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Steamboat couple discovers Yule log at library after clue No. 6

Dan and Becky Edmiston found the 2018 Yule log at 7:30 p.m. Monday outside Bud Werner Memorial Library. The couple live in Steamboat Springs and have been participating in the hunt for the past eight years.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — “If you could only have seen me, I was dancing in the snow,” said an excited voice as tourists gathered around a couple carrying a fat log into the Tread of Pioneers Museum in downtown Steamboat Springs.

It took eight years since moving from Gunnison, but Becky and Dan Edmiston finally did it. They found Steamboat’s infamous Yule log Monday night during the annual Yule Log Hunt.

“It seemed like a pretty neat tradition for a town to have, and we looked several years pretty intently,” Dan said.

The Edmistons moved to Steamboat in 2011 to work at the college and hospital.

“This year, everything just fell into place more quickly. We’ve been in town long enough to learn more about the valley,” he said.

The Edmistons turned in the log to the Tread of Pioneers Museum where tourists got a kick out of hearing about the unusual contest and how the couple used their wits to find the treasure.

After all, you can only follow the clues to the hidden Yule log by learning about local history.

“We’re a holder of community traditions and history, and we’re hoping people get excited about it and participate,” said Tread of Pioneers Executive Director Candice Bannister.

This is the 39th year the museum hosted the Yule Log Hunt, where a clue is published each weekday until someone finds the hidden log. The hunt is also sponsored by the Steamboat Springs Chamber.

Every year, the clues take you on a path towards the log’s hiding place; they do not describe the hiding spot itself until the last few clues of the hunt,” according to museum rules.

Clue No. 2 this year really got Becky curious: “In 1932 he went down in shame. Dressed as a lady, theft on the brain. Curtains and a wig gave him away. The hunt is on, don’t delay.”

“It’s fun trying to find out what happened in the past,” Becky said.

But the Edmistons didn’t have any luck on that clue.

“I thought maybe it had something to with Brooklyn (neighborhood) as I understood it to be something of a red light district but couldn’t find anything,” she said.

And don’t ask museum officials for any help. They don’t reveal their methods or the answers. You have to do all the research yourself.

The museum used to hide the Yule log before the first clue was published, but now, they wait until the sixth clue. It seems some people would just find the log by accident and win the contest without following the clues.

The Edmistons had Fetcher Pond, Casey’s Pond and the Arnold Barn at the top of their list when they decided to stop at Bud Werner Memorial Library to search along the Yampa River on Monday night.

“There was something about a ‘life-long legacy’ (in the sixth clue) that made me think of the library, so we made a quick detour,” Dan said.

He dropped off Becky, so she could “take a quick look.”

“I was creeping around the library with my headlamp when I saw it sticking out. People were in cars around me, so I was playing it cool,” laughed Becky.

She quickly got Dan, and they hauled the log into their car.

“Everyone who has found it, gets to put their names and date on it,” Becky said. “It’s neat you’re part of the tradition.”

And now, the Edmistons are part of local history.

Frances Hohl is a contributing writer for the Steamboat Pilot & Today.


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