Castle Pines, Franktown and Parker

This morning I slept in - I had a long day yesterday and I was exhausted by the time I got to sleep last night. So I decided that I wouldn't set the alarm and I would just get started when I woke up. And since the mornings have been freezing I wasn't in a hurry to get out in the cold to letterbox. I was awake by 7:30am and after getting dressed and gathering my things I headed down to breakfast. I ended up leaving the hotel around 8:15am. My plan was to head to Castle Pines and letterbox at Daniels Park. I had clues for nine boxes and they were hidden at different parking areas in the park. The parking areas weren't far apart but I decided to start at the first lot and work my way down the road. I parked at the first lot and wondered what I was doing. There was a lot of snow all over I wasn't sure I could find any of the boxes. So while I was sitting in the car I read the clues for the boxes at this parking area. The clues all started with a bird house.

View of the Front Range from Daniels Park

So I looked around but didn't see a bird house. So I got out of the car and walked around looking for it - I did find one bird house. It was laying on the ground at the edge of the parking area. So I read the clues looking for other landmarks but no matter where I walked I couldn't find anything. I decided to go to the next parking area and try there. I drove over and parked and again read the clues for two boxes here. This time I found the first landmark and headed there. I then followed the rest of the clues and thankfully I found both boxes here - Bank of Gringotts and Hippo Plays the Harp. So after stamping in to these boxes and hiding them again I felt more confident. So I moved on the the next parking area. At this spot there were three boxes hidden. By this time it had warmed up a bit so I got out of the car and headed down a trail on the right side of the parking area. After some serious searching I had found two of the boxes - I missed the third one but I am sure I was in the right spot - it was just that the area was covered in snow and there was ice on the ground so I couldn't move some things and I eventually gave up on that box. So here I found Live, Love, Music! and Swirling Clefs. On to the next and last parking area. The lot is blocked by large rocks so you have to park in a pullout across the road. I get out of my car and checked both directions and saw a car coming from the right but it was pretty far away and the speed limit was only 25mph so I knew I could I make it across before the car even got close to me. So I headed across . . .  I had no sooner got to the other side and the car flew past me going about 60mph. I swear that when he saw me crossing he deliberately sped up. I'm not saying he was trying to run me over but it sure felt that way. When I first looked he didn't seem to be  going fast but when he flew past me I was scared - I had just gotten to the other side. So I stood there in the lot with my heart pounding for a few minutes before looking for the one box at this area. Eventually I started looking for the box and I found it quickly and without a problem. I stamped in to Tom & Jerry and then replaced the box and then carefully returned to my car. I looked at the time and decided I still had plenty of time so I returned to the first parking area. I took the clues for the three boxes and started walking around. I wasn't even following the clues I was just kind of looking for any landmark from the clues. A couple of the clues mentioned evergreens and I happen to be standing in front of three tall pine trees - so I walked over to them and started looking around and I accidentally found Kokopelli - Spirit of Music. I sat on a rock nearby to stamp in and after replacing the box I went back to the rock and sat and read the clues for the other two boxes. One of the other two boxes talked about an evergreen so I looked around and went to the closest one and looked but found no box. I then looked around all the evergreens I could see but didn't find either of the boxes. After another 15 minutes I decided to call it quits and leave the park and go to another area.

From Daniels Park I made my way to I25 and headed south a few miles to Castle Rock. I took Founder's Parkway which eventually becomes CO86. I was going to see if the mud situation at Gateway Mesa Open Space was any better. It wasn't - so I continued east on CO86 and then turned onto Castlewood Canyon Road and made my way to the parking area for Castlewood Canyon Homestead Trail. I was here yesterday and found two boxes but I missed the third one. So I was here to remedy that. I parked and headed for the trail and I immediately knew what I had done wrong. Well not exactly wrong - it was just that the trail I needed was covered completely with snow that I didn't even know there was a trail there. Today however, the trail was more visible. Still covered in snow but at least I could make it out. So I followed the trail and quickly found Celtic Z. I stamped in standing up since there was no where to sit with all the snow and then replaced the box. I returned to the car and then back to CO86. I drove to the corner of CO86 and CO83 in Franktown. At this corner is the Franktown Cemetery. The clues stated you could open the gate and drive in or park at the entrance and walk in. There was quite a bit of mud on the road so I decided walking wouldn't be good. So I opened the gate, drove in a short ways and stopped, then shut the gate and then drove up to the cemetery. I found a place to park out of the way and started looking for boxes. I first found Grams Bear and sat on a nearby bench to stamp in. When I was done there I walked a little further into the cemetery and found Lion Plays the Violin. Thankfully there was another bench nearby that I could use. So I sat there to stamp in. This area of the cemetery has a lot of trees and is a little secluded. It was nice and peaceful - so after stamping in I just sat there for a few minutes before replacing the box and returning to the car. From here I headed north on CO83 towards Parker. I stopped about a mile north of Franktown at Whispering Pines Park. Here I looked for and found Douglas County Open Space: Box 2 Foxy Fox box. I took it to some nearby picnic tables to stamp in. After stamping in and getting my things put away I returned the box to its hiding spot and then walked back to the car. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so while I drove back to Parker I thought about what other clues I had. I noticed a street sign for North Pinery Parkway. I had clues for boxes here so I turned there and made my way to a parking area for some Open Space. I started on the trail following the clues but I had trouble finding boxes - there was just a lot of snow and the boxes were buried and I couldn't find them. I tried for 5 boxes but didn't find any, so I returned to the car and headed into Parker. I then made my way to Cottonwood Park. I followed the clues for one box and when I got to the area I tried to look for the box. This time it wasn't snow that hindered me, it was people. The trail here is busy, busy, busy. I eventually gave up and returned to the car. I then decided to head to the hotel and wait for Astro D to call. She was driving up from Santa Fe today and we had talked about doing a little boxing when she got here. So as I was driving back to the hotel I got a call from her and she had checked in to the hotel and was ready to get out and box. So when I got to the hotel I called her and we met in the lobby.

We decided to head to Preservation Park to look for a few boxes.

Preservation Park

I think we had clues for around 12 boxes. We parked in the lot and tried for the first box. Unfortunately when they cleared the lot of snow they pushed the pile right on top of the box. We tried to see if we could get to it but it was like a block of ice and we couldn't get through. So we started on the trail and tried for the next box. We had better luck here - we found Hood House. We sat on the trail and stamped in and then rehid the box. Then we headed down the trail to the next box. We got a little confused and stopped to soon and we couldn't find the box so we continued and finally got to the actual place where the box was hidden. We easily found J. Hadyn and took it to some nearby rocks to sit and stamp in. After replacing the box we continued on to the next box. Here we had more problems - there was snow and we couldn't find the little trail we needed and we called it quits. We returned to the main trail and looked for a box right at the intersection. We had better luck and found Keep Calm and Soak. After stamping in and replacing the box we continued on. It was getting a little colder as the sun started to set so we got our gloves and went in search of the next box. We were actually following the clues for two boxes but one of them we couldn't figure out the landmarks so we gave up on that one and then continued to the other box. We had good luck and quickly found the box - G.F. Handel. We stamped in at a nearby picnic table. Then we replaced the box and headed back the way we came. Next we tried for a series of four boxes but didn't have any luck with finding the correct location and by this time it was getting darker so we returned to the car. We went back to the hotel and got cleaned up a bit and then we headed out for dinner. We ended up eating at Casa Mariachi.  I really enjoyed this place - the food was great and the staff was excellent.

It was another long day of letterboxing and it was a good day of letterboxing. I am sufficiently tired and ready for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is the event and there are a lot of boxes to be had so I need my rest.