Letterboxing

Have I already talked about this on my blog before? I can't remember! Anyway ... read on ...
What is Letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.

Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.

Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. In addition to the clue and any maps or tools needed to solve it, the hunter should carry at least a pencil, his personal rubber stamp, an inkpad, and his personal logbook. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks.
{most letterboxes will not be found in a big blue mailbox! most will be in a waterproof plastic box, hidden well beneath rocks or in a tree trunk or something like that. this one was actually well hidden from the path so you would not have seen the bright blue box unless you were given the clues.}

**Our family enjoys letterboxing because it gets us out doing something active - they are usually found at state parks and various other hikes. We have found that our girls are more willing to go for a walk or hike if they know they are searching for 'treasure' along the way!

We have found them at the top of a mountain and also at a park very near our house. The website we use is letterboxing.org and you simply put in the area you want to search like New Hampshire and a town and it will show you tons! You choose which ones you want to search for, print out the directions and get searching!

We usually bring along a notebook of our own - then you can stamp the image from the letterbox in it. We also almost always bring a camera - just b/c it's fun to document. And we bring our own stamp and pen. {We are thinking of creating a special stamp that is unique to our family.}

When you find the box it will have a rubber stamp, notepad and pen in it. You stamp your own stamp in their notebook and write your names and the date you found the box. Then you stamp THEIR stamp in your notebook with a note about where and when you found the letterbox. When visiting NH this fall we went and found a few boxes that we had already found last year - and were excited to find our names still in the notebook from a year ago! And we had hiked that trail on the exact same day a year ago!

Parents this is a wonderful thing to try with your kids! You need not wait till your kids are older!

If you have any questions feel free to ask - or just check out that website they have lots of info. Just try looking up a local park first and see if you can find any boxes, then you can move on to longer hikes and such later. You might be surprised to know that there are places you have walked where the boxes may have been hiding and you walked right past without knowing!