Our Last Letterboxing Adventure

...of 2007.
One last adventure for 2007 with a good friend was all I was looking for. I packed the girls up and grabbed our letterboxing bag. We were heading to the place where all good adventures begin, Leopard Forest Coffee shop. There were three Little Foxes waiting on us there.
We certainly could not think of a better way to spend the day!

Once we settled in with our coffee and our clues, we decided to head up the road towards Wildcat Wayside. We made a few quick drive-by stops and then we got to the good stuff. “Just a short little hike...really easy...nothing to it” I assured Mama Fox.
I always forget those uphill climbs, creek crossings and bouldering spots: ) We only needed a “Little First Aid” along the way. This box actually might have come in even handier later in our day. Maybe Holly should consider making another for the “extreme” box at Jone's Gap? We found the wildcat at Wildcat Falls and then after seeing the BIG falls... we headed “Home” (my last box of the year, by the way).
We contemplated Ashemore Heritage Preserve, but there is a bit of a river crossing in that hike and we thought better of it since it was chilly and the rivers were running full. Of course, if I had known Mama Fox was going to be showing her adventurous side, I might have pushed the chance to do this one, too!
We drove over to Jones Gap and headed straight for that dang Carolina WoolyBooger! What was I thinking even telling Mama Fox how fun this was? Why didn't I just tell her it was too far to do with kids? The river was truly raging and churning. It was enough to strike fear in my heart and cause Mama Fox to think not once... but twice about it. I offered to get it for her, but she declined. She prepared to leap. Over the roaring water, I said, "Maybe we should wait..." but it was lost over the noise and she took the leap. She made it to the box just fine, but getting back was another story. Mama Fox decided on another route for the way back. She disappeared into the rhododendron.
We waited and waited. I began to imagine her in the river, her logbook soaked (tragedy of all tragedies!) Foxy Boy looked at me with those blue eyes that see into your heart and I knew if she was gone it was my fault. Hikers passed us and I wondered if they had seen her upriver. I kept glancing upriver looking for her. Finally my heart stopped as I saw her, pants rolled up, precariously balancing her backpack making it across the river in 40 degree December weather. I wish I had snapped a photo, but I was too busy praying, “Please, let her make it across, please!” I started taking off my socks in case she needed them.
She made it.
One pair of wet pants and one pair of wet shoes later, she came down the trail smiling! Great, Muggle Fox was NEVER going to let her go boxing with me again. Crazy Fox!!! She got the box and kept her logbook out of the river. AND she was still game for a few more boxes. However, she reassured me that I was not to blame, it was Holly of Talley Valley Farm Clan's fault! Holly gave Mama Fox the idea after the adventure with her grumpy troll. Whew! Maybe Muggle Fox will still let Mama Fox out of the house with us?
All's well that ends well, right?

My Christmas Present!

I got a wonderful Christmas present this year! My family (husband, four kids and two dogs!) took me letterboxing on Christmas Eve. For a few of them the gift was at first, a little forced. But by the end of our day, we had all had a wonderful time together. And a bonus is that the little ones were worn out sufficiently to crash for the big day. I don't even think they could hold open their eyes to listen for reindeer hooves!
We began our trip at Wildcat Falls, where we found “A Little First Aid”. Wildcat Wayside Park is a popular wayside park. On any given day there are 5 or 6 cars parked here. We were pleasantly surprised to see not one car today! I guess most folks aren't out hiking on Christmas Eve. That was good news for us letterboxers. We hiked to the end of the trail before we finally found a “Wildcat”. I am so glad Traveling Duo made us go that far for the box. My husband and I had hiked this entire trail years ago. Without that box there, we may never have hiked it again, Thanks for the box TD: )
We headed out from here to Ashmore Heritage Preserve. There was a “Grumpy Old Bear' waiting in a cave for us. We found him and a nest full of mice! The dogs really wanted to get at those rodents! But we kept them apart. We headed up the trail a little further to find a beautiful “Blue Bottle”. We love the wood backing on Kya and Karver's stamps. It is such a special touch. We have been to AHP three times now and were very happy we had no need to go all the way down to the lake. It's a steep climb back up!!
From here we made a quick stop at the F-mart. Not sure what the F stands for, but when I was a camp counselor at the local Girl Scout camp, we called it the 'Fart'-Mart. If you have never been by the F-mart, this box is a great excuse to ramble on in. There are a few things you should know first. Somewhere around there is a 60 pound black cat! He's friendly. The owner is friendly too. He lives across the street, and knows everything about everybody in this neck of the woods! He will also try to sell you a 50 cent piece for $5. Check out the wall inside the store over the tables. There are a zillion pictures and newspaper articles that are VERY interesting. My favorite is the article about the 42 rattlesnakes found on Wonderland Range Road nearby! We had already driven past this box once and seen that we were not going to be able to get it. We were hoping this would be our chance. The horseshoe drive was unoccupied and we got our dogs out for a quick potty break next to a big stump. But...what is that? A letterbox in the stump? Yep, with one of those famous hot dogs! That's another thing I forgot to tell you. F-Mart really does have the best hot dogs in town!
Last stop was Jones Gap. This is one of our very favorite parks in the whole wide world! We don't even need the excuse of letterboxes to go here. But the letterboxes we found today were lots of fun! Smokey the bear was the first box. Then we went to cross over the bridge into the park and a grumpy troll jumped out! The troll made us give him our first born son in exchange for the right to cross the bridge. It was a fair trade and our son is happy with the grumpy trolls. At least he won't have to letterbox anymore: ) From here we were in search of a missing dog, “Benson”. He really gave us a run for our money. We tried a few trails before we finally figured this out! But we did manage to find that cute little puppy! Then we headed to Jones Gap trail for a puzzling box, “3rd on 6th”, still puzzling over that. After that we thought we saw a “Wildcat' in the cave of a boulder. We ran ahead on the trail until we had to face the “Carolina Woolybooger”. Were we brave enough? This was a really fun box once we figured it out! We were really going have to go after this one! It took some courage, but we faced him! We highly recommend you do too!
What a great day! I love my family!! Merry Christmas to my letterboxing family, too! May you be as blessed as I was today. I also want to mention ldm. I met them in Leopard Forest a few weeks ago and they knew me right away from reading my blog. She and her husband were so nice! I can't wait for all of you to meet them!

Table Rock Ups and Downs-Part II

From our summit experience, we headed back down. Only 7 more miles to go! We had renewed our energies since we knew would be going downhill and then following a ridge. The trail ahead of us was daunting but we felt strong! We made our way precariously down the Table Rock Trail. We had that look I had seen in those who passed us as we trudged uphill. We looked satisfied, energized and most importantly we were not panting.
We came to the crossroads and watched as some of the familiar hikers we had seen along the way continued down. We took the road less traveled.
Right away we could tell it was less traveled. It was as if we entered an entirely different world. Where we had been headed on a minor hiking highway before, now the trail was more like an Indian foot path, the earth was soft beneath our feet. The weeds criss-crossed ahead of us as if to keep their well known secret. Most noticeably, the boulders disappeared, not to be seen again until much later in our hike! The ridge immediately confronted us with it's steepness. There were no rock stairways here to guide our feet, no showiness, just steep hills.
“Mom, I thought you said this was going to be flatter,” came from behind me.
We pushed our calves until they felt like concrete blocks begging us to stop. The trail would level out, we would sigh relief and then up we would go again. Finally on a level ridge, we passed a small group of hikers headed the opposite way. They asked us how much more uphill they had to go and then we knew we must be headed down. We went down into a rhododendron tunnel and enjoyed the cool, lush greenness of it. Somewhere just past the bottom of this descent was the Mill Creek Pass trail. I had already decided we were probably going to take this. The thought of one more steep climb to Pinnacle was too much for that moment. We got to the pass and I thought I would run up the Ridge trail and get the Little Brown Jug box. Surely it was fairly close by. After searching for a few tenths of a mile, I couldn't find the landmark so I returned to the fambly. 'd' and I made a decision. After looking over the map, it wasn't that much farther to get to Pinnacle's summit. Sure it was all uphill, but then it would be all downhill from there, right? We decided to go for it. We knew we would regret being that close and not doing it one day. So after eating our Power Bars we headed on up.
Our Hiking South Carolina book had warned that this part of the trail was steep, but we found it to be very do-able. We ascended to a high point, only to be greeted just around the curve in the trail, by another hill. After we ascended the third of these, we were sure we were at the top. The summits are not very well marked here. Table Rock Summit did not a marker, so we weren't expecting Pinnacle to have one. Our guide book had also warned us that the summit was tree covered, with no views. We looked around us and could not see another higher point. So we decided it was time to plant our summit box. We found just the perfect tree. A little too perfect! It looked like a bear might be setting up camp there any moment now, so we opted to hide the box behind the tree. We didn't want to risk being responsible for any letterboxer losing a limb to a grumpy bear! After this we set off with light hearts and feet, knowing that the road would be all downhill from here....
But we were wrong! We ascended a few more steep hills before we actually made it to the summit. It was too far to go back and get the box, so it still lies just short of the pinnacle of Pinnacle, oh well! If we ever make it back up there,we intend on moving it. But that will have to wait.
Now we were really headed downhill. And downhill was no joking matter. We reeled down several twisty, steep inclines just barely hanging on. It was like a roller coaster for hikers! We knew one thing for absolute sure: we were glad we had not come up this way!!
After passing the beginning of the Foothills Trail (which I left my box at home for, dangit!) we soon came to Bald Rock. Not to be confused with the Bald Rock that locals send cars over and my college friend found a dead body at! This Bald Rock has a spectacular view. Probably one of the best in all of Table Rock State Park. The sea of mountains gently rolling out of the flat lands against the late afternoon sun was comforting. We were still feeling good, knowing our big hike was nearing to an end.
We descended a little more and came to the Mill Creek Pass. This was a great resting spot and we managed to locate a hidden still, which could've made the rest of our hike painless. While we were able to find the still, it appeared that the Revenuers had confiscated the moonshine!
We enjoyed the cool river for a moment and then headed on. We were guessing we still had about three miles to go and we were ready to be back at the bottom of the mountain. When we came to Mill Creek Falls it was clear that our area is in a sever drought. Very little water trickled down the stair step rock faces. We did several river crossings on our way down. The rivers here are not the smooth pebbled mountain rivers, but wild and full of boulders and long slick rocks. I was fascinated with the sluice that channeled the entire river through a 6 inch gash in a flat rock. The water rushed through as if it was a sharp knife slicing cleanly into it.
After this we entered into forest hiking. Lots of land and boulders beginning to pop up out of nowhere. Rock walls dwelt beside the trial in harmony with the land, not imposing giants like on the Table Rock trail. This was when we began to walk with a hypnotic step. One foot in front of the other. We could've been doing it in our sleep! We were getting very tired and more than ready to be done, but there was still a mile or so to go. Our feet were aching and our legs would probably not know how to stop when we did get to the end of the trail.
When we saw Carrick Creek and then hooked up with the Carrick Creek trail we were elated. I am sure that the Carrick creek trail is beautiful in it's own right, but it was beautiful to us because it meant the end was truly in sight!
As we rejoined the paved section of the trail I reached in my pocket to get our hiking pink slip out. I placed it into the box, so the rangers would know we made it out alive. Then I headed straight for the nearby water fountain. As I greedily slurped water, 'd' elbowed me. I thought he was trying to get his turn at the fountain, so I tried to get in one last slurp. When I looked up he was pointing to the kiosk where I had dropped off our hiking slip and there were Kya and Karver Redfern! It was so good to see them. We chatted a bit and then headed on our way home...to meatball subs and Coke! Delicious!!! Maybe one of the top three meals of my life.
Total hike: 11.4 miles

You Came!!

When the Jwalkers and our family discussed having a gathering at Table Rock, we hoped that a few of you would make it...we were VERY pleasantly surprised. Quite a lot of you showed up! It was a lot of fun meeting so many new friends and seeing lots of old friends. We think letterboxers are some of the nicest folks in the world and you all proved it! The crowd started trickling in Friday night and the party continued through lunchtime today. We all agreed we want to do this again, but in warmer weather, so look out for next year's event!
Highlights:
Meeting two muggle dads in one day: Muggle Fox and Dixie's Muggle! Very nice young men. I hope they weren't forever scarred by the craziness. It was quite a treat to see the men behind these famous women: )
Seeing the cornucopia bread that Flour Girl made for the event stamp! It was amazing!! We were sorry to see pieces of it go to feed the ducks, but I am sure the ducks were happy to get it.
Watching the cootie center! I don't think it kept a cootie in it longer that 15 seconds. Those kids were cootie-ing fast and furious! And I think we only came home with 2.
Special guests! We were able to meet Cyclonic and Schizokete from PA and VA. High Roller came from WI (he actually just moved here, but since he still has WI plates, we're claiming it!). Isabeau and her crew came from GA. Ghopper and family and Firefighter family was there. The florys and Richards6 came all the way from mid NC. Of course, Dixie, Knit Wit and the Foxes from WNC were there. The Box Hunters from Columbia, SC and the Dawg Pound. The Grey Crazy crew and the Peas came up from Greenwood. LOTS of local boxers came. I didn't have enough time to get around and speak to everyone, but thanks SO much for coming!! One surprise guest was Paula, of the Woody Clowns. She made us some chicken for breakfast and wienies for late night snacks. Nothing like waking up to a clown wandering around the campground!
Watching the kids play, play and play some more! They had marshmallow roasts, scary stories, blond stories (from the head blond, PizzaNia!) and glow sticks (thanks JJJAKERS!). Also seeing them carry that dead muskrat across our campsites, sheesh!
Knowing at elast one person made it to the top of Table Rock! Thanks highroller!
Night boxing. We had a total of 10 night boxes. Nine on the trail and one very special bonus box that Cyclonic shared with us. AMAZING, is all I have to say about that! Also thanks for your cheerful rainbow lights Cyclonic!
Noticing the generosity of letterboxers. Raffle prizes donated from near and far, canned goods for the food pantries and clothing and dog toys for the family whose house burned down, well wishes for our military dad in Afghanistan. All of these were wonderful gestures. But it was all capped off for me when JJJAKERS, who had decided to head home early to thaw out, offered to leave their tent set up for Woody Clowns so that the clowns would not need to set up in the dark!
Hearing the banjo band at campsite #62. Whoever you are, thanks! We really enjoyed the music.
Warm bathrooms! I can't tell you how many times I truly considered putting my bed in the bathroom for the night!
This mornings sermon on letterboxing. Did you know that there was letterboxing in Jesus' time? Just ask TD of the Jwalkers! I hope to post his acronym for letterboxing for all of you who missed it. I never thought I'd hear a sermon like this one: )
I am sure I have forgotten some more great moments. After a few days rest I hope to be a little more coherent! Thanks you for coming to our event and making it so spectacular! We really enjoyed meeting you.

Table Rock Ups and Downs Part I

Yesterday was a perfect day for a hike! Even Weather.com agreed with us on that. We set out on our pilgrimage completely prepared. We had sandwiches, hot soup, water and trail mix. We had our first aid kit, glow lights, and emergency blankets. We had maps, books and clues, of course! I even wore my Pocket Full of Rocks T-shirt over my long sleeve shirt in case we got lost and ended up on the news: ) I figured a little publicity for my cousin's band couldn't hurt. Plus it's a really cool T-shirt! Over that I wore a red vest for easy spotting.
Those of you who know me, know that it was an extraordinary accomplishment for me to be this prepared. My unusual sense of caution came from the voice of all of my friends who care echoing in my head. So you see, you all are rubbing off on me: )
The boys came with us. Being 12 and 13, we thought they could handle the hike. And handle it they they did! I venture to say that they were far more physically prepared than we were and have fewer aches today than we do!
Our prelude to the hike was a stop for a roadside 'Hiawatha' box. This was clever and fun to find.
The hike itself, however, opened with tragedy. As I was climbing a steep grade in search of a hidden treasure, my camera, which had been wrapped around my wrist, fell off and rolled down into the waterfall below (while I truly looked on in horror!). We were able to retrieve it, but it is not working and I was not able to take pictures of the wonderful sights we saw yesterday. Unfortunately, I spent the next two or three miles consumed in grief. My camera is almost a part of me. It is truly one of my most loved means of communication. Once I overcame my sorrow, I tried to catalogue as much of the wonder in words as I could to share with you. We'll see how much I can remember.
Anyways, in spite of my grief, I couldn't help but be in awe of the boulders and rocky giants that guarded the trail. Table Rock trail is a difficult hike. It is constantly up, up and up! There are steps gouged into the stones to help you on your way. For all of it's difficulty, we saw many young and old traveling the way. We saw cub scouts, boy scouts, teenagers, and retired folks. We saw families like us and young couples holding hands. We saw a grandfather and his four year old grandson. Amazingly we never heard the boy whine! The common factor was that we were all pilgrims on this well worn highway to our hiking mecca and we were all panting at one point or another!
As we forged ahead past the stone trolls, we eventually came to Governor's Rock. This rock is a God-send. As you come up out of the trail onto the rock face, you are first overwhelmed by the sudden open sky. Then the enormity of the rock you are standing on hits you. Finally, as you return to normal breathing, you take a seat and let the beauty of the spot sink in. The rock face itself is rippled and pocked, covered in spots by a soft worn moss. The moss is graced with yellow flowers that sway in the mountain top winds. The view from this rock is a western-facing view towards the two highest points in SC, Sassafrass mountain and Pinnacle mountain. We were tempted to be completely satisfied with making it to this point. However, after a few minutes rest, we pressed on.
The trail ascends a little after this and the gives you a chance to rest your weary feet along a ridge. The light speckled through the golden, orange, pink and red dangling fall leaves. At one place in the trail we walked under a few red maples. The light passed through the trees and then reflected off of the carpet beneath our feet and bathed us in a salmon glow. It was a surreal feeling. We found the summit of Table Rock and enjoyed another brief rest.
After the summit, we headed down hill a good ways before coming to the famed 'Table'. We investigated the many rock faces, each time going on a little further. We found a great picnic spot on some soft moss covered rock under the twisted wind blown pines. From our spot we had a view of Slicking Rock Falls. This is a huge scar shaped Rock face on an opposite mountain side. A monarch butterfly also flew lazily past our heads. Our lunch was a welcome feast! We had peanut butter and honey, chips and hot chicken soup. Wally-world carries these soup/hot chocolates containers that are self heating. Too heavy for an extended hike, but we were willing to carry them for ours. Yum! Nothing like chicken noodle soup on a mountain top.
Once our bellies were full and our feet were rested, we got up the nerve to find and 'Adrenaline Junkie'. We found the true end of the trail and the box. This, in itself, would have been awesome, but we were seeking another mountain top experience.

Nothing to do with Letterboxing...

We had so much fun on Halloween this year. We took lots of fun pictures and I thought some of our Letterboxing friends might want to see them: ) So
Happy Halloween!

Setting the Table

Table Rock, here we come!

If you haven't signed up yet, I am going to lure you with these fun pictures from our last stop at Table Rock!

Friday the Little Foxes and the Fambly headed over to Table Rock to do some scouting. I am so excited about this gathering. The lakeside picnic shelter is going to be a neat place to eat and greet. The playground and bathrooms are a stones throw away. The trails are covered in fallen leaves. The views are breathtaking. I can't wait to see all of our old friends and meet some new ones!
Bring your tents, campers, coats and marshmallows. Don't forget canned food for the food shelter.
By the way, The Little Foxes and I did see a bear on our hike Friday, so please be careful. We are sure these same bears will still be out there in November.

Above All: Be Discreet!!!

Media coverage, large groups trampling the area, children screaming,"Here's the letterbox, mom!" for all the world to hear...All of these topics are sure to get a response on the AQ message boards. Letterboxers are almost like a secret spy organization. We memorize our clues, we go from tree to tree always watching behind us, we call outsiders 'muggles' or 'birds'. We grab our loot, get our work done and carefully replace it until it is invisible to the human eye. All the while looking over our shoulder. We wear our 'plain clothes' so that we never attract attention.
Usually.
When I met a local clown, I was skeptic about her blending in abilities. She assured me she was discreet. She always took her round, red nose off when boxing. She never made insane balloon animals while boxing, although her children might be wearing balloon hats. She reassured me this was normal.
I wasn't so sure.
Yesterday she proved to me that a clown can actually be a perfect disguise in some cases! At a local Senior Citizens Fall Festival a few of us managed to have a mini gathering. Nobody ever even took a second look.
I think I might get one of those noses.

We Got Our Passport!

Life can get hectic and sometimes you just need to get away. That's exactly what we did last weekend. We packed up our tent and headed to Boone, NC. Of course, our getaway was coincidentally timed to match a gathering. And we coincidentally had camp sites right next to the Flory Family and the Little Foxes.
The gathering was very laid back and wonderfully put together. Thanks Shoafsters for all you put into it, especially all of the planting you and Sweet and Sour did. We were able to find many boxes and see most of the highlights of Boone and Blowing Rock.
The Boone Greenway is home to several boxes. Our fambly had a wonderful walk first thing Saturday morning on this paved trail. Walking it left us longing for one in our town. The girls slowed us down a good bit, though, and it wasn't because of their walking speed. It was all of the jewelweed lining the path. They love popping
the seed pods.

Bring a picnic lunch and make a day of it. There is a baby apatasaurus that needs to be rescued, after all.
When we returned to the shelter we found the playground series. The girls loved digging them out of the sand. What a neat idea. There were several very cool event stamps. I especially loved the shredded carrots. That had me fooled, for sure. I'm glad I didn't get a spoonful of PZ cut on my salad. I blinked and almost missed Mama Wolf-with no cubs in tow- and jeepsterhound. I did miss Mountain Scorpia. I think she was somewhere acquiring the sweet nectar of life I like to call good coffee.
After spending a good part of the day here, we headed back to the campground where the dads and kids wanted to stay. Considering the awesome rope swing, the river full of trout and the cool bouldering area that came with our campsites, I don't blame them.

But Erica and I were itching to get at those boxes, so we headed out and got a few on our own. We got some of our passport stamps and ran into The Little Foxes along the way.
We returned to camp just in time to make dinner and smores. Yum!

The whole time we were licking the sticky off of our fingers, though, we were remembering which boxes we had missed. So Erica Flory and I decided to find some in the dark after the kids had nestled down in their sleeping bags. The dads held the tents down while we were out on the town. Hey, at least it was letterboxing. And we managed to NOT attract the attention of any police. We did learn that one of the boxes is near a gazebo that is lighted all night, great for midnight log-ins. And the Performing Arts Center looks even more magical at night when it is all lit up. However, for the Blowing Rock box we highly recommend 2 flashlights with working batteries. There is a bit of a drop off there. We did make it back safe and sound.
Sunday we said goodbye to our camp buddies and hit the road with as many boxes mapped out on our way as possible. We really didn't need to say goodbye to our buddies, though because we saw them again and again along the way. We never knew who was following who.
The Candy Barrel was a great stop for the kids. And then we, of course, had to go see the original Mast General Store. We were treated to live bluegrass music on the back porch.

Now our only passport stamp left was the Grandfather Mountain one. We mapped the parkway boxes out and got one or two, but were short on time. Since 'd' had been so patient we did the viaduct with him.

He loves engineering feats and had never driven this section of the parkway. It was amazing. The Missing Link had to be one of our top ten all time favorite boxes EVER! We are all about the place when it comes to boxes and this box was in such a wonderful place. But then the stamp turned out to be a treat, as well. WOW!
We finished up our trip with a stop at Grandfather Mountain. It was a sweet victory to get every box in that passport filled in. To top it all off, the last box was near monuments to two of my favorite botanists, Asa Gray and Andre Micheaux. Micheaux is known for discovering Oconee Bells, a subject of one of our Woodland Wildflowers series. His feet have trod Grandfather Mountain in search of the many diverse flora and fauna. I hope that ours will follow one day.
After finishing our passport, we were content to ride off into the sunset. Too bad we had to go back to the real world!

Reflections

Finally...after what seems like ages (probably just a month), the boys and I got out and got one letterbox!! It was such a good feeling to be on the trail with my pack on my back. I could've gone a few miles, but I only had a short time. I knew exactly where the box was because it was on the way to the first box we ever found. So after finding “Tiger Swallowtail” (which is a beautiful stamp, by the way!) we decided to go re-visit that first find. “Knot in Paris” was still in place, high and dry with the original logbook! We found our first sign in. Each of the kids had signed their names and we had a little store bought stamp, but had forgotten our ink.So we traced the stamp image onto the paper. A year and about 280 finds later, we are still boxing!
With two of our children in public school this year and me working on weekends, we will not be boxing quite so much this year. I guess it is nice to slow down and enjoy the hunt, though. We'll just keep taking it one box at a time.

EDITED to say: OK, I see our last trip boxing was actually August 8, less than a month ago. It feels like it's been years: )

Clowning Around

The Woody Clowns contacted me about getting together because they had a little 'surprise' for me. You can't imagine the wonderings that filled my head in the days preceding this meeting. I don't know what it is about me and clowns. I think I have some childhood issues I need to resolve! Anyways, I was certain I would be explaining to the owners of Leopard Forest why there were clowns in the cafe. And I was mildly afraid that I was going to be clown-napped. I left most of the children at home for this reason: ) I only brought one to keep me company should we end up in the circus.
As usual, the Woody clowns surprised me, pleasantly! They are really SO nice and not scary. If any of you have clown issues, like me, they are the clowns to meet!! They did not show up with little red noses, big shoes and brightly colored hair and the only clown-napping that was imminent would have been of my own planning. With only one vehicle (van is begin repaired for cooling system failures...imagine that in this heat??!!) we did juggle a few ideas for carpooling to the Greenwood mecca of letterboxes together before school starts.
My surprise from Paula of the Woody Clowns was a plb of a clown car! It was perfect!! Also, Threespoiledboxers passed on a HILARIOUS cootie! Be on the lookout for the BP cootie, coming to a boxer near me..SOON!!

Threespoiledboxers and a new boxer, Armymom, also showed up. Yep, another mini-gathering: ) We are all looking right at home in the coffee shop aren't we?
Armymom was well indoctrinated and I am sure left with her head in a whirl..postals, cooties, exchanges... She still seemed more excited, not less, when she left. I think that's a good sign that she is one if us!
So for all of those boxers I asked to come in after me, should I not make it out alive...I made it! And who knows, I might even become a clown for a day myself one of these days?
Especially if there is a letterbox involved!

That's Just WEIRD!!!

While browsing a local Barnes and Noble a very special book caught my eye. In large fiery letters I saw the words WEIRD CAROLINAS. Touristy type things usually lose me, but you say WEIRD and you've got me! This book claimed to show and tell some of the weirdest places and stories in SC and NC. This seemed to me almost like a letterbox planters guide book! I didn't purchase the book that day, but since I couldn't stop imagining what was in between the hard cover of this captivating book, I finally used my Amazon certificate I'd been saving for a rainy day and got it.
The book arrived via UPS today and has been in somebody's hands all day. Fender Bender was the first to be hypnotized by the strange tales and as soon as I saw him set the book down, I grabbed it. Now Large Talons is being drawn into it's mysterious web. It feels like The Deathly Hallows all over again. We are each just waiting for a chance to get our hands on it again. And 'd' has yet to open it. As soon as he gets home, he will have to pry it out from under somebody's pillow, I am sure! There is so much fun information in these pages that it is impossible to absorb it all in one day. And after you read it you will be ready to get in your car and GO see them. After all, they are right in your state!
With chapter titles like, Local Legends, Bizarre Beasts, Roadside Oddities, Road Less Traveled and Cemetery Safari, you can see why our attention has been captured. This book is full of strange stories about the towns and cities near us, like the UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, SC. There are strange sights like Vollis Simpson's Whirligig Park in Wilson, NC . There are strange people like the Button King of Bishopville, SC and there's the Bureaus of Biggism in High Point, or how about the bottle farm on the outskirts of Forest City, NC. Judaculla Rock, Elmwood Cemetery and Poinsett Bridge are also featured.
When I see names of the counties and towns listed I can't help but imagine all of the letterboxers that go with those places as I read. Here are box ideas begging to be made and hidden, many of them already have!
What's even cooler about this book, is that it is part of a series based on Weird US. There is a book for most states! Somewhere near you there is a weird tale waiting to be told. Check this book out, I am sure you won't regret it. I am also secretly hoping that a letterboxing boom will come on the tails of this wonderfully weird knowledge.

Too Hot to Letterbox? Never!

If you are lucky enough to have boxes like somebunny's near you! The temperature was 104 in upstate SC today and we decided to head to the coolest place around, Jones Gap State Park. Jones Gap is a mountain cove with the Middle Saluda River running right through it. This river is normally cold enough to make your toes go numb. There are mountain ridges on either side that tower above the gap. The rhododendron and tall hemlocks keep the air about 10 degrees cooler than the countryside where we live. This was the place to be today!
It just so happened there was a new letterbox here. Don't you love it when that happens? There are actually two more boxes here in this park that I haven't made it to, but the other two boxes involved small hikes and we weren't dressed for hikes, we were dressed to swim! Plus, it was way too hot for whining today. On our way out, however, we did grab some Vintage Whine. Somebunny has been so kind to all of us who box with our kids by planting a series of boxes in honor of those whiny days when the kids just can't take another one. Since the kids were so cool from their swim and the box was SO close to our car: ) we managed to letterbox on one of the hottest days in the past few years with not a single whine. Way to go somebunny, it worked!
We also got Africa #7 on our way home. It was a quick drive-by and also very appropriate for today. In the clue threespoiledboxers speaks of their experiences hauling water in 130 degree African heat and then having to get home, boil it, and filter it before they could drink it! We definitely felt grateful that it wasn't that hot here today. And grateful for our easy access to thirst-quenching, life-giving water. Thanks for reminding us of our blessings.

Garden and Park Boxing Adventures

Today we went letterboxing in our own neighborhood. We went to a certain bookstore for a box that should have taken us about 5 minutes to get. BUT...we LOVE bookstores!! It took us about 45 minutes to get out of there!
Then we headed to Roper Mountain Science Center. Our family has been there many times to go to the observatory and planetarium. However, today we went to the butterfly garden, the pond and the pioneer village that I never even knew existed!! Large talons got a few good opportunities to hone his photography skills there. We will definitely be back soon.
When we could finally peel ourselves away from that place we headed over to find the "Day at the Park' series in Simpsonville. We were to meet a few of our letterboxing friends there. Letterboxing is always more fun with friends! This park has a little bit of everything, including one of those fabulous water parks. Since that was not on our agenda for the day, the kids satisfied themselves with a field sprinkler!
Another fine boxing day! We sure are going to miss these days when school starts.

Burnsville Pictures

Finishing the Quilts of Burnsville, NC

Today's journey began early this morning with a little side trip into Africa. Threespoiledboxers were missionaries in Africa until one of the family contracted malaria and they had to come home. They have put together a series of boxes that will make you feel as if you know Africa as well as they do by the time you are through.I have really enjoyed the extra information in their clues. Some of the logbooks even have pictures of the sights of Africa.
Then we headed up the mountain into Asheville. We were able to visit Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary in the summer. Last time we were there, the foliage was just beginning to come out. Wow! What a difference! We found Anna's Rose and got to see a blue heron while we stamped in.
Next we went to Lake Louise to get our 250th find!! Mama Fox has planted a box called “Good Friends”. She had seemed a little bit anxious for me to find it and now I know why!! It was a beautiful image of Baby Fox and Little Bird made from a picture she had taken last time we were there. Little Bird was amazed and very proud!!! Thanks Mama Fox, we are honored to be called your friends.

Now we could hit the road for some real boxing. We met The Little Foxes in Burnsville, NC, home of the Appalachian quilt squares. There are quilt squares all over town and country here based on the traditional patterns. At the Southern Highlands gathering in June, boxes were planted in honor of them and I only found half of them. So I was looking forward to finishing up my collection.
But first we visited the tea shop because I wanted the kids to have tea with me in the coolest tea room ever! The Orchid tearoom is a self serve tea lounge in the upstairs of a paper shop. The décor and the teas are exotic. They loved it and at the end of the day, this was one of their favorite stops.
From there, we headed over to an amzing used book store. All of the kids were busy devouring books, while Mama Fox and I tried to restrain oursleves from buying them all!
Mama Fox and I found a few more drive-by quilt square boxes. I loved standing at the box and seeing a barn with the same square on it just across the road!

The high point of our day, however, was 4338'. We made it to the top of Phillip's Knob without a jeep. We did take our cars up a good way, but we also hiked about 2 miles. Those amazing kids were right there with me all the way! (most of them were, anyways) The walk was beautiful. We saw a deer and lots of deer tracks. In fact, by the time the day was over we had seen 6 deer!! We also saw lots of unique Appalachian wildflowers. Turk's Cap lillies, Black Cohosh, turtle head, indian pipes, bee balm, spotted jewelweed, and pale jewelweed to name a few. The younger girls also found tons of large pieces of mica. I guess being that close to the ground pays off sometimes. In all of that wonderful nature, the kids managed to see an old wrecked car down the hillside that just fascinated them. It was just near the top of the mountain on a steep hill. I can't imagine wrecking there. It was a good thing the trees stopped them!

Our next stop was supposed to be a quicky. We headed over to Yummy Mud Puddle art studio to replace that box, only to be greeted by the duckmaster, himself. John promptly took us on a tour of his studio. He showed us some works in progress and lots of finished art. He uses lots fo salcvaged material -that's trash to most of us. His art was amazing. His organization system for all of that trash was even more amazing! We left inspired!
Lastly we had some night boxing adventures with boxes that were not meant to be found at night! We drove a Mountain Scorpia couple of miles out into a place where everybody knows everybody. And they definitely know when someone new is aorund! We found the box at the Bee Log School's baseball field while the kids played on the playground in the dark. We managed to only attract a few strange looks out of lighted front doors and rocking chairs on porches. Then we spent some time trying to decipher another Mountian Scorpia clue: ) When we finally 'got' it, it was about 10pm. We had to get the box, it was the last one and here we were ALL the way out in who knows where!! The clue stated that we had to walk in a gate where we were welcome, and although Harold and Mavis the dog would bark at us, they were friendly. We really trusted Mountain Scorpia on this one.
We crossed an old mountain bridge and headed very quietly up to the barn that displayed the quilt square....at least that's what we thought it was in the dark. So far, so good. The gate had been open and the dogs had not even barked. Then just as we approached the bar to figure out where vampires never go, an automatic motion sensor light came on!! That immediatley set the dogs to barking, but it also lit up the box. There it was...our final box. We grabbed it and ran towards our cars. But, of course, we had not escaped the notice of the barn owner. When he got to us, we told him Lucy had sent us. We were crossing our fingers that he knew who Lucy was. Luckily for us, he did and he was happy for us to get the box. Whew!
We returned home from our mini vaction at midnight. We had seen many interesting places, met a few interesting people and made memories we will not forget soon. That's what letterboxing is about: )

Do I Need a 12 Step Recovery Program?

Yep, I finally have to admit it, I am a hopeless letterboxing addict.
There are lots of ways to identify a letterboxing addict: inky fingers, stashes of PZ cut, a stream of strange packages in your mailbox, seeing places to hide boxes everywhere you go. These are all the usual symptoms.
But I am getting way past all of that. Today as I was spray painting my Lock-N-Locks with the Krylon camo paint, I knew I had gone past the point of no return. This used to be a hallmark sign to me that the planter was a die hard boxer!! Camo painted boxes are awesome. Especially when you are getting ready to plant about 20 new boxes. You just lay out your boxes and spray. 15 minutes later you are done and your boxes are beautiful. Camo duct tape is a thing of the past! I'll save it for the double sealed ziploc baggies.
But that's not all.
Some of you may remember that one reason our family ended up letterboxing and not geo-caching was that we didn't have a GPS. After discovering letterboxing, I decided we wouldn't be needing a GPS. Times have changed. I've got to get one of those things!! As a matter of fact, technology has been calling me like never before and why? Because of letterboxing!
I NEED the GPS so I don't get lost when I leave my mapquest directions at home.
I NEED an iPOD, so I can download clues to keep with me!
I NEED a laptop so I can race resQlou to log those finds in as soon as I get them. And so I can write on this blog from anywhere.
I NEED a cell phone so I can meet any letterboxer anywhere, anytime!
How have I lived this long without all of this wonderful technology?
I guess I wasn't addicted to letterboxing back then.

A Morning Well Spent

This morning ARK and I went out to find a very special new series of letterboxes in Greenville, The Thin Blue Line. These boxes are dedicated to the police who lay down their lives for us every day.

We discovered an American Legion War Museum we didn't know existed.

It was neat to see the old artillery.

We also had one other box on our list.This fighter plane is in the park where we meet with our running group every Saturday morning. I have driven past this plane for many years, but never stopped to take a closer look. Thanks to skelly and his Major Anderson's Fighter box, we finally stopped here today. Skelly did a great job choosing a location and carving his stamp. Way to go skelly!!

Yep, we had five boxes under our belt by 11 am, a morning well spent!

Clearing the Table

Well the J Walkers and I spent some time scouting out the area today and making plans with all of you in mind. We are looking forward to the gathering in November. Here are the details for those who have missed them:
http://www.atlasquest.com/events/event.html?gEventId=421
We will have the shelter reserved very soon. The shelter we are looking at is right next door to a playground and bathrooms! For those of us with kids, that is awesome!! and we are mapping out where we'd like to see some boxes: ) We even got a few special ones planted today!
However, we did discover that there were some other folks who are looking forward to being at Table Rock the same weekend as we are and they like the cabins. There are only three left that are available. If you can't handle the campsite camping, you'd better act quick!! Get your campsites reserved while you can, too. Although, as of today, campsites were plentiful. There are several other state parks very near by with great cabins. We are still working on finding out any other nearby commercial cabins and hotels. It will be chilly in November, but is usually not too cold to camp.
We are planning a Table Rock summit box (a seven mile round trip, strenuous hike) but there are several other summits in the park. If anyone would like to volunteer to do some serious hiking and get a summit planted that would be wonderful! Otherwise, expect to see me in tip-top shape by November, I will have some major hiking to do!

It's About the Journey

When we first began letterboxing, this was absolutely true. We letterboxed for the places we got to go. As we have increased our F-count, there have been times when we set out to box with a numeric goal in mind. Today we are going to find x number of boxes and then our F count will be x! Often we are rewarded with a great journey in spite of ourselves. But the rushing around can be frustrating. Sometimes it causes us to miss out on really enjoying some of the places folks have put boxes at for us to enjoy.
This week, the girls and I had the joy of finding only 2 boxes on a day we had set out to find almost 15!! We headed to Fletcher Community Park (near Hendersonville, NC) to find these 2 boxes in what I thought would be a quick stop. The park was unassuming at first glance. There was a gravel path that seemed to border it. This path followed a river. We knew we needed to be on it in order to find the boxes. So we set out on our quick journey.
The quick journey ended up being a long and slow walk meandering quite a ways until we reached the second box. The girls and I began playing the 5 senses game.
We saw a flying fish, a rabbit running to the bushes, a chipmunk hopping across the path, a squirrel, some interesting birds, cornfields, flowers and butterflies riding the wind.
We heard the fish leap out of the river, the river, the rain, the birds, kids playing in the river, runners footsteps on the gravel and rustling in the bushes.
We smelled the bathrooms (yuck) and the rain.
We tasted the wild blackberries and the rain.
We felt the soft leaves of a lamb's ear plant, the warm summer rain on our faces and arms, the rusted metal frog we found on the bridge, and the itchy grass on the way to the cornfield where I made the girls pose for a picture.
The park had much more depth to it than I would've known about had we not had a letterbox to hunt for. Isn't that why the planter placed it there?
We didn't reach our goal of getting to 250 boxes that day. But I think the time we spent enjoying the search for those 2 boxes was worth leaving F-counts behind!

True Boxing Buddies

Some people say letterboxing is about the counts, the stamps, the puzzle solving, the hiking, or the places boxes take us to. And while I love many of those aspects of boxing, we really have enjoyed making our very own boxing buddies!
Two of the Galaxy4 stopped in our hometown, all the way from Alabama last week. We had coffee at Leopard Forest with them and chatted. It was a pleasure to meet them and share the places we love with them. They were so nice. We are looking forward to meeting the other two stars one day.
We also had the much anticipated pleasure of meeting Woody Clowns this week, the professional clowns who place balloon hats on their children's heads to keep track of them at parks: ) Not a bad idea. However, I did learn that they box incognito, dressed as regular folks. Until you see my logbooks, you'd never guess they were clowns. By the way, these clowns have gone planting crazy and they are really good at it! If you are ever in Simpsonville, SC you MUST check out “Barefoot Annie”. This box is ingenious. They really had me stumped here and the box is in “plain sight”. After eating lunch, mulling over my coffee, sending children to poke and looking from all different angles, I finally spotted it! DUH!!!
New friends are great, but today we spent the afternoon/evening with our dear old boxing buds, The Little Foxes and the J Walkers. Of Course, we had to meet at the coffee shop, since it just so happens to be so central to so many Travelers Rest boxes. They were even roasting tonight, so the smell was especially yummy. The JWalkers came in looking worn and bedraggled, but happy. By the end of the night they had quite a few finds under their belt. At least 17! I think there were a few more mysteries and postals in there, though. If you ever happen to meet up with them, be sure and ask about Bozo the President. The Foxes had to trot on up to Asheville before dinner, so we said goodbye to them. You'll all be glad to know I saw Foxy Baby smile a little smile. I know her poor teeth are hurting, but she is a real trooper! The JWalkers joined us for hot dogs and smores. They left really exhausted and sticky: )
I loved hearing Foxy Boy and Fender Bender talk, I loved that Little Bird couldn't wait to see her friend Foxy Baby and ARK was beside herself about getting to sing and dance with Pizza Nia. I loved watching Large Talons play “Blinkie” with all of the kids. I could sit and listen to td talk letterboxing for awhile. He is one of the most informed letterboxers I've ever met. If you live within 100 miles of here, I am willing to bet he knows your F-count. And if you have any scraps of PZ cut, he is the master of putting those to use!

So who are the boxers in your neighborhood?

Not all who wander are lost, except probably us....

It was a little over a year ago when we received a homeschool flyer in the mail that introduced our family to letterboxing. I was already interested in learning about geo-caching, but we didn't have a GPS. Letterboxing seemed like the perfect activity until we got one. I had no idea what kind of Pandora's box I was opening!!
I still remember how excited we were when we followed the clues to our first box, “Knot in Paris”. There was actually a box that someone had hidden exactly where they said it would be! And lots of people walked right past it never knowing about this treasure. That was exciting.
We were at a park we'd visited before within 15 minutes of our home. Yet, this box had taken us down a trail we had never been on. Knowing the distance to the box also gave me the courage to go ahead with my 4 children.
Of course, this became the infamous loop mistake. I did not consult my map ahead of time and I was sure that loops were always better completed rather than backtracked. Turns out, I was wrong. We ended up hiking a good four to five miles right on top of the mountain and back down. Everyone was amazingly cheerful. We ate wild blueberries and kept our eyes open for bears. In spite of this, my children loved letterboxing and we've gone on to find many more!!
We've canoed down an alligator infested river, hiked to beautiful waterfalls, visited historic graveyards, explored museums, immersed ourselves in historic cities and met many wonderful people all in search of our little secret boxes! We all know more about SC than we ever knew before we began letterboxing. We have learned so many different reasons to love where we live so we could share our place with you, just as you all have shared with us.
Having cake day on AQ has just been a chance to reflect on all the amazing places letterboxing has taken us this year. Here's to many more years of letterboxing adventures!!

Ode to a Fox

or two or three...

Today The Little Foxes and I share our very first 'cake day' on Atlasquest. We have been official for a year now. Cheers Mama Fox!!
Mama Fox is very special to us because she is the very first letterboxer we ever met. And we met her by pure and hopeful coincidence. She was the very first finder on our brand new box we had planted at our local coffee shop. We had come that morning to put a first finder prize in it. As we sat at our table (all six of us!) we watched everyone who came in wondering if they were letterboxers. Finally a mother with two wonderful children came in with a red bag strapped over her shoulder.
“That's a letterboxer.” I nudged 'd' and pointed to her. Let's watch her. So we watched as she ordered her drinks and got settled. Well, maybe not. Then she very casually got up and began browsing the photos that we had hidden our box behind. She was good. I almost missed her getting the box. Once she had it in hand, we all stormed her table. She must've been overwhelmed.
So you're a letterboxer? What kind of logbook is that? Oh, wow, look at those markers! Postals, what are those?
We had a million questions. She was ever so gracious. In fact, she eventually showed us around her hometown and we tried to return the favor here. And those cubs are so great! Foxy Boy is such a help when I am trying to solve those tricky clues of his mom's. And my girls just think Foxy Baby is such a fun friend. If you haven't met Mama Fox and her kits, make a point to. And be sure to tell her Happy Cake day today. She is making wonderful contributions to the letterboxing world every day!!

How to have another gathering without planning it!

Attend a local kids letterboxing class at your public library just to see what they are saying about letterboxing. If you are as lucky as I was, a few letterboxers you haven't met yet will show up. Between the 2 librarians who put the class on, resQlou and her 3 basseteers, the alphabet kids and Somebunny with her sidekicks skelly and misty, we had a regular inky fingers stamp exchanging gathering. If I had realized it would be such a great get-together, I would've planted a mystery box or two there!
I enjoyed meeting so many local boxers. There was a time when there were only a few boxers in our area, but now we are starting to really get things going. And it's great! Somebunny planted a box in a place I have wanted to bring people to, but never really gotten around to. I was thrilled to go find it today and the kids had a great time playing there. If you are ever in the area and especially if you have children, be sure and check out the 'Linky Stone' box by her. Her son, skelly, has also gotten in the act and I am looking forward to going to find the box he planted. It's good to have local boxing buddies.
However that means we now have competition for being first finders. And resQlou doesn't intend to make it easy on us. She will brave firetrucks and photographers to get out there and get those boxes!!
The one family I was disappointed not to meet was the woody clowns. They are actually professional clowns and my active imagination has been picturing them in all of their clown splendor hunting for our boxes. I really need to see them in their real 'people' costumes: )
The class, by the way, was excellently presented. The children were given the etiquette guidelines from LBNA. The librarians presented a brief history of letterboxing. After making stamps from foam and bottle caps, they headed out to the library to find the box the librarians had planted. There were several parents in there who seemed genuinely interested. The librarians aren't quite as busy as our family about letterboxing (not many are, though), but they might've had a fire lit under them after meeting all of us locals. I know more people can mean more muggles. I think it's worth having some folks nearby to share our favorite places, challenge us to better boxes and just to have fun with.
We are really getting to know one another here in upstate SC!! Jwalkers, we better get moving on those plans!

How to have a gathering without planning it!

First you find a really great coffee shop. You visit it often and get to know the very nice owner. Then you offer to plant a letterbox in the shop. It will bring her business and give you just one more excuse to keep stopping by for coffee. If you are in the shop often enough, you might get to see a letterboxer scouting the area for a possible box. It also makes a great place to invite a local boxer to meet you for an exchange.
Today we had a planned meeting with resQLou and the three basseteers. I mentioned this to threespoiledboxers in case they wanted to drop in. I arrived at the coffee shop to see a table full of letterboxers exchanging stamps! It just so happened, Carolina Pines had stopped by to find our box before they headed out of town. It was so fun. Tons of kids and inky fingers and meeting lots of new letterboxers...That's my kind of day! Now we have faces to put with some really cool people.
ResQLou, smax and 7, and the fambly and I went on to some of the local bridges. We had a great time. '7' even chanced upon a geo-cache. That explained the blue paint chips in my letterbox. It was so funny because after we put in all of our junk so we could take out some of their junk, my kids seemed to like what resQlou put in the most!! We could've exchanged junk at her car: ) Fender bender did manage to get an emergency poncho, which is probably about the most useful junk I've ever seen in a geo-cache.
The upstate letterboxing community is growing. It is very fun to have some local boxing buddies. And to those not so local, stop by sometime for a cup of coffee at Leopard Forest. You never know who will be there.

Hidden Treasures

This is what our kind of hidden treasure looks like. Little Bird likes to be the one to 'nab' the box. She has lots of competition with the 'fambly'.

Finding Our Way

Our family has been 'finding our way' since the day my husband and I got married. Letterboxing is just another path we are taking. So far, it is one of our favorites! We have been to many unique places and met some of the best folks in the world. We have learned to be sneaky and had some wonderful adventures. Every letterbox is a story and we get to be a part of it.
Of course, the 'd' and the 't' aren't all there is to us. The 'fambly' consists of our four children and our dog 'travel dog', who occasionally boxes with us. Given time and space, you might see 'fender bender', 'large talons', 'ARK' or 'little bird' in your logbook. They are four of the greatest kids in the world!! Each of them enjoy letterboxing in their own way.
Don't worry, we will not give spoilers on this blog. But we will share the adventures in our journeys with you. We'd also like to share some of the wonderful photos we get while we are out. And you never know when there might be a hint to a clue or two on here: ) Of course, I've got to get better at my tricky clue writing first!