We saw a coyote, cougar tracks and dry, cracked earth where Prineville Reservoir used to be. But no gold coins.

The treasure of Skeleton Rock is still safe. I suspect it will be for a long time.

But what a great adventure.

When Map Guy and I met up with Oregon treasure guru Dan Petchell, we didn’t know what to expect. We did know that we were bound for the rock in the reservoir where $50,000 in gold coins was said to be cached in 1870.

John Holt and a friend of his named Jack held up the mail stage carrying the Army payroll to forts in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Jack shot and killed the stagecoach guard and the pair made off with the mail sack and the strongbox, riding hard to the west toward the Crooked River Breaks.

Then they were ambushed by Indians, who chased them down Sanford Creek. The attackers shot Holt’s horse out from under him and the robbers scrambled up onto the big jumble of basalt to make their stand. Both men took bullets; Jack died from his wound.

So the story goes, Holt buried his partner and the money up in the rocks, and, under the cover of darkness, made it to Prineville for medical treatment. But he was arrested by an Army patrol before he could return for the loot.

Since then, half of a skeleton turned up on what became known as Skeleton Rock. But no money.

So we lit out for Skeleton Rock one day a few years ago during the drought, canoe atop the vehicle, the call of adventure surging in our breasts. Map Guy had cut a branch from an apple tree the day before and fashioned a dowsing rod from it.

We used the dowsing rod; the canoe stayed on top of the pickup. The drought had taken a dramatic toll on the reservoir. Skeleton Rock, accessible only by boat most years was high and dry. We walked across the dry lake bed over big, spidery cracks in the earth, waded across Crooked River and climbed the rock from around the back side.

And then Petchell began telling us the story, how the two scofflaws must have come tearing down Sanford Creek (to our right), Indians in hot pursuit, how they made their stand in this cleft or that. Below us, the Crooked River seeps through this valley and must look much the same as when Holt and Jack found themselves on this here rock. Except there were willows lining the banks and the bullets were whizzing.

Map Guy listened intently, then began poking around the rocks, dowsing rod spinning wildly in his sweaty mitts. Tug, tug, who knows what causes it? Bones? A strongbox? Wishful thinking?

Who cares?

In the end, we found what we came for. A dash of solitude, a pinch of mystery, a skulking coyote and the formidable tracks of a big cat etched in the dried mud at the base of the Skeleton Rock.

Images to treasure.

From Prineville, turn right on Combs Flat Road, which turns into the Post-Paulina Highway (Highway 380). After about 16 miles, turn right onto the dirt road at the Crooked River. Drive about three miles and park at the dirt parking lot on the left (there’s a portable toilet here). You’ll see the Crooked River, Skeleton Rock and Sanford Creek out across the lake. From the parking lot, Skeleton Rock is about a half-mile across the lake bed. Access is by boat most years; by foot in a time of drought. No permits are required.