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• (AUDIO) HUMBOLDT HOLDING UP: The Search for Hunter Lewis and His Lost Treasure: Father Corey Lewis On the Life and Legacy of His Son

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It’s been nearly a year since 21-year-old Hunter Lewis headed into the Pacific Ocean on a canoe to hide the final piece of an epic, multi-day treasure hunt he planned for his friends and family. He never returned. 

Now Hunter’s father, Corey Lewis, is planning a treasure hunt on Dec. 30 – the one-year anniversary of Hunter’s passing – and  invites anyone who was touched by Hunter’s story, or is just looking for some adventure, to join. 

Hunter Lewis, 21, had recently received his pilot’s license

Treasure hunts have been a part of the Lewis family for decades. The tradition started with Corey’s mom, who would organize scavenger hunts as an activity whenever the family was all together. One year when Corey’s parents were visiting the family in Humboldt, Corey took the tradition a step further and put together a treasure hunt for his sons, Hunter and his younger brother, Bodie. Corey drew a pirate’s treasure map with burnt edges and hid it in a book about pirates. The boys were about seven and 10 years old at the time.

Over the years the treasure hunts grew more involved and complicated. Corey organized another treasure hunt a few years later, when the boys were about 14 and 17, in the Colorado mountains near his mother’s cabin. 

Hunter had taken the treasure hunt to the next level with the excursion he planned for his friends and family in 2021. The hunt started on Christmas Day, when Hunter gave his family members and his girlfriend, Kinsley, each envelopes containing an announcement of the treasure hunt and a link to the first set of clues. Hunter had been putting together the treasure hunt for about two years. 

Over the next several days, Hunter’s friends and family searched for clues and solved cryptic riddles as Hunter followed along, often laughing and filming them trying to solve his puzzle. But the treasure hunt took a tragic turn on Dec. 30, when Hunter went out on that canoe.

It is presumed that Hunter was lost at sea while attempting to reach Flatiron Rock off the coast of Trinidad. For days following his disappearance, hundreds of people coordinated online to look for Hunter. The search for the final treasure became a search for Hunter himself. 

The beautiful, tragic irony of Hunter’s story naturally made many people assume that someone would want to make a movie about it. Corey would joke with some folks about who would play Hunter or him in the film version. Not surprisingly, a major motion picture company learned of Hunter’s disappearance through a story published in Rolling Stone and is planning to make a film based on the story.

Corey has been in communication with the film people, he told the Outpost, but he is not yet allowed to disclose any names or much additional information. The one thing he could say was that the studio is signing Corey and Kinsley both on as associate producers, and they will have some creative control over the story, something that is very important to Corey.

Though, again, he couldn’t mention names, Corey said that the screenwriter is from Northern California, which Corey is very excited about. He said he really hopes that the film will be shot in Humboldt County so that the beautiful places that Hunter loved, that were a part of his treasure hunt, and even the place where his life was ultimately lost, can be seen in the film. 

Corey Lewis at the memorial bench

While such exciting opportunities to share Hunter’s story have helped keep Corey feeling positive, the last year has certainly not been easy for him. Grief took its toll on Corey’s relationship, and he and his wife have been separated and are now filing for divorce, he told the Outpost. 

“It’s tough, but I see the purpose in it all,” he said. “… A new chapter of my life is coming up.” 

Keeping Hunter’s memory alive helps Lewis get through the difficult times. He and other family and friends of Hunter’s spend a lot of time visiting a memorial bench that Lewis constructed for his son. The bench is located at Hunter’s favorite place – a clearing on top of a cliff overlooking Trinidad State Beach – and is shaped like a key that Hunter had made with a 3-D printer as a part of his treasure hunt. When you stood on the cliff and held up the key, it lined up with the rocks in the ocean, pointing to Flatiron Rock. This was how Lewis and Kinsley figured out where Hunter had gone in the canoe to hide the final treasure. It was mostly while sitting on the bench that Lewis decided to plan another treasure hunt in Hunter’s honor. 

On Dec. 30 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Lewis will be handing out treasure maps and packets at his studio – the Sunyi’s Academy of Tae Kwon Do, at 1215 Giuntoli Lane in Arcata. At 2 p.m that day, Lewis will also post the information to the Search for Hunter Lewis Facebook group. And the treasure hunt will begin! 

The hunt will include four different riddles that, when solved, will lead the treasure hunters to four different metal cryptex locks located throughout the Trinidad area. The locks will then need to be opened using a code to unveil a clue. Whenever someone finds one of the locks and unveils the clue, they will have to post it to the Facebook group. It is only when all four locks have been opened that the clues will make sense, Lewis said. The four clues will then lead participants to the final treasure – a wooden box, which was given to Lewis by Six Rivers Brewery and contains all kinds of goodies, including jewelry and cash.

It might seem strange to some people that Lewis would plan a treasure hunt, when that was the very activity that led to his son’s passing. But Lewis wanted to be very clear that this hunt should be in no way dangerous. None of the clues are hidden in places that require boating, swimming or climbing to get to. If you end up someplace that seems dangerous, Lewis said, you are off track and should get out of there. 

It was important to  Lewis that this treasure hunt be safe and accessible to lots of different people. He does want it to be challenging, but not too challenging for anyone to participate. That is also why he designed the challenge to require that people post the clues to the Facebook Group, so that people who don’t live in the area, but who follow the group — which has more than 5,000 members — can participate by helping to solve the clues. 

Lewis says he is really excited to share this experience with the community and he is excited to share Hunter’s story with more people. The fact that so many people seem touched by Hunter’s story helps keep Lewis hopeful.

“The only thing we really need to learn to do in life is deal with change – change that we choose and change that we don’t choose,” Lewis  said. “And I’ve gotten pretty good at that.”