GC6V9P7 Wherigo Cache Vintage Neon- West Colfax Ave
Type: Wherigo | Size: Micro Micro | Difficulty: 2 out of 5 | Terrain: 1.5 out of 5
By: tammy_b @ | Hide Date: 10/10/2016 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 44.423 W105° 05.885 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
Recommended for kids  Available at all times  Public transportation  Bicycles  Stealth required  Flashlight required  Night Cache 

A fun Wherigo with six stops, all in a line, all on the longest road in the world: Colfax Ave. See some beautiful and unique neon signs and learn the history of a time when Colfax was in its heyday. Echo, my favorite puppy, leads you on this journey.

Click here to go to the cartridge.


Since the Stonewall Motel is under construction, I am revealing the coordinates in hopes that it makes this WIG easier. Hopefully there are no fences blocking the access to the spot you need to be.

Are you a neon sign enthusiast? Click here.

WINTER cachers: If the final cache is buried in snow, no need to dig it out. Just post in your log your completion code (or mention that you got one).

Hint is nearly a spoiler. The listed coordinates are for the first stop point. This WIG begins in the 8000 block of W. Colfax, heads west, then loops back to the same block, for a total of 4.5 miles round trip.

Best at night to see the neon signs, as all but one sign are lit at night, but take a buddy and be aware of your surroundings. Photos are welcome but please no spoilers. Please note your favorite sign in your log.

Thanks to cacher KennyV for letting us use photos of his puppy, Echo, for this Wherigo.

Colfax, at 26.5 miles in length, is the longest commercial street in the USA. It was named after the Schulyer Colfax, a powerful Indiana congressman and Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time. Colfax was Speaker when slavery was abolished, and was proud that his signature went on the 13th Amendment.

When Colfax made a trip to Denver in 1865 to visit his sister and to see how the mining industry was doing, Colorado was applying for statehood and because of Colfax's influence, changing the street name to Colfax was supposed to help. Colorado attained statehood ten years later. Colfax Avenue was the southern boundary of Denver at the time the street was named.

Shuyler Colfax went on to become the vice president under Ulysses S. Grant. He was invited to accompany Lincoln to the Ford theater, but declined. He was heavily involved in the planning and construction of the transcontinental railroad. His political career ended when there was a scandal over his handling of railroad funds.

During the 1950's, Colfax Avenue was a wealthy area with scattered mansions, businesses and motels with sparkling swimming pools and glowing neon signs to draw in travelers. The neon signs were each unique to their business, and made with great craftsmanship and artistry.

Then along came Interstate 70, which allowed travelers to completely bypass Colfax. The once-vibrant businesses along the street began their steady decline. Today, the neon signs that survive are a reminder of an important era in the history of Colfax.

The remaining neon signs are in danger of disappearing due to an influx of residents back into the neighborhoods along Colfax causing a demand for new development. The old restaurants, bars, and motels on Colfax as well as their signs are quickly becoming prime targets to be torn down and replaced with artless modern versions of buildings and signs.

New to Wherigos? Wherigo FAQs Here is a play anywhere Wherigo tutorial. And Wherigo forums are the best place to find information about WIGs and your device.

Here are some quick tips:

Wherigos seem to work better on smart phones than on GPS devices.

To play the Wherigo, you will need a Wherigo-enabled device. (For Andriod the app is called "WhereYouGo") info here First upload the Wherigo application to your device, then download the cartridge you want to play from the Wherigo web site, using the app. There is a link to this cartridge above.

As with all Wherigos, make sure you have uploaded the most recent version of the cartridge before you go. COs sometimes make changes to the cartridge and if you have the older version you will have glitches when you go to use it. So just upload it again just before you plan to go.

While using the cartridge, if you are at a zone and there is a glitch of some kind, step 30 feet away and try to enter the zone again. (Wherigo dictates the zones are only 10 feet around.) All zones/ locations are located on public property.

Save frequently during cartridge use.

Choose times of low traffic. Bring paper and pencil to jot down completion code (or take a screen shot) and to sign the log at the final.

Unique to Wherigos, there are two places to log them once found. Post a find on geocaching.com as usual. Groundspeak created another web site just for Wherigos: http://wherigo.com. Note there are no GC codes on this site; you have to do a search by area. To log this cache on Wherigo.com, go to the cache web page and click on the key icon, and enter your completion code. The cartridge will give you this code after the very last stop of the cartridge. Be ready as it is only given once!

FTF! youkfish

Thanks to Greasepot for agreeing to help with maintenance for this cache.

Thanks again to Ranger Fox for his easy-to-use Wherigo kit! RF WIG kit

References: Westword, http://www.colfaxavenue.com/p/history-of-colfax-avenue.html

Additional Waypoints

046V9P7 - Stage 5
N 39° 44.421 W 105° 08.069
Stonewall Motel
 Custom URLs

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Picture Gallery

 Additional Waypoints (1)

CodeNameTypeCommentsDateCoordinatesDistance
046V9P7Stage 5 Virtual Stage Stonewall Motel 10/10/2016 N 39° 44.421 W 105° 08.069 3.11 kms W 

 Hints

west side of tree, bush, cammo pill bottle

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Driving Directions

 Logs

8 Logs: Found it 6  Write note 2  

Found it 06/01/2019 By djkfisher
Thanks so much for all the smiles! We so appreciate the effort to place caches:)

That was a blast and I even ate at one of the locations. Too cool and it gets a favorite

We are up from Bend Oregon for a little work and a little Geocaching.

May the road rise up to meet you!
May the wind be always at your back!
May the sun shine warm upon your face!

Found using Cachly on our iPhoneX

Found it 05/25/2019 By Denali41
I came down from Wellington today with my puppies Orizaba and Chimborazo, hoping to finish up the great wherigo Selentic Age and then come farther south to get the "neon" wherigos along Colfax Avenue. Things worked out well, and I worked my way through three cartridges, including Vintage Neon-East Colfax and Vintage Neon--West Colfax. Unfortunately, I had forgotten all about Neon Americana--East Colfax, so that will require a return trip.

It was a super day of sun and warmth, such a change from the past week of cold, cloudy, rainy weather. As jaspardakota mentioned in the found log, the cache container is no longer to be found. Based on that note, I brought a replacement and placed it in the specific locale mentioned in the hint. So all is "go" with this wherigo again. Thanks for this wherigo, tammy_b!!

Found it 05/18/2019 By kb0rpw
Fun and supper at the last stop

Found it 07/05/2018 By jasperdakota
Thanks for the fun wherigo! The Stonewall Motel is under construction. Had to crawl under the fence to pick up the waypoint. Also, couldn't find the cache. Didn't have any supplies with me to leave a replacement. Maybe the next finder can drop a replacement cache.

Write note 06/26/2018 By tammy_b
If the next cacher would please make a note of which sign is missing, I will update cartridge. Please be specific. Thanks!

Write note 06/10/2018 By Powderhoundz
CompletIon code: GQZDCOJUGQYTMNJ

Found it 06/10/2018 By Powderhoundz
TFT fun cache. This was our second Wherigo and was a lot of fun.

Found it 04/29/2018 By SPat ABQ
We had a blast running this program. One of the stages was fenced off and getting ready to be torn down apparently. I had to slip under the fence and do a little trespassing, but we did get it to ring. The final stage was not where it was supposed to be, we think it is missing.
We did finish the program and gave the final a good looking for.
TFTWC!