It took just a single clue for University of Colorado graduate student Justin Keller to find the Colorado Daily rock on Monday — and pocket $500 in the process.
“I owe it to having some free time during the day,” said Keller, 26, who is teaching calculus at CU this summer.
But it appears Keller also utilized logic in becoming the second-week winner of the Daily’s five-week Boulder Rocks! competition.
We’ll be back with Week 3 of Boulder Rocks! on Monday morning. Pick up the Colorado Daily or visit ColoradoDaily.com/BoulderRocks for the week’s first clue — and your shot at $500.
Keller said Monday’s clue — “A good starting point might be the western part of the Forest” — led him to Forest Avenue in north Boulder.
After narrowing the possibilities to two public areas — Dakota Ridge Trail and the North Boulder Recreation Center — Keller searched for about an hour before finding the rock hidden at the base of the flagpole in front of the recreation center.
“I made one pass around the Rec Center, just kind of looking everywhere, but I couldn’t find anything,” Keller said. “So I started thinking, ‘Where would I hide it if I had to make four more clues?’ I started looking for distinctive landmarks when the flag jumped out at me … I checked it out and there it was.
“I couldn’t believe I found it.”
Keller said the $500 will help cover the costs of plane tickets he recently purchased to visit relatives.
Since he was unsuccessful in finding last week’s rock, Keller said he went to that hiding spot — a light box inside the bicycle underpass near the intersection of Broadway and Baseline Road — and played out those clues.
“This one was easier after seeing how the first one played out,” Keller said.
