  south, the exposed fault line is clearly visible in several places. Interpretive signs along the road provide more information. Meanwhile, “Where paths converge and meet half true” refers to the historic Overland Trail that once passed through the Edwards Creek Valley, near where modern roads now meet and cross at Middlegate. This was a key route for stagecoaches and the Overland Mail service – paths of travel and communication that connected the early settlers of the Great Basin.

Clue No. 11

By morning glow, your path is drawn,
Two grazers fell and time moved on.
Seek next where dawn finds new space, 
And weary wheels once cooled their pace.

Explanation: This clue leads hunters further east toward Eastgate, Nevada, a quiet landmark along the historic route that once connected the heart of Churchill County to the central valleys beyond. The opening line, “By morning glow, your path is drawn,” points eastward toward Eastgate itself, while the next recalls a somber Eastgate tale from 1967, when two cows were trapped inside the oldest house in town and starved before being found. The final lines turn attention further east to Cold Springs Station, a historic stop for the Pony Express. Both Eastgate and Cold Springs are rich with Nevada history, the clue draws hunters east, guiding the search onward along the corridor where stories and trails once intertwined.

Clue No. 12 

First over Isthmus the good news would roam,
Then jackass and jockey brought it all home.
The world spun faster, silver strands held the key,
Now borne through the heavens, costly not free.

Explanation: This clue traces the long journey of communication across the American West, showing how speed and invention reshaped connection. The opening line recalls the early days when mail from the East Coast to Nevada had to travel by ship through the Isthmus of Panama—a slow and perilous route. The next line shifts to the rugged overland era, when the Jackass Express and the Pony Express carried letters across desert and mountain. “Silver strands held the key” marks the coming of the transcontinental telegraph, whose thin wires bound the nation together at last.

The closing line brings the story into the modern age, when messages now travel through the air and across the heavens—instant, costly, and far removed from the dusty trails where it began.   The Jackass Express – (read up on this, it is fascinating); the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph all passed through Cold Springs Station, and nearby this year’s treasure! 

Clue No.13

Two trails entwined, a single thread,
Where stone stands guard for the long since dead.
The walls now crumble, yet echoes show,
The passing lives from long ago.

Explanation: This clue leads hunters to the ruins of Cold Springs Station, one of the best-preserved stops along the Pony Express and Overland Mail routes. “Two trails entwined, a single thread” recalls how these historic lines once ran side by side through Nevada’s central desert, carrying first riders and then telegraph messages across the frontier. The “stones that stand guard for the long since dead” describe the weathered remains of the station and the lonely graves nearby, silent witnesses to those who braved the passage west.

The nearby telegraph lines also marked the end of the Pony Express, as messages that once took days by horseback could now travel instantly through wire and code. From that same network, Nevada’s statehood was transmitted to Washington, D.C., by telegraph in 1864, forever linking the Silver State to the Union. Cold Springs stands as a reminder of that turning point, where progress replaced distance and history found its voice.

Clue No. 14

Your kids have it right with six……seven,
A score and five to keep the quest revvin’
The post mirrored twice, ‘neath the desert sun,
Near an iron rose, your search is done.

Explanation: This clue steers hunters toward the final stretch of their journey along Highway 50. The first lines, “Your kids have it right with six…seven” and “A score and five (25) to keep the quest revvin’,” point to Churchill County Mile Marker 67 at Middlegate, then add twenty-five miles—guiding searchers to Churchill County Mile Marker 92 where the treasure is hidden.  “The post mirrored twice” references historical marker number 111 of Edwards Creek Valley, the hidden heart of the hunt. The “iron rose” is a poetic nod to the barbed wire fencing that lines the desert highway, marking the landscape’s rugged beauty and boundaries. Taken together, the clue directs hunters eastward from Middlegate toward Edwards Creek Valley, where the open sage and wire fences frame the place where Nevada’s story—and the treasure—come to rest.

Clue No. 15

did Dead Sally Ever Wreck a clue,
Or twist and scramble till it read anew?
Eighty paces from the sign,
A sagebrush cradle, the treasure you’ll find!

Explanation: This final clue ties the entire hunt together with a clever twist. The phrase “Dead Sally Ever Wreck” hides a secret in plain sight—a perfect anagram for Edwards Creek Valley, where the treasure rests near the historical marker along Highway 50. True to the Hunt’s tradition of wordplay and misdirection, the clue invites hunters to unscramble the name and uncover the valley that has threaded through the story all along.  Once the sign for Edwards Creek Valley is found, the directions turn precise: walk eighty paces from the marker. There, in a natural cradle of sagebrush beneath Nevada’s endless sky, the treasure awaits discovery—proof that patience, wit, and a sharp eye for hidden meaning lead to victory at last.