! The Exciting Cache Series!
“COLORADO SPIRIT QUEST”
REMEMBER:
If you are APPREHENSIVE about cemeteries – AVOID this series.
The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before us.
If you are interested in being a part of this project, contact may be made by sending an e-mail to the owner of “Colorado Spirit Quest #1 – Mountain Passage”. Use the ‘Send Message” link at the center of the page of their profile.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural and mountain communities across Colorado. This series will introduce you to many of them.
The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries and tombstones.
The CSQ endeavor is an enormous and relentless task and will only flourish if there is a multitude of volunteer cachers who are willing to place these caches.
After locating the cache container, take some time to reflect back on the lives of those pioneers and the effort it took to make Colorado such a great state.
Each person who places a CSQ cache is responsible for its maintenance.
Thanks to the volunteers: Ivy Dog Parents, Greasepot, Taylorgeotracker, Team Boogity3, Grand High Pobah, Boborr 80909, Imusttravel2000, Buzz Lightyear I, Sandhill 49er, MrVolkswagen, Isisfan, Rockymtn8iv, Fork-L-Man, Outdrlvr201, Condor1, 2Cachedivers, arthurat, smilz787, Kyotmoon, Mountain Roamer, SugarPug, Team Tiger Pride, ernie66, drnetwork, Team w-bar-v, Dynamite Rabbit, DustyKat, mtnbirders, RustyBeerCan & Marma, grymreaper, nteclpr, Moose1 & Mama Moose, Joe Friday, 3cacheteers, 3cacheteers, Dasha Aussies, KB0UMW, hiking_fool, tripping, res71cue and 1Mrs1Ogre, and nickgatt, kingbee, The misgnoners, rbradu, shashyaz&foxy, Bugranger, Lyonden ut., Any Direction, Sewnssew, The Meandering Monkeys, Charlie-n-Geri, skibum1, gooftroop 4, stubywwjd, MaDDoGGaming, kingbee, Wolverine, Random Acts, lbmiller, BTBugs, God chaser, imcasey, lesslost2, Back Country Horseman, vorticity, Triggur, Eagle 2 and imyy4u2, and many others.
HISTORY
Highland Cemetery is located 1 mile north of the Wellington exit off I 25. It has been referred to as “Little Cemetery on the Prairie” and is similar in certain dimensions to the“Boot Hills” of old western movies. It was founded in 1906 and has approximately 1,900 plots; many remain vacant in early 2021. It sits on former high prairie ground with virtually no trees for shade so grave sites bask in the sunshine year-round. It is positioned at a slightly higher elevation than Wellington; from the cemetery one can look west and see a landscape of lower rolling hills dotted with farmland and country homes stretching up to a magnificent spread of the mountain peaks of the northern Front Range to the west. It’s slogan, “Blessed by the Mountains, Kissed by the Sun”, is most appropriate.
Old timers say it was an Indian cemetery before white settlers arrived; during its development in the early 1900s many arrowheads, Indian artifacts, and even bones were said to have been found in the cemetery. Look around and see if you can find the rare arrowhead that might still be present. If you do, photograph it: don’t remove it! There are no requirements for headstones at Highland Cemetery, so an interesting variety exits. You’ll find wood carvings, a metal fiddle, petrified wood, and unique fencing around some of the graves.
To find the cache, follow these steps:
1) From the starting coordinates go east a short distance and enter the cemetery on the road through the opening.
2) Find a grey stone having a date “1906" engraved on its face and take coordinates for this location at the top of this stone. Although not needed to find the cache, read the engraved words on the back side of this stone. Sound familiar?
3) From the cache location, this stone is at a bearing of 319.3 degrees. The stone is 729 feet from the cache.
4) Go find the cache. It is a medium-sized pill vial.