Recently, I found myself sucked into a treasure hunt—one that led me deep into the wilderness, where the idea of cellular service was a laughable matter. I went so far as to hop in my car and drive 30 hours to Montana—not because I had gold fever, but because the lure of adventure was too appealing to ignore. Am I crazy to have done it? Well, I spent more days on the road just searching for the perfect hunting spot even though the season was months away. So.. No. It is actually normal for me.
Justin Posey has hidden treasure somewhere in the western United States. He provided a poem and a book as the foundation for the hunt. While Justin claims that the poem alone is sufficient to locate the treasure, he also emphasizes the importance of understanding the person who hid it. This is where the book comes into play.
So, who is Justin Posey? What makes him tick? What defines how he thinks?
These are the questions I believe you must ask before interpreting the poem. His book is a memoir—one that’s easy to read but invites a kind of interpretation similar to a book study of A Time Outside This Time. Words and phrases are examined, debated, and dissected to such extremes that it makes you wonder how we could be misinterpreting other writings we thought we knew. How close can we get to understanding something when we weren’t part of it? It’s a fascinating experiment unfolding.
Community Insights and Outliers
The treasure-hunting community is full of varied interpretations. Some make sense, while others are so far-fetched that they make you wonder if the solver might soon be arrested for wearing someone’s skin as a costume. (I joke—but barely.) What this tells me is that perspectives span the full spectrum. Still, someone is right—or at least close. Until the treasure is found, who knows.
My Personal Approach
I’ll refrain from sharing my specific solves. They’re not “right” until proven right, and they’re not “wrong” until proven otherwise. My approach is straightforward and deliberately avoids complex coordinates or celestial navigation. I believe Justin left a double meaning for everything—and if you want to pursue complex paths, he’s left those breadcrumbs too. The solve itself is irrelevant for this post.
One thing that intrigues me is Justin’s subtle mention of being able to detect/know when someone finds a checkpoint or moves the treasure. That got me thinking—could technology be involved? I would be a fool to think it was not involved. The question then becomes, how?
Since I have the ability and time, why wouldn’t I build something akin to Nina’s compass from the movie Elevation? (Granted, Nina’s device detects reapers using their bioelectromagnetic pulses—but what if…?) With a new trip scheduled in the near future, I want to make the next trip a little more interesting than just traveling across the country searching for a million-dollar treasure out west with only a poem and a book for guidance written by a guy I do not know.
Off-the-Grid Communication
During my boots-on-the-ground (BOTG) trip to Montana, I learned a hard truth: once you’re in the mountains, signals disappear. Even my handheld radio—intended to blare loudly as a bear deterrent—was reduced to static. It reminded me of my off-grid property in Ohio, where the outside world feels far away. At least at my property, I could find one FM station, even if it was just some random gossip station.
Quick Backstory: Off-Grid Tech Challenges
When I purchased my property, my biggest challenge was communication—specifically, how to talk to my family while we were there. Modern day technology has made it easy to pick up the phone, but where there is no service, there are no phones.
I evaluated several options:
- FRS Radios: Affordable, but their “3–10 mile range” is fantasy. You’re lucky to get a quarter mile.
- GMRS Radios: With a license, I could use higher power on the 440MHz band. Better, but still not ideal without a repeater setup.
- HAM Radio (2m band): As a licensed Technician, I have access, but expecting everyone else to get licensed wasn’t feasible.
- Bridged Networking: I used this in Iraq—essentially the precursor to mesh systems used in homes today. Complicated but powerful. With satellite integration, it could connect the whole property to the outside.
The LoRaWAN Solution
Enter LoRaWAN: long-range, low-power, and ideal for text-style communication. I chose this route because it’s reliable, efficient, and can be tied into GPS and sensors. Best of all, it runs off-grid and can last for months or even years when designed properly.
Building “Nina” (Network Interface for Nearby Analysis): A Signal Sniffer for the Hunt
Inspired by the movie Elevation, I set out to create a device I call “Nina”—a scanner that searches for signals, not treasure.
Starting with my shelf of electronic odds and ends, I pieced together a prototype using:
- A handful of Raspberry Pi’s
- ESP32 microcontrollers for more portable Wi-Fi and BLE sniffers
- SDR dongles for full-spectrum scanning
- And random pieces I pulled from perfectly working devices over the years
- Step motors and even a small speaker for the the iconic radar beep and signal indicator
The idea isn’t to find data—just signals. My device now listens across Wi-Fi, BLE, 915MHz, 440MHz, as well as the L1, L2, and L5 bands. I’ve even added a “fox hunting” mode, used in wildlife tracking, which helps pinpoint RF sources—just like searching for a black box of an aircraft after an accident.
The “What Ifs”
There’s no guarantee Justin is using a constant transmission. If I was a betting man, I would say he is not. It could be motion-activated or only triggered when the treasure moves—just like trail cameras. This may explain why cell signal trackers failed in other hunts. Heck, he may not be using any tracking at all, making this project just another mad scientist build of mine.
Could satellite tech be involved? It’s possible. I work in remote-area communications, and I understand GPS and LoRaWAN deeply. Monitoring L1, L2, and L5 bands would be crucial. GPS is especially interesting because its perfect for transmitting on a schedule or a trigger.
Even if Justin isn’t monitoring the treasure at all, I’ve still built something useful for other aspects of my life—and it’s way cooler than spending time analyzing other people’s theories on Discord, Facebook, and forums.
Deployment Scenarios for Nina
- Mobile Radar Mode
Mounted on my truck, Nina will scan like a rotating radar. Using Doppler shifts and GPS, it transforms my truck into a modern-day Queen Anne’s Revenge searching for a glimpse of its next victim. - Portable Hiker Mode
Light enough to carry, Nina will passively scan while I hike, probing all known frequencies for something out of the ordinary in the vast outdoors. - Stationary Check-in Monitor
Placed outside my vehicle, Nina can sit for hours, waiting for signal check-ins. Ideal for long-term monitoring of specific sites. This is ideal for increasing the odds of sniffing a random connection. - Mesh Networking
The ability to deploy small nodes in an area and travel to my next spot all while monitoring multiple locations. Complete with logging and machine learning.
Conclusion
Call me crazy—you’re probably right. But as long as this device remains a tool, and not a crutch, it makes sense to me. Will it work? Who knows. But even a brief flicker of signal could be the breakthrough. Worst case? My nerd brain gets to scratch a long-standing itch with a giant back scratcher. That’s a win in my book.
While the prototype is functional, it is still a prototype. I have a few weeks to tighten up the design, prints the housings, and solder everything together. I plan on sharing images of Nina in the coming days.