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!