New treasure hunt comes to Arizona

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - If you’re still making plans and wondering what to do this weekend, how about a treasure hunt? The prize: 100 dollars.

A Montana man has released the clues to his first two Arizona locations of “You Find Treasure.”

“I’ve always been just kind of fascinated with the whole treasure-hunting thing,” founder Kyle Walby said.

But it wasn’t until the pandemic started that Walby decided to turn his interest into action. He spent months driving through the Rockies down to the desert. In the process, Walby buried 25 $100 bills in water-proof cases. Four of those bills are hidden in Arizona.

“This is all about fun,” he said. “It’s about families going out and just having a good time in the outdoors.” Included in Walby’s clues are GPS coordinates, a video of the surrounding area, and a few written hints.

“I haven’t really gotten any feedback yet with like knowing if the clues are going to be enough for people to actually find it,” Walby said. “Or if I’m going to have to slowly release more clues.”

To Walby’s knowledge, none of the treasures have been found at this time. To keep everyone updated on which treasures are discovered, Kyle’s offering an additional 50 dollars for anyone who confirms online they found the treasure. Some might be harder to find than others.

“Some treasures are literally off a road or a highway,” Walby said. “So you can kind of just drive right to them and once you figure them out they’re right there. Other ones are short hikes. And other ones are a little bit longer hikes.”

Eventually, Walby hopes to increase the prize money and potentially get picked up by a larger treasure hunt network. But considering he’s essentially a one-man operation right now (all of the $100 bills are coming out of his own pockets), the short-term goal is that people participate enough to keep this treasure hunt going. “I would just do it for as long as people are into it you know?” Walby said. “A hundred, two hundred, three hundred of them...I’d just keep on doing it for forever as long as it works.”

To start your treasure hunt, head to the You Find Treasure YouTube page for the clues.

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