The Old House Treasure Hunt

This one starts with an old house in an isolated part of Fremont County. It seems that the house is now on public land, so you are free to wander through it. Of course the rest of the treasure hunt involves a nice hike, as they all do.

The Clues

From Highway 50, take Highway 9 north to Highway 11 (about eight miles). Up 11 about six miles you'll find Deer Park Trail. There is a small building on the corner (may still be a fire station of sorts). Drive less than a mile down this to the abandoned house on the left. Be careful, because the floor boards are old, although they do seem to hold the cows that wander through the rooms from time to time. Count the windows and doors and write these two digits down.

Bonus Treasure and Prize

Across from the house is a cement foundation. Near one of the inside corners of it is buried a dollar bill in a small plastic bottle. Keep it if you find it, and insert the word written on it (in lower case letters) in place of the question marks below to get the URL address of the page where your bonus prize awaits you.

http://www.ColoradoTreasureHunting.com/z-???.html

In case the dollar is gone, here's a hint: The first three letters of the word is something you can eat, and the last letter is fifth not only in the word.

Geocache You don't even need the GPS coordinates for this one. While in the old house just poke around in holes in walls and floors. There is a Tupperware container. A clue out by the old foundation across the road gives more precise directions to it, but you should be able to find it in any case.

Continuing The Old House Treasure Hunt

After you take a photo of yourself at the old house (this is the required photo), drive less than a mile further to get to the parking area. A trail starts here. Close the gate behind you after you enter, and follow the two-track road/trail. You'll go up for a few minutes, then down for five or ten minutes to a wetter, greener area where the terrain opens up.

After the trail turns to the left, you'll pass over a small culvert, which you may not notice, and then you'll come to a boulder in the middle of the trail. The part facing upwards is relatively flat. Measure this every which way to find the widest width in inches, and write that number down.

A bit further along the trail you'll come to an old barbed wire fence. follow it up the hill to the left and find the post still standing (hopefully) in the shade of the tree. How tall is it? This is a multiple choice question, and you'll be using the number of the correct answer:

Height of post is closest to: 1. Three feet, 2. Four feet, 3. Five feet, 4. Six feet.

A short ways further along the trail you'll come to the top of a small hill. Down to your right you'll see a cement rectangle. Write down how many metal bars cross it, and measure it across the middle, the short way, and write down how many inches wide it is.

Now you are ready to put together all your numbers. Windows, doors, inches across top of rock, correct answer number from post height question, number of metal bars on cement, and inches the short way across cement. Insert the resulting eight-digit number in place of the question marks below to get the URL address of the solution page (only once you arrive there have you completed the treasure hunt):

http://www.ColoradoTreasureHunting.com/s-???.html

There may be another old house or two in the area if you feel like exploring further. We went southeast from the final clue, and followed the trail that goes up into the woods and rocks along a small stream (dry at the time). The trail disappears into the stream bed in places, but if you go far enough (a mile perhaps?) you'll come to an old mine of some sort, marked by a huge pile of old boards, on the right side of the stream.

We couldn't locate any mine shaft (perhaps under the boards, but this did not seem like just an old home site. There is part of a foundation or two made of rocks as well. The GPS coordinates for this are:

N 38 37.18 / W 105 19.83

My GPS indicated that it was 1.3 miles from the parking area. That's in a straight line, of course, so it is likely a two-mile walk to get there.

Further along the trail there is a clearing with scattered boards from another old house, but this may be on private land.