Boulder and Colorado Springs have almost identical policies on geocaching. "With an estimated 1.7 million visitors annually, Garden of the Gods is one of the most difficult parks to manage," read the geocaching guidelines for Colorado Springs. "Not only does the high volume of human traffic impact the park, Garden of the Gods also contains some of the most erosive-prone soils in El Paso County. There are currently seventeen miles of designated trails and over 34 miles of 'social trails' [paths created by going off approved areas]. Many of the social trails (as well as some of the designated trails) become gullies after several rains, and then become a major drainage issue. Three of the four geocaches located within the Garden of the Gods were off designated trails and only encouraged off-trail use."
But one member of CACHE successfully negotiated permission to geocache on Douglas County's thirty miles of trails. "The biggest thing that gets 'em crosswise is going off-trail," says Tom Welle, senior park ranger for Douglas County. "So we came up with the agreement that if they let us know what they want ahead of time, we'll work with them to find a place where it can be more challenging. We want them to recreate on our property and take care of our resources, too."
John Johnston
Jonnie Veatch, Scott Hoffman and Josh Fritz stand at the site of their Platte River geocache.
Related Content
More About
Jefferson County has a slightly more formal process, asking geocachers to submit a special-activity permit. Two have been submitted so far; one was approved, the other was not. "I approved the first one because it was in an area that didn't feel like we were going to get impacts from social trails," says Stanton La Breche, Jefferson County park services manager. "It was hidden well enough from normal travels not to be accidentally discovered."
The Denver Department of Parks and Recreation has no policy specific to treasure hunting. When asked about geocaching, spokeswoman Judy Montero e-mailed this message from safety manager Ron Sanders: "It's unlawful to dig or drive stakes into the ground. The concerns are damage to sod, watering system, roots, etc."
CACHE hopes to preempt any Denver ban on geocaching by working with the city and emphasizing urban hunts, like the one the EdFredO Clan is just finishing up.
There's just one problem remaining: While wandering back toward REI, Veatch notices that there are now eleven orange markers visible on the river rather than the ten they'd seen while approaching from the other direction. They realize this will throw off geocachers trying to solve the math problem -- count the markers and divide by two, then subtract one -- that gives the missing F coordinate. But not to worry: Fritz decides he'll send future geocachers to the top of the bridge, where they'll see only ten.
