LETTERBOXING

We took the kids letterboxing yesterday. The heat was brutal, but we did our best to have a good time in spite of it. If you haven't tried letterboxing yet, let me suggest that you do.

What is letterboxing? It's a wonderful hobby that includes orienteering, map reading, and puzzle solving. It also allows one to engage in hiking, artistic expression, and "treasure" hunting. In a nutshell, it's F-U-N! By the way, not to be confused with geocaching, which is similar in many ways but involves purchasing a global positioning system and relying on coordinates to find the hidden cache.

Letterboxers take part in hunting for and/or hiding containers in remote and/or hidden locations. These locations are unlimited, but often involve parks or other nature settings. They can also involve buildings such as libraries, amusement parks, and more. The possibilities are endless.

What you'll need;
-a rubber stamp that represents something about you and/or your family. It can be purchased, or (better yet) hand carved. The latter does not need to be overly fancy. A single significant word or symbol carved into a rubber eraser will suffice.
-your own ink stamp pad.
-a small notebook (we prefer index cards due to the durable card stock)
-a pen
-appropriate protective clothing where needed (ie. poison ivy risk)

Once you've tried it and discover how much you like it (because I just know you will), do consider adding to the letterbox fun by placing a few letterboxes of your own. We plan to place a homeschool themed box and an adoption themed box sometime in the future.

There are many sites online that will give you the needed clues to locate letterboxes in your area. Some letterboxes are super easy to find (many are, actually.) Others require solving a riddle or following encrypted instructions. But plan to find several in a day (sometimes one goes MIA) and the hunt is on!

When you locate a letterbox, you'll find the placing letterboxer's rubber stamp and small notebook inside. You'll use their stamp to mark your notebook and you'll use your stamp to mark theirs. You'll want to sign and date their notebook before carefully replacing the letterbox, being careful to neither draw attention to what you're doing nor to leave the box unhidden and exposed. Shhh, you're part of a secret "club." You'll also want to be very respectful of the property you're on and the nature you're impacting.

In your own notebook, be sure to add the date and location where you found the letterbox, plus any other significant information (ie. we were in a cemetery yesterday and wrote in the "established" date.)

The thing that is so cool about letterboxing is that it's totally portable. If you're taking a vacation out of state or even just taking a long drive away from home, you can get online and track down a few letterbox jaunts to make along the way. It beats collecting postcards (not that I have anything against that hobby).
And it's fun for all ages too. We enjoy it as much as each of our children.

Now, here are a few sites filled with great information. Check it out, and do post back here if you take that first letterbox "fieldtrip."

Letterboxing North America
(The faq's on this site are terrific. You'll even find "how to" carving information for your personal stamp.)

Atlas Quest
(great site for locating boxes.)

Toni