A solve without the book!

I thought this was a pretty good solve, obviously, but I have come to realize that my own biases are keeping me from improving on it, or from even knowing if it is worth improving! Part of moving on is letting go. I have other ideas and places to explore! While this solve doesn't need the book, there are interesting connections nonetheless and I will include at least a few of them. You can add others.I hope it's at least an interesting read for the community! Here Goes!

Can you find what lives in time, Flowing through each measured ryhme?

My interpretation is that after you determine what lives in time, the 2nd part sets the rule for that answer. Therefore, it must then be a part of every measured ryhme afterwards. The answer, for me, was history lives in time, and the specific history is the Lewis and Clark expedition up the Missouri.

Wisdom waits in shadowed sight- For those that read these words just right.

My expectation is that this sets the starting location. For me, and in keeping with the history and rule set in the beginning, the starting point is the Wisdom river as named by Lewis and Clark. It is hidden in shadowed sight due to its original name being replaced by the new name Big Hole river, and therefore needs to be uncovered. But where along the Wisdom/Big Hole river? The 2nd part of the ryhme "just right", indicates its at the far eastern end, at least when using the traditional orientation of the compass and map.

As hope surges, clear and bright, Walk near waters' silent flight.

In literature, possibly the most used celestial symbol of "hope" is the North Star. The North Star doesn't move in the sky, whether it's daylight or night, it's always in the same spot, a constant that is always there. Surge can be defined as a rapid increase in intensity. As night falls, it goes from invisible to visible in a short period of time. A surge of brightness. Flight can be interpreted as escape. Here the water is escaping as it flows downstream. For me then, the full interpretation of this ryhme is to head north from the Wisdom river, sticking close to the water as it flows into the Jefferson in its continued escape.

Round the bend, past the Hole, I wait for you to cast your pole.

The Hole, in this case, is a reference to the valley now called the Big Hole, for which the river gets its eventual name. It was common vernacular during the pioneering days to refer to any valley as a hole. The Wisdom river defines the Hole in this case. When you leave the Wisdom river and join the Jefferson, you are leaving the Hole. My interpretation then is that your walk from the previous ryhme takes you round the first bend of the Jefferson river, north, past where the Wisdom river joined it, which is also where the Hole ends, “past the Hole.”

The next part of the ryhme was tricky but critical to the rest of my solve. First some background. There is a story from the L&C expedition where Lewis was ahead of Clark and first started up the Wisdom river. He realized this was not going to be correct, so he backtracked and left a note on a pole back up the Jefferson, at their last campsite, for Clark, so that he wouldn't make the same mistake. However, Clark never saw this note because a beaver gnawed down the pole. This led to a nearly disastrous trip up part of the Wisdom river for Clark. Secondly, a big part of what Clark was doing was surveying. He used a pole and a 2-pole chain, a chain pole as a unit of measure being 16.5 feet, to measure bearings and angles as well as other things. With this knowledge, "to cast your pole" can easily be interpreted as "to survey". If you use that interpretation using the location of the pole with the note left by Lewis back at the campsite, along with where you end up after rounding the bend, then determining that angle, you get approximately 27°. This was the angle I started with. I used the angle as an offset to establish where my new North was. That is from another interpretation of "cast your pole". Quickly, for the sake of brevity, think of it like casting a role for a movie. Cast your Romeo, cast your villain, etc. Anyway, on my compass then, the cardinal directions at this point in the poem would be N(27°), S(207°), E(117°), and W(297°). This helps with making it AI proof too. There is some room for interpretation of this angle, but it is easily within a half of a degree. As for the location of the campsite, I use the roadside sign that approximates its location. Since I use Google Earth, any marker it places as a location of any place, is where I make my measurements to. For example, if I measure to Victorio peak, I use the marker Google Earth places for Victorio Peak for distances and angles. It is the only way to make things equal and the same for everyone.

In ursa east his realm awaits; His bride stands guard at ancient gates.

Tricky, but I have cast my pole! Ursa east, to me, means north east. NE on my compass would be 72° (45+27). At 71° from my location at the end of the previous stanza, I hit the Google marker precisely for the Bridger Range. His realm. The largest peak in the Bridger Range is Sacagawea Peak, his bride. She also guards ancient gates, the Gates of the Mountains. Next to the Gates of the Mountains, and overlooking it, is Sacagawea Mountain. So, this gives us 2 important locations, Sacagawea Peak and Sacagawea Mountain.

Her foot of three at 20 degree, Return her face to find the place.

Trickier! But there is a 3rd Sacagawea named peak in Montana, Sacagawea Peaks. This is actually 3 peaks. Sacagawea Peaks used to be called "The Three Sisters" before it was renamed in the early 2000's. Determining the foot of a mountain is extremely complicated. There are several ways to do it and they all produce different areas. Very inexact! However, there is a geometric "foot" which is defined as the point at the base of a perpendicular line that originates on a triangle side and bisects the opposing vertex. So, forming a triangle using Sacagawea Peak, Sacagawea Mountain, and Sacagawea Peaks, we can determine the location of the geometric foot of the triple peak called Sacagawea Peaks, "Her foot of three"! The remaining parts of these ryhmes do 2 things. One is to get you to the location at the start of the next stanza, and two, to give you a way to confirm that you are at the right place! A ton happens in this stanza! But, before I continue on, some notes on using Google Earth and accuracy. Google earth distances follow the curvature of the Earth as if at sea level. When trying to calculate angles between points, it still treats it as the same curved surface. Consequently, it can only give the initial bearing from the point of origin since the angle would slowly change due to the curve. Also, there is error inherent due to the decimal limitations on Google Earth. It may not seem like a lot, but over a distance of 200 km, it's about 120 meters. A pretty big target. I went down several rabbit holes pursuing better accuracy. A total waste of time! You can determine the geometric foot just using trial and error on Google Earth and be accurate enough. Anyway, the "20 degree" is the angle from the location of the place you find when you "return her face." So where is that? We have 3 named peaks, all with Sacagawea's name. Sacagawea was from Idaho. An area in the present day Lemhi Valley on the Idaho side of Sacagawea Peaks. Her tribe regularly hunted and gathered food from the present day Montana, all the way to the Three Rivers area. They would regularly traverse the pass we call Lemhi Pass to reach this area. When Sacagawea was younger she was kidnapped by the Hidatsa Indians and taken to their tribal home in present day North Dakota. She was initially so valuable to the L&C expedition because she knew the area they were headed to and where they could get through the mountains. Lemhi Pass marks the boundary of her native lands as well, so when she gets there she will have returned to her native lands after several years. For me, "return her face to find the place" means to return Sacagawea to her tribal homeland which happens the instant you reach Lemhi Pass. The place. As a check, however you do the geometric "foot of three", the angle from Lemhi pass to that foot will range from 19.6 degrees to 20.2 degrees. That easily satisfies the "20 degree" check. As a reminder I continue to use my offset of 27°, so 20° on my compass is 47°.

Double arcs on granite bold. Where secrets of the past still hold.

Well, we are now at Lemhi Pass. If you have never been there, its largely a big open area of sage brush At first this doesn't make sense. Where is the granite? Well this was a fun one! There is granite! Hiding in plain sight! In this large open area there sits one very "bold" piece of bright white granite all by itself, the Lemhi Pass boulder! I also think this is what Justin was referring to when he talked about a possible debate over something being man-made or not in the hunt. Here we have a natural rock with man-made carvings on it. However you interpret "double arcs,” I think this would satisfy it. Whether it's curves of a circle like "SS", or story arcs like Sacagaweas' story arc or that of L&C etc., or even the arcs of natural features, the Missouri River starts on one side and the Columbia River starts on the other. An interesting connection to G&G is that the rock sits adjacent to the Waterton Valley Trail! A very strongly hinted clue in the series. Anyway, this boulder of granite is my interpretation of this measured ryhme.

Beyond the reach of times swift race, Wonder guards this sacred space.

There are several ways to think of "beyond the reach of time." Any event that has happened in the past is no longer changeable by time continuing to race by. Things like history, death, etc. Another thing could be the universe itself, possibly, since time began with the universe and only exists as long as the universe exists. It could be interpreted also to mean something that changes very slowly over time, like the stars or even mountains and rivers. There is some subjectivity in how it's interpreted. For me, the sacred space that is beyond the reach of times swift race is the the memorial to Sacagawea's life which is found just below Lemhi Pass on the Montana side. Also there is a spring located there that the L&C expedition found called "The Most Distant Fountain." They believed at the time that it was the headwaters of the Missouri River, it's furthest navigable point. A possible connection with the book is the trail there called "Wildflower Trail," a 1 mile loop. "Pressed like wildflowers...." blah blah.

Truth rests not in clever minds, Not in tangled twisted finds.

What I took this to mean was that at this point, stop analyzing things. Accept where you are to be correct. You won't have to go crashing through the woods and brush. Relax. I honestly feel this was a weak analysis and also breaks my rule. This part needs improving.

Like a river's steady flow- What you seek you already know.

What I was seeking was a path to the treasure location, and apparently, according to the poem, I already had found that path! There must be something where I was that was exactly "like a river's steady flow!" And there was! The stream from the "Most Distant Fountain" flowed like a miniature version of the mighty Missouri it fed! All I had to do was to follow the stream (path) to the treasure! Alas, I took nothing home other than the thrill of the hunt and the memories shared with family and friends. Worth it! I hope someone can find something in here that helps them with their hunt. Have fun!