In 2019, I hid a treasure chest and put clues in my book, Vikings, Ruins, and Buried Treasure. A fellow by the name of Brad Sturm cracked the clues and dug it up, several months later. The clues pointed to Arizona, just a mile or so outside of the Petrified Forest. It was buried next to my ramshackle RV. Now, we are doing it again! This time you won’t need to travel to the American West to look. The treasure chest might literally be in your neighborhood. We are doing several treasure hunts in our 3rd year of the magazine. All of the chests will be placed close to our magazine subscribers, the first one will be placed somewhere in Ohio, PA, or Indiana. The prize is a combination of gold and silver bullion, gift cards, and various merchandise (provided by our advertisers) that have a value of several thousand dollars. You will also get a custom-engraved plaque declaring you the winner, which you can display in your office or home. More details to come in the August issue.
Here is how the treasure hunt will work:
- There will be a list of clues for the first hunt, which kicks off in the August 2026 issue of Alaska Adventures and Beyond. There will be a page of obvious clues-but there will be subtle clues placed throughout the magazine. Readers who are familiar with Matt’s books will have an edge, as some of the clues might not make any sense without a knowledge of my past work.
- This time around, the chest will not be buried. It will simply be sitting under leaves, or a rotten log, or some sort of naturally occurring cover that can be easily removed or looked under.
- The chest will be on public land.
- When you find the chest, upon opening it you will find a code and a note with instructions on how to reach us to claim the prize.
There will be at least three treasure hunts in year three-as soon as one chest is found, we’ll kick off another. If it goes too long, we’ll just start the next treasure hunt and keep making the clues more obvious as we go.
Our goal is to have fun, help you have fun, and increase our magazine subscriptions with the treasure hunts. However, you do not need to be a subscriber to win. Simply borrow your friend’s magazine, figure out the clues, find the chest, and claim the prize! My books (Matt Snader) are available at many libraries, so you can read them for free, too. Despite the treasure hunt in Book 10 being over, it might be useful to give that book another read-it might help you understand my thought process.
If you purchased a treasure chest key, and other items for the previous hunt, they will also be useful in this one.
Happy Treasure Hunting! This kicks off with the August 2026 magazine. Subscribe today so you have the clues as soon as they are available! -Matt Snader
