There’s a $21,000 Treasure Hidden in San Francisco

UPDATE: The treasure has been found. See below.

In San Francisco, the search is on for a treasure worth $21,850 in gift certificates and prizes from 34 local businesses. To find it, all one has to do is solve the clues in a 15-stanza poem called “A Love Letter to San Francisco.” Think of it as a poetry-propelled pursuit across the city’s iconic landmarks and tucked-away gems.

This treasure hunt is a follow-up to one that launched in May through a Reddit post. After just 12 hours, three friends uncovered the $10,000 prize at the West Ridge Trail in Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve. TJ Lee, one of the winners, is now organizing this hunt.

“We thought that given the response to the first one — how many people were into it and how much of a positive narrative it brought to the city — we felt that it was probably the right thing to organize a follow up,” says Lee.

Designing the quest was a team effort among Lee, an anonymous puzzle enthusiast and Sean, Lee’s good friend who gives free walking tours around San Francisco. And just as the name describes it, the hunt truly is structured as a love letter to the city.

“Unlucky under 101, or plaza after market’s move / Blind vision paved a wall into a concrete haven from reprove / A former hub of rocks and grit ground to a halt, capped at the knees / So ride the rail across the state, observe where green and glass can meet,” the letter begins.

The treasure hunt winds through all the nooks and crannies that make San Francisco unique. No blacklights needed, and no phone numbers to text for clues. Lee emphasizes that it’s less about your puzzle-solving skills, and more about “how well do you know the city.”

In our interview, Lee shouts out San Francisco Recreation and Parks for keeping the city’s parks and facilities running.

“Without them, SF wouldn’t have the spaces or places to be so weird and wonderful,” Lee says.

When it comes to the actual treasure itself, think less buried gold, and more San Francisco starter pack: coffee, books and bites from neighborhood shops. The reward isn’t about splurging; it’s about rediscovering the city through the businesses that keep it alive.

“It’s not cash where you can spend it anywhere,” Lee says. “It’s things that are very classically SF. All of these small local businesses are really doing a lot to give the city its culture, energy and its life blood. From tip to tail, I was really insistent that the whole thing feature the city in as many ways as we could.”

UPDATE: After two weeks, the treasure has been found. Neighbors YuYu Schatz and Jed Lau uncovered the buried box in Buena Vista Park, in a small clearing off the Upper Terrace Trail. The pair, who teamed up on Labor Day after realizing they were both attempting the hunt, say it was a “crazy experience.” As for organizing a subsequent citywide treasure hunt, they said it’s it’s unlikely they will, joking that they’ll need at least six months to recover.