Colorado
A ring or a necklace missing after a day in the Colorado mountains
Ski towns, Grand Lake, Dillon Reservoir, Lake Pueblo, the Western Slope and the Front Range
With a lost necklace or a lost ring in the Colorado mountains, the first job is to fix the spot while you still remember it. It might be the free sledding hill at Carter Park, four blocks east of Main Street in Breckenridge. It might be the sandy Town Beach at Grand Lake, where the marinas rent kayaks and paddleboards. A mitten pulled off in the cold can take a ring with it, and a clasp can open while you lift a kayak.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Colorado with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The same goes for an engagement ring, an Oura ring, earrings, a bracelet or chain, an Apple Watch, metal-framed glasses or a hearing aid, and for car keys, a key fob or a phone in the snow.
How a mountain search is put together from a few messages
Start with the town and the exact place: the park, the marina, the boat ramp, the lift or the trail. Then go back through the day and write down where your gloves came off, where you carried a boat and where you put a bag down. Take one wide photo from where you stood, so that a lift tower, a dock or a building shows where that was.
Drop a pin, note the day and the hour, and send it all to us on WhatsApp with a picture of the item. A search for a metal detectorist near me may bring up nobody around Telluride or Pagosa Springs, and finding one who can travel there is our part.
Areas and towns we cover in Colorado
- Denver, Colorado Springs and the Front Range
- Boulder and Fort Collins
- Breckenridge
- Frisco and Dillon
- Vail
- Aspen
- Steamboat Springs
- Telluride
- Glenwood Springs
- Pagosa Springs
- Grand Lake
- Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park
- Great Sand Dunes
- Blue Mesa Reservoir
- Granby and Lake Granby
- Pueblo and Lake Pueblo State Park
- Grand Junction and the Western Slope
- Loma and Highline Lake State Park
Where in Colorado it happened
The Front Range has a longer page of its own, linked from its card.
Trailheads, city parks and swim beaches along the Front Range
From Fort Collins to Colorado Springs the places are foothill trails such as the Castle Trail in Mount Falcon Park, city lawns like Denver's Washington Park, and reservoirs, from the roped-off swim area at Cherry Creek State Park to the coves of Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins. Each of them has its own section on Denver, Colorado Springs and the Front Range.
Ski town parks, winter and summer
Howelsen Hill belongs to the City of Steamboat Springs, which runs alpine skiing, Nordic and snowshoe trails and tubing there. The seven-mile (about 11 km) Yampa River Core Trail follows the river through downtown. Breckenridge has its sledding hill at Carter Park. Telluride's visitor site lists athletic fields, sand volleyball and a fishing pond at Town Park in summer, then ice rinks and Nordic skiing in winter. In Vail and Aspen, tell us the park, the lift or the street.
Grand Lake, Lake Granby and Dillon Reservoir
Grand Lake is a town on a lake: wooden boardwalks, a sandy Town Beach, and marinas that rent boats, pedal boats, kayaks and paddleboards. Colorado's tourism office also points visitors there to Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake Granby. In Frisco, the Frisco Bay Marina on Dillon Reservoir has a sandy beach, boat slips, mooring balls and kayak racks, and the town of Dillon has a marina on the same water. For a loss from a boat, send the name of the marina and what you could see on shore.
Rocky Mountain, Great Sand Dunes and Blue Mesa
Rocky Mountain National Park has entrances above Estes Park and at Grand Lake. Sprague Lake, on Bear Lake Road, has a 0.7-mile (1.1 km) loop trail around it. At Great Sand Dunes, Medano Creek reaches the Dunes Parking Area in spring, peaks in late May or early June, and people wade, splash and float in it. Blue Mesa Reservoir, in Curecanti National Recreation Area, is the largest body of water in Colorado, with 96 miles (about 155 km) of shoreline and marinas at Elk Creek and Lake Fork.
Sixty miles of shoreline at Lake Pueblo
Lake Pueblo State Park has over 4,600 surface acres (about 1,860 hectares) of water and 60 miles (about 97 km) of shoreline on Colorado Parks and Wildlife's figures. The North and South boat ramps each sit beside a marina, and both have courtesy docks. A campsite number, a ramp or a dock turns a very large lake into a small search.
The Western Slope and the hot springs towns
On the Western Slope, Highline Lake State Park is in Loma, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife calls it a base camp for exploring the Grand Junction area. It has two lakes, Highline and Mack Mesa, 56 campsites and 9.6 miles (about 15 km) of trails. Glenwood Springs, Pagosa Springs and Steamboat Springs are hot springs towns. If something went missing in one of them, tell us the street, the park or the river bank.
Plain facts about dealing with Ring Seekers
A single WhatsApp conversation
Your messages go to one person from start to finish, and that person briefs the detectorist with your map and photos.
What we say when the place is vague
If all you know is that a lost ring is somewhere along Lake Pueblo's 60 miles of shoreline, the odds are poor, and our first reply says so. Name the dock or the campsite and it is a different conversation.
A detectorist suited to the ground
Snow on the sledding hill in Breckenridge, beach sand at Frisco Bay Marina and the water beside a dock at Lake Pueblo are not the same search. We look for a detectorist used to the kind of ground you lost it on.
Money is discussed before dates
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
Snow, cold water and what is underfoot
Snow in Denver and up in the ski towns
Snow can fall in Denver from September to May, and the National Weather Service's long-term average there is 56.6 inches (about 144 cm) a season. Up in the ski towns the parks stay in use all winter: Carter Park in Breckenridge for sledding, Howelsen Hill in Steamboat for tubing and Nordic trails. A key dropped on a snowy path could be pressed in by the next pair of boots or lifted away with a shovel load, so tell us if the snow has been cleared since.
High reservoirs and Front Range swim beaches
Dillon Reservoir is a high alpine reservoir, and the Frisco marina points out that its water was snow shortly before it arrived. There we ask about the beach, the docks and the boats. On the Front Range, the swim beaches at Cherry Creek and Chatfield keep a season from Memorial Day through Labor Day. For anything lost in water, say whether the water reached your ankles, knees or waist, and name something on the shore that was directly behind you.
What was under your feet
Tell us whether you were on grass, sand, dirt or pavement, for example a lawn in Grand Junction or the sand at Grand Lake, and whether the ground has been mown, raked or groomed since.
Questions about a search in Colorado
My gold chain came off on the Town Beach at Grand Lake last weekend, and we are back home in Denver now. Is a week too long?
No, write to us. Tell us where on the beach your towels were, the day and roughly the hours you were there. A photo from that afternoon with the chain in it helps.
My engagement ring came off inside my mitten on the sledding hill at Carter Park in Breckenridge. We typed metal detecting Colorado into a phone and got nowhere, so the kids are digging with their hands. Should they carry on?
Ask them to stop, and keep everyone off that patch. Stand something upright where the mitten came off and photograph it from above and from below on the hill. Then send us the photos, the time and a picture of the ring.
My car key is somewhere between the tubing at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat and where we left the car, and it has snowed since. How do we describe where to look?
Start from the car. Tell us where you parked, the way you walked to the tubing and back, and every place you stopped to pull off gloves or get a phone out. A line drawn on a map screenshot is enough.
My phone came out of my jacket on the groomed Nordic track on the Town Park fields in Telluride. Nobody has handed it in. What else can we try?
Write to us while the afternoon is clear in your head. Mark on a map screenshot where you put your skis on, where you fell or stopped, and where you took the jacket off.
My husband's wedding band went into the water beside a courtesy dock at the North Boat Ramp on Lake Pueblo while we were loading the boat. The lake is huge. Does knowing the dock help?
It helps a great deal. Lake Pueblo is very large, but the water beside one courtesy dock is a small place. The North Boat Ramp has two courtesy docks, so tell us which one, which side of it and the date.
My dad's class ring came off while we played catch in his yard in Grand Junction. My brother says a metal detector rental would sort it out in an hour. Is he right?
He may be. Renting one yourself can suit a fresh loss on dry sand or a lawn, and a yard is that kind of place. A detectorist makes more sense for wet sand, water, a large area or a small item. If the rental finds nothing, send us a sketch of the yard.
My Oura ring slid off while I was dragging my kayak up the sandy beach at Frisco Bay Marina, and I only noticed at the car. Sand or water, which do I tell you?
Both. On a photo of the beach, mark where the kayak came out of the water and the line you walked to the car. That gives the detectorist one strip of sand and one strip of shallows instead of the whole shore.
Colorado
One WhatsApp message about what went missing, and where in Colorado
The town, the place and the item are enough to begin.
It can be a lost ring, a necklace, a watch, keys or a phone. Send the first message while the day is still clear in your mind, and we will ask for the rest.