$50K Bitcoin Shed Hunt: Clues Cracked

Shed Regs map layer

This one is straight forward. The Hidden Shed wasn't going to be hidden anywhere you legally couldn't look for it. This was highlighted by the Shed Regs layer in the App for shed-specific closures and restrictions. Anywhere in the green regions was open to hunting for the Hidden Shed at the time this Clue was given.

BLM map layer

This was a simple one, but it was very important to know that it was on BLM land. This quickly eliminated other publicly managed lands.

Elevation Bands layer: Range 4,500 - 6,000ft

The elevation range of 4,500 - 6,000ft is the turquoise color you needed to see on your map. 

UnPaved™ layer: Rough off-road class

The Hidden Shed was placed near the Fifty Mile Bench road which is classified as Rough in the UnPaved™ layer. Rough is defined as:

"Mountain or valley roads often wide enough for a truck. Possibly maintained, most likely used enough to be established as a clear road."

The distance given in the Clue was tricky due to the ambiguity of "give or take a foot or few". The exact distance was .68 of a mile. Relative to the remaining Clues and the compounding effect of their additional details, we intentionally provided a vague, yet still meaningful Clue on the distance from the off-road.

1. Colorado Plateau
2. Kaiparowits Plateau
3. Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits (Mule Deer Hunt Unit) or Plateau, Barney Top/Kaiparowits (Elk Unit)

The Hidden Shed was located on all 3 of these plateaus as they are officially classified/named. The tricky part was thinking about how that would make sense in the App.

This one was tough, but being such an early Clue it wasn't intended to be easy. It was a long shot, but if it were solved it would have provided a huge head start.

The Tribal Land layer

Up until this Clue there was no clear indication as to which state the Hidden Shed was in out of the eight. The Navajo reservation is located in AZ, NM, and UT, thereby eliminating five states from consideration.

No code to crack here. We just wanted to make sure you knew this was legit! Along with all the observable details in this close-up ATL.

It's not in Elk country.

We know, we could have given a hint to use the Game Ranges layer. We just wanted to let you flex your hunting experience.

Now there are more ways than one to assess whether you're in elk country. But the quick route would have been to look at the Game Ranges layer and notice where the Elk ranges did not cover, such as the Elk Winter Range. This doesn't provide much insight alone, but in conjunction with the remaining Clues, it eliminates a lot more country in question.

Two things: proximity to the Colorado River, and subsequently, Arizona and Utah are the only states left to consider.

Prior to this, it was down to AZ, NM, and UT. But the Colorado River doesn't pass through NM. At this point, nine Clues are available to reevaluate AZ and UT with the river being the focal point.

Slopes layer: North slopes

Game Ranges: Winter - Mule Deer

Winter Ranges are a solid starting point for shed hunting. Relative to the previous ten Clues, there are only a few Winter Ranges that fit all ten.

Vegetation Layer: Pinyon/Juniper

If you know the region then this is obvious, but for everyone else this was a an additional Clue to narrow down where to focus your efforts.

GMUs Layer: Elk and Mule Deer

"Elk Divide, Deer United"

The Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits (Mule Deer Hunt Unit) is divided into two units for Elk (Plateau, Barney Top/Kaiparowits and Plateau, Boulder)

--

"Opportunities decided not all provided. Many delighted, but few be guided"

Hunting opportunities (tags) are not always provided, but for a general unit, such as Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits, it is more likely that a tag will be drawn compared to a Limited Entry unit such as the Plateau, Barney Top/Kaiparowits and the Plateau, Boulder units. Generally, few would seek to hire a guide to hunt mule deer on the Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits unit.

Overall these first two parts are referring to hunt units (GMUs layer), and particularly the Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits due to the relation to Clue #5 and Clue #8.

--

"Although, some have recited monsters have presided."

This was another tricky one, as it could have easily referred to the fossils in the region. But it was in fact subtly referring to an even greater monster: the Buck of Justice - whose set of sheds were found around Fiftymile mountain.

"A supreme judge claims this bench in the courts of calcium."

A supreme judge in the United States Supreme Court is called a Justice. But in the courts of calcium (antlers) the Buck of Justice is the supreme judge. Justices sit on a bench. The Buck of Justice claims the Fiftymile bench.

--

"In inches we have a centenary precedent by axiom."

In inches we measure/score antlers.

Centenary is defined as: of or relating to a period of 100 years.

Axiom is defined as: a self-evident truth that requires no proof.

In other words, the Buck of Justice set a 100-year precedent for monster mulies. Just looking at his set of sheds alone was enough to know he ruled the land.

--

"But the dime is found by halving that time, for by miles one will have smiles sublime."

The dime = the prize money

Halving = taking half of something

In this case halving that time is referring to the centenary period previously mentioned or 100, which equals 50. But the unit of measure is not 50 years, rather by miles one will have smiles sublime, or 50 miles.

The Buck of Justice on Fiftymile (also known as the Straight Cliffs of the Kaiparowits Plateau).

--

"The Hint: Blue off-roads on every side. It's hard to miss if you have solved this list."

With the other Clues (layers) applied, particularly the UnPaved™ layer, we can see the primary section of the Fiftymile Bench that should have been focused on. Given that only a portion of the Elevation Band overlaps with the Winter Mule Deer range, in addition to the North Slopes, and sitting closest to Fiftymile Bench Road relative to the surrounding roads, this hint really narrowed it down if you were already searching Fiftymile Bench.