A Short Hike is a fantastic indie game that follows Claire, a bird who is visiting the island her aunt lives on, and decides to make the short hike up to the island's peak. Along the way, she encounters numerous side quests, each one taking her to new areas of the charming island, and one such set of quests that prove particularly tricky is the game's four treasure maps.

Not only do you have to find the maps themselves, but you also need to follow their vague clues to find the buried treasure. Fortunately, this guide will walk you through where to find every map, and where the treasure each one leads to is hidden.

Updated October 1, 2023, by Sean Murray: A Short Hike's treasure maps can be difficult to find, but that's why we made this guide. We've also updated it with improved formatting and more breakout tips to make finding these treasures that much easier.

The Basics Of Treasure Hunting

While going off the beaten track is a major part of A Short Hike, getting the treasure chests quickly will be made significantly easier if you have a lot of gold feathers, as this will allow you to climb and fly between locations with ease.

That said, it is still absolutely possible to find the chests early on in the game - just be prepared to take far less direct routes, and spend much more time running up and down long paths.

The only absolute necessity for completing the buried treasure quests is a shovel, but you're rewarded with this for completing one of the game's earliest side quests, so you'll almost certainly have it.

In case you don't, speak to the frog on Sid Beach and find him a toy shovel (you'll find one pretty easily by heading north along Hawk Peak trail). He'll swap it for his full-size shovel, allowing you to get right into your treasure hunting.

A Stormy View

The map for A Stormy View is found on one of the Orange Islands and can be dug up in the ruins of what appears to have been a small house.

From the hut where you can get the boat, head down the ramp to the campfire and then off to the left over the bridge. Go over that bridge, and the next bridge, to get to the right island, then climb up the cliff to reach the ruins and dig up the chest.

The treasure itself is hidden away cunningly. If you travel to the graveyard on the main island, then head off to the left (you'll have to climb a few cliffs), you'll reach a platform with some binoculars on it, just in front of a tree with a white marker tied around it.

If you look through the binoculars, you can pan around until you see a small island with a rock arch on it. This arch is the "earthy window" mentioned in the riddle, and the treasure is buried on the beach you can see when you look through the arch from this angle.

Head down to the beach with your shovel and dig in the spot you saw from the lookout spot to be rewarded with the treasure and complete "A Stormy View".

In Her Shadow

This one is a bit simpler than A Stormy View. To get the map, make your way to the docked boat with the sailor who buys your fish, below where you encounter the runners. The map can be found in one of the chests on the deck of his boat.

The map's riddle makes reference to the lighthouse, which can be found just on the other side of the aforementioned runners' circuit. It's a big tower, so it's hard to miss, and once you're there, pay attention to its shadow.

Go to the very top of the lighthouse's shadow and dig, and you'll unearth the treasure. The story behind this treasure map is not only a nice touch to flesh the quest out, but it gives a good idea of how to get the treasure, so finding this one shouldn't be too difficult.

The Treasure Of Sid Beach

This might be the hardest map to actually obtain, simply because you don't really have control over getting it. It's given to you by the dog hiking to Outlook Point if you meet him up there, but he just hikes up and down repeatedly, so there's no guaranteed time to catch him.

Your best bet is to either wait at the Point for him or find him on the trail and walk up with him. Once you talk to him at the end of his trek, he'll give you the map with the riddle for The Treasure Of Sid Beach, which, as the name suggests, is buried on the main island's Sid Beach.

Sid Beach is the one where you learn to rock climb, and you can easily glide straight down to it from Outlook Point, so make your way directly there once you've spoken to the dog. There are two large rocks on the side of the path opposite the ocean; dig between them, and you'll get your treasure.

The King's Throne

Last but not least, the map for The King's Throne is found on top of the abandoned house on the west of the island. It's a bit out of the way, but it serves as the goal for one of Avery's races (conveniently named Avery's Abandoned Building Race), so doing that can be a good way to find it if you're unsure.

The chest containing the map is hidden under some crates, but you can push these around by simply running into them, so just move them out of the way in order to be able to open the chest.

The "throne" the title and riddle refer to is actually a rock in the woods to the south of the house. It's more or less directly below Outlook Point, so diving off from there can be a good landmark to refer to if you're struggling to find it. The rock vaguely resembles a throne if you squint enough, so climb up it and dig on top to claim your final prize.

Next: Best Games To Play On A Rainy Day