You've
seen him in the Disney movie Hercules and in Saturday
morning cartoons. But how many people know that Hades,
the villain with his head wrapped in blue flames, resides in
the foothills of Denver?
If you would
like to actually see him, you have to do it at night at the listed
coordinates. You can easily find the cache during
the day, but the real fun is also seeing Hades' blue flames at
night, especially if you have children with you. Since he
isn't much of a day creature, you really won't see Hades' blue
flames unless you visit at
night. During the day, you only see shimmering heat waves,
which are nothing special.
Also, stay
outside his gates, which need not be crossed to find his treasure
that lies within a few feet southeast of them. Safe parking is only
on Rooney Road (Highway 93), which is accessed by going north from
the east side of the town of Morrison or going south directly from
Highway 40. Park on the east side of Rooney Road so that you are
not thought to be illegally dumping trash.
There are
lights from the adjacent C-470 that should provide you with enough
visibility to assist in the finding of the cache. Once you
see Hades at night, you can always point him out to friends and
relatives as you gain access to C-470 southbound from westbound
I-70 or Highway 6.
Dress warmly in
winter and bring a flashlight if you search at night. Be careful of
snakes and never reach under rocks in the summer.
If you've seen
the cartoon, you'll know Hades is generally very unpleasant and
does not like having his picture posted all over the Internet. So
if you do post his picture on this site, it will be deleted to
protect his privacy.
To take the
mystery out of what you're seeing, we provide you with an
explanation of what the unusual blue flame really
is. Continue reading only if you want the
real scientific explanation of what the blue flame
is! If you have kids with you, they're going to wonder what
they saw at night, and you can impress them.
First, if
you didn't accept the challenge to find Hades' Cache at
night, you missed the highpoint of locating this
cache! Hades Cache lies on the eastern perimeter
of what was once a large clay deposit. As the clay was
mined out, Jefferson County began using the site in what came
to be known as the old Rooney Road Landfill (garbage dump!).
The landfill served Jefferson County residents from the 1940's
to 1980, when it was finally filled! The 85 acre site was
capped.
But something
happened after that! Water began seeping through the cap and
accelerated the decomposition of the garbage. The result was
that methane, i.e., natural gas, formed and was detected in 1988 by
monitoring wells. Methane is the same stuff many of us pay
for to heat our homes and cook our food.
In November
2004, a $5.7 million mitigation, capping project was completed
over the landfill. The new cap is water-repellent cap
and is installed over a methane piping system that
prevents the methane from building to dangerous concentrations. The
clean, blue flame is the gas being burned off, or "flared,"
into water and carbon dioxide, just as what happens in your home
furnace or on your stove.
"Hey,"
you're saying! "Doesn't high purity natural gas have some
potential value?" Yes, indeed! There's a potential
for $60,000/year in royalties for the gas that might be used
to heat the "Taj Mahal," the Jefferson County
government complex a short distance to the
north.
But for
now, the capped landfill is planned to become the future
site of 19 athletic fields topped with artificial grass, a
project that will begin before the end of
2005.
* All this
information was gleaned from an article by Jonathan Ellis in the
April 6, 2005, Columbine Courier.