You are just mad you came up short too. His solve is no different than any other solve, until someone has the chest in hand the fact is their solve is wrong too. That is of course assuming the whole chase is not bullshit in the first place (I think it is real, but you never know).
Like I said I do not own Briggs book nor do I think you need a cipher to decode anything! That said, he did not use a cipher on the poem or the clues, he made this pretty clear!
What I *DO* agree with Briggs is that the clues in the poem do NOT describe geographical locations. To find the treasure, I believe that you need to:
1. Find the 9 clues in the poem
2. Solve each of the 9 clues
3. Follow the clue solutions (answers) to locate the chest
If you did not have to solve the clues, the treasure would have been located already IMO.
Are the choices Briggs made for clues correct? Who knows, no chest yet!
Are the answers to the clues given by Briggs correct? Who knows, no chest yet!
Is a cipher used at any point? I tend to think NO, but Forrest is slick with his wording. Andy did not mess with the poem or the clues, he used it on the solutions to the clues.
One thing for sure, his solution points to areas near Cody WY, and his solution is not the only one that leads to this area. In fact, just off the top of my head (this is not my solution, I am just making a point):
1. Begin it where warm waters halt: It could be said that warm water halts in a reservoir, Upper Sunshine Reservoir could be the start
2&3. And take it in the canyon down, Not far, but too far to walk.: Drive south and follow Wood River Road which is in a canyon
4. Put in below the home of Brown: This could mean exit the road south of Brown Mountain
5&6. From there its no place for the meek, the end is ever drawing nigh: On Wood River Road, at Brown Mountain there is a ghost town named Kirwin, a ghost town is no place for the meek, note too that this is in HOT SPRINGS COUNTY which is a place where warm water halts
From here we will be heading east (to our left when facing south).
7. There will be no paddle up your creek, just heavy loads and waters high: Cascade Creek is here, if looking south it goes east (to your left). But since he might mean do not take the creek, instead go towards the Kirin Mine, which is left/east of Kirwin. Heavy loads and waters high could be a reference to the river (Wood River), or one of the unnamed lakes near the mine, and heavy loads could refer to the metals that came from the mine shaft(s). It could also mean cross over the Kirwin Bridge (a foot bridge) that heads east.
8&9: Locate the blaze...etc...
Like I said this is not my solve, I am just making a point that with just the poem, I can lead us to this area!
Other worthwhile things to mention:
+ The Earhart cabin is north of this area and relevent to Fenn
+ We know Fenn is familiar with this area, and all of Cody to the north
All I know is that Andrew Briggs is not the only person looking around this area! So I do not see the point in trying to bash him since NOBODY has come up with the chest yet! Using just the answers to the clues provided by Briggs, even without trying to use the Jefferson Cipher, could in fact lead you here. 44N, 109W have been mentioned plenty of times by other searchers.
The question is how to narrow down the fractional location, 44/109 is obviously a large area and Fenn stated that you would be confident and walk right to it, that to me means the poem is deep and is not going to take you exactly there without solving the meaning of each of the 9 clues. There are simply too many places where WWH's for example, and almost all of them will lead to some canyon down, with a river/creek going nigh, etc. etc... Remember: For those of you who take Fenn's word as gospel, he claims you need nothing but the poem (and GE or a map would help). In other words no history of Fenn at all! In fact, you do not even need to know the altitude, 4 states, Fenn's address (so many of you assume he didnt travel far from his home, well you are not supposed to know where he lives, it isnt relevant accoring to Fenn). With that said, it is IMPOSSIBLE to take the poem itself and walk to a chest, you MUST dig deeper and provide answers to the clues that will give you geographic locations that are precise!
Edit: If you really are a purist, use NOTHING but the poem and a map (or GE).
Forget everything you know about Fenn and his history, remember, no books/videos/scrapbooks/posts or anything should be needed BUT THE POEM. Forget his history with art and artifacts, forget his places of residence, forget his history with Inidan lore, forget altitudes, the Spanish, the books, the pictures, the ID cards, Vietnam, Flying, Age, Earhart, Arrows, Baseball cards, etc! If you are using any of that information, you are being a hypocrit if you bash Briggs for using a Cipher at all, even if it wasnt on the poem itself.
Decoding word meanings in Spanish and relating them to the poem is not much different than using a simple substitution or Vigenere cipher. Forrest said do not mess with the poem, he never said do not mess with the answers to the clues themselves.
If you do all the above, you will quickly realize that without the background information, the poem itself is vague at its surface! It is NOT that simple, it took 15 years to make, right? But I suppose with brute force, enough people and time, you can attempt thousands of solves and walk them all on foot, so technically you do not need it. But realistically, the poem is deep and will require intelligence and knowledge of various things in order to solve it!
Technically we should not even need to know the altitude range, or the 4 states, or that he said it was in the Rocky Mountains! NONE of that is in the poem! Right? If he died the day he wrote the poem, before the book even came out, someone should be able to hand you the poem (without even mentioning Fenn) and you should be able to locate the chest! Now that is a purist buddy, and if you want to quote Fenn go ahead, but remember all he said you need is THE POEM, A MAP and/or GE. NOTHING ELSE!
So why is it that nobody is a purist? LOL
So instead of having an adult conversation to discuss the validity of a solve, they would rather become condescending douchebags and troll the shit out of it! Ignore these fools (funny how one of them even has Fool in his name), they are just pissed off because after years of looking they have NOTHING to show for it either