Seeking out literal “hidden gems” — how hunting for buried treasure in San Francisco inspired me to get off the beaten path

Someone buried a treasure chest with $10,000 in it in San Francisco. 

I stopped mid-scroll — this couldn’t be real. But the SF Chronicle article I was reading confirmed it: an anonymous group of friends had buried a treasure chest filled with $10,000 worth of gold coins and posted a mysterious set of clues online. 

Already, people had started to decode the clues. I quickly found Reddit threads and social media posts ablaze with SF residents comparing theories about potential treasure locations. And yet it had been nearly 2 weeks, and no one had found the treasure. 

So that Saturday morning, I did what anyone with a penchant for whimsy and adventure would do. I grabbed a shovel and a coffee, and headed off in search of the buried treasure. 

What follows is a story of rediscovering hidden gems in my own city (even though I didn’t find the literal hidden gems I originally sought) and seeing neighborhoods I’d never gone to before, all in search of some mysterious Atlantis. Plus, how this adventure is going to affect the way that I travel.

My first stop: Ina Coolbrith Park

The clues were long, written in Shakespearean English, and incredibly difficult, but a few lines stood out. According to people on the popular Reddit thread dedicated to decoding the puzzle, “minute steps climb” could refer to somewhere in the city with roughly 60 steps. 

The “heavenly island” that towers over a “derelict ward” could be San Francisco’s very own Angel Island and Alcatraz Island — the latter our famous defunct prison, now one of the most popular tourist stops in the city. 

These two clues together — a park with lots of steps where you can see Alcatraz backdropped by Angel Island — pointed to a few places, but one that kept coming up in the thread: Ina Coolbrith Park in Russian Hill. 

Ina Coolbrith is a little park with big views that overlooks all of downtown San Francisco. 

Through the 5 years I’d lived in San Francisco, I’d created a litany of excuses for why I didn’t like to trek over to Russian Hill — it’s too hilly, it’s too far, I’d have to take not just one but two buses to get there. So even though I’d heard rave reviews for Ina Coolbrith Park plenty of times, I’d never gone.

I bravely took the required 2 buses over there (a very easy feat), courageously climbed the nearly 90-degree hill (only 3 blocks), looked out over the view (stunning), and reluctantly admitted that I was happy to be there. 

It was a classic San Francisco day — temperate, slightly windy, with the city draped in a dramatic fog. I admired the park while I took in the views: unique native plants, carefully manicured yet still wild. I thought briefly how nice it must be to live near the park and be able to come here on your lunch break. Your own little urban oasis. 

But no time to dilly-dally; I had treasure to find! The clues said to “take a seat,” and sure enough, I noticed a bench at the top of the park with a perfect view over Alcatraz and Angel Island. There were visible holes in the dirt around the bench, so I had the sense that treasure-seekers before me had already tried. 

I spent about an hour poking around the dirt with my small hand shovel that I had brought from my at-home kit of gardening supplies. But eventually, with nary a gold coin found, I admitted defeat. 

As I left the park and walked around the neighborhood to my next treasure-seeking destination, Russian Hill slowly began to endear itself to me. Look, there was Macondray Lane, the small cobblestone path that was the inspiration for Maupin’s Tales of the City series. And here, according to Google Maps, was the childhood home of baseball player Joe DiMaggio. 

It was like my senses had been heightened from the very intentional act of seeking the treasure. I was primed to noticing. Suddenly, I was paying attention to all the new things all around me, and my treasure hunt turned into an exploration of a new space. 

At a certain point, the act of traipsing about Russian Hill — walking up narrow staircases, through small hilltop parks, down streets I’d never walked — began to feel like I was traveling. 

One of my favorite things to do when I visit a new city is to just spend my days walking around different neighborhoods. And here I was, doing exactly that less than 20 minutes from my house. 

This got me thinking: how can we incorporate some kind of treasure hunting into our travels, to force us off the beaten path? So that we’re not just walking the same routes, to the same tourist attractions, in the same cities as everyone else?

Then it hit me — that already exists. It’s called geocaching. 

Geocaching: the real-life treasure hunting 

Enter the most obvious example: geocaching! 

Geocaching bills itself as the “world’s largest treasure hunt.” The premise is simple — you can download an app or visit the website, see the approximate locations of hundreds of hidden “geocaches,” and access maps with clues that guide you to each of them. 

The geocache itself is a small box, typically well-hidden, with a small treasure inside. The absolute best part of geocaching is finding out what’s inside the box that you’ve just spent hours looking for! 

Often, the treasure inside has been left by someone else who found that box, so you also get to exchange small items — taking a truly unique souvenir with you, and leaving something of your own behind. It’s cross-cultural exchange at its finest. 

When my partner and I were traveling around New Zealand’s North Island, we stayed at a homestay with a local host, a kind older man named Roger. He soon revealed to us that geocaching was his biggest hobby, and he invited us to go with him. 

On our first geocache hunt with Roger, we ended up hiking through a gorgeous fern-covered valley in a wilderness park. We were the only ones there, and we spent nearly an hour hiking around looking for the geocache. Finally, my partner spotted a small box hidden at the base of an old tree — we had found it! 

I honestly can’t remember what was inside, but by that point it didn’t really matter to me. I loved the act of going somewhere new, following clues, and doing something in a new country that felt truly local and unique. 

We went geocaching with our host a few more times that trip, and followed him into forests, through streams, up mountains, and into random neighborhoods. I saw so many areas of his town that I never would have gone to otherwise. It made for an awesome travel story and tons of memories! 

Geocaching is a particularly great travel activity for anyone traveling with kids. 

I went geocaching in the Sierra Nevada mountains on a family camping trip when I was in early high school, and I loved it. I still remember the rush of following the map, running ahead to search in trees and under rocks, trying to find the treasure! 

It engaged me so much more in being present in my surroundings and really taking the time to notice the details of the world around me. For a teenager living in the digital age, that was a pretty big feat. 

And no, your geocache probably won’t have $10,000 worth of gold coins hidden inside.

But you might just leave with local treasures, travel stories, and priceless memories. 

My last attempt at finding the treasure: Jack Early Park 

Back in present day San Francisco, I had moved on from Ina Coolbrith Park to an even smaller, more hidden park — Jack Early Park, in the nearby North Beach neighborhood. 

I had read online that this park also had lots of steps and a bench with a view of Alcatraz and Angel Island. But while I had heard of Ina Coolbrith before, I had never even heard of Jack Early Park. I had no idea what was waiting for me. 

At this point, I was less in it for the $10,000 prize, and more in it for the love of the game. I was having so much fun walking around San Francisco on my little quest that I almost forgot my shovel. 

I giddily climbed up a staircase nearly hidden from the sidewalk by big tangles of ivy, and I came upon a tiny urban oasis. 

Jack Early Park had no grass and just one small bench. But it was surrounded by plants and flowers, and it had a wrought-iron balcony that overlooked the water. The view over the red tile roofs and the boats in the harbor felt almost Mediterranean. I made a mental note that I should come back for sunset. 

After a somewhat lazy attempt to dig around the soil beneath the lookout point, I just sat on the bench, breathed in the smell of the flowers around me, and enjoyed the view from somewhere new, thoroughly satisfied with my day.

And in the end… the treasure you take… is equal to the treasure you make 

Three days after my search, someone officially found the treasure. It was in a place I hadn’t even thought to look: a small cove in the Marin Headlands, across the Golden Gate Bridge from SF. 

When I looked online to see the reaction to someone finding the treasure, most people seemed unbothered. In fact, most of the comments seemed to share similar themes — that this silly little activity took them to parts of the city they’d never been to and renewed their love for San Francisco. 

And based on the last line in the clues — “let’s celebrate our land, the city, this jaunt” — that might just be what the treasure-hiders were hoping for all along. 

I spent a day looking for the treasure, because I love any excuse for whimsy and a good adventure. While I unfortunately didn’t find it, I found a different hidden gem: areas of San Francisco I’d never thought to explore. 

I visited 2 new parks, learned a lot of local history, and spent a day feeling the rush of adventure I normally feel from visiting a new place — all while being less than 3 miles from my house. What started as a treasure hunt turned into a joyous afternoon of whimsical meandering and playing tourist in my own city. 

So whether you’re traveling abroad, road tripping around the country, or even just exploring your own neighborhood, try treasure hunting. Go look for a geocache. Get off the beaten path. 

Did I find gold? No, unfortunately not. But I found something incredibly valuable still: local treasures in the city around me, right underneath my nose this whole time. 

So maybe the real buried treasure was the places we visited along the way (it wasn’t; I still want $10,000). But cheers to you, Ina Coolbrith Park. I’ll be back. 

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Want to spend some time exploring San Francisco for yourself? You won’t find buried treasure, but I’ve got lots of fun recommendations in my guide to all the most epic things to do in San Francisco!