Treasure Hunters Eye Northern Michigan for Legendary ‘Appalachian Footpath Box’ Gold

There's a booty well known to treasure seekers called the Appalachian Footbox. It's little known in Michigan as the hoard of gold was long through to be hidden somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. That pathway stretches from Georgia to Maine and comes nowhere near Michigan.

But new clues have led seekers to look squarely at Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

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The UP is no stranger to legends of lost treasure. A 'Wall of Silver' is said to exist somewhere in the lost mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The Appalachian Footpath Box is part of a treasure hunt devised by adventurer Jon Collins-Black. His Treasure Inside book details a cryptic set of clues to hidden caches of loot.

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A Reddit forum dedicated to finding the Footbox treasures hosted a discussion that used one of the map clues to play the X-marks-the-spot in Michigan.

The theory is summarized by a website based in New York's Finger Lakes. The theory cites

geological similarities between the photographed clues and certain sandstone formations along Lake Superior.

More compellingly, they argued that certain phrases in the original poem—such as “the box below the falls” and “red rock that sings with spray”—better match Michigan’s Munising Falls or Spray Falls than anything along the Appalachian Trail.

The theory quickly gained traction, with users comparing photo metadata, matching flora and lichen patterns, and debating whether a clue involving “iron veins beneath frostbitten soil” refers to Michigan’s historic iron ranges.

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If you're intrigued and want to share a treasure hunt in the Upper Peninsula or elsewhere, here's the whole bag of breadcrumbs: Jon Collins-Black's Treasure Inside website and book.