Hello fellow letterboxers. I've been quietly letterboxing since last August
here in WI and have finally gotten around to placing my first box (and
posting to the group for the first time too). I hope other letterboxers in
the area and beyond can come and enjoy my letterbox soon!

Tim Kuehl (The Dragon)
P1F20

(Attachment contains html document and picture for the clues for the
webmasters in a self extracting folder. The clues are also given below.)

Environmental Classroom Letterbox

Terrain: Easy (nice 45 minute hike around campus)
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate (bring a stamp pad and usual supplies)
Placed: January 27, 2003
By: Tim Kuehl (The Dragon)
Location: Washington County, WI
Nearest town: Jackson, WI

Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School is located just to the east of Jackson,
WI. The school has been blessed with a large campus nestled next to farms
and DNR land. During construction of the last two building additions the
school had the unique opportunity to turn part of its campus into an outdoor
environmental classroom and build a wetland wastewater treatment facility
(the first of its kind in the northern US) due in large part to the efforts
of their biology instructor. The area public is
welcome to hike on the environmental trails for leisure and exercise.
Permission from the school is granted for letterboxers to visit the school
grounds for the purpose of seeking the Environmental Classroom Letterbox
provided the letterboxers follow the standard letterboxing code of conduct
and letterboxing wavier, keep contact with the student body to a minimum,
and respect the Christian environment of the campus. The clues do pass
letterboxers around some athletic fields and along the cross country course
(partly located in the environmental classroom). Letterboxers can search
for the letterbox without interfering with any athletic events except for
the home cross country meet always held on the last Thursday of August. (As
I am the cross country coach, I would strongly recommend you avoid that date
unless you want to get trampled!) Also, the wetlands can be very wet if
there has been a lot of rain. There could be flooded or muddy trails.

Clues:
Jackson is located at the intersection of Hwy. 45 and Hwy. 60 in Washington
County, WI, twenty minutes north of Milwaukee. Just east of Hwy. 45 on Hwy.
60 is a stop light where Hwy. 60 intersects County P. Take County P south
about a mile to the first crossroad (Sherman Road). Head east on Sherman
Road 2.6 miles (over railroad tracks, past Maple Road) to where there is a
gravel road on the north side of Sherman Road between a farmhouse and
another house (it is 1/4 mile west of Division Rd (Hwy. G) which is the
first stop you come to after the railroad tracks). The gravel road is
blocked by a metal gate after a few yards. Enter on the gravel road and
park off to the side near the gate. (If the gate is open there is a sporting
event going on and you may drive to the end of the gravel road and park in
the parking lot with the other spectators.)

Walk north along the gravel road to the end of the tree line on your right.
As soon as the tree line ends, take a right turn up the embankment to the
mound located in front of a small wetland. Locate the large sign there
explaining what this area is about and decipher the first three cryptogram
clues (see the end of these clues).

Standing before the mound, turn to the northwest and spot the baseball
backstop in the distance. Walk to the backstop and as you walk along the
fence from its start along the first base side to its end along the third
base side, count the number of vertical poles in the ground that make-up the
fence. Keep this number for later.

At the end of the baseball fence, turn left so your back is towards the last
pole you counted and walk 12 paces to the gully. Turn right and walk 80
paces parallel to the gully. You will now be at the end of the snowmobile
trail located down the embankment from leftfield. Turn right and go down
the trail 64 paces to where the trail splits.

Head on the NW trail to its end at the fishing pond (some students may be
fishing here). Answer cryptogram clue #4. Count how many birdhouses there
are in the pond. Keep this number for later.

Go back to where the trail had split and take the NE trail this time. Stay
to the left on that trail as it follows along the fishing pond. Soon you
will come upon a large rowboat (unless its being used in the pond). What
4-digit number is part of the boats registration code? Keep this number
for later.

Turn around and face south and take the trail on the left until it meets up
with the snowmobile trail again. Turn left and head straight down the
snowmobile trail until you are forced to turn right where the trail meets
the island pond. Follow the path as it goes around the island pond. On
your way around, you might check for any snakes under the snake board on
your right at the first trail intersection you come to. (Here students
study the variety of WI snakes local to our area - if they arent too
afraid.) Continue around the front of the island pond. At the picnic
table, take the right trail and stay right until you come out of the
wetlands. Turn left and walk along the rim of the wetlands until you find a
large engraved rock standing up in a landscaped area. Answer cryptogram
clues 5-7. What Psalm is quoted? Keep this number for later.

Take the trail that enters the wetlands to the left (north) of the engraved
rock. You will soon reach the outdoor classroom located on a small
peninsula. How many benches are there (dont include picnic tables)? Use
this number and the other numbers you collected to calculate the compass
heading you need:

First divide the boat reg. # by the # of benches and subtract the number of
baseball poles times the number of the Psalm
(in other words: (Boat Reg. # / # of benches) - (# of baseball poles x Psalm
#))
then divide this number by twice the number of bird houses in the fishing
pond,
then subtract the number of baseball posts,
and lastly, subtract the number of birdhouses times the number of benches.
The resulting number is the compass heading you need.

Stand in the middle of the classroom benches and spy the brown and green
man-made object at the heading you calculated. You need to get to that
object (hint: use the path around the pond).

Once at the object, answer cryptogram clue #8. Face west and take the trail
to the right to the picnic table that you can see. Sit down at the picnic
table and decipher the final clues using the code from the cryptogram clues.

Cryptogram Clues:

1) Name of this project: TH QPGH

2) What the last E stands for: HAXEGFAWHAN

3) The schools initials: UWZMV

4) What man-made object is at the end of the trail? LEQAEQ NPDZH

5) What is the 4th engraved word? WK

6) What type of waters? SCEHN

7) What is the 8th last engraved word? JFCARHR

8) What is the 4th word on the object? MEBM

Final clues:

VNPK FA NMEV NGPEZ PV EN BFHV DHNTHHA NMH NTF

LFARV PAR NMHA NCGAV GEBMN. PJNHG P ZHJN DHAR EA

NMH NGPEZ, KFC TEZZ QFWH NF P VWPZZ DGERBH. NMH

ENHW KFC VHPGQM JFG EV CARHG NMH GEBMN VERH FJ

NMH GPWL TMHGH P GFQU QFXHGV ENV MEREAB LZPQH.

Continue on the left path to a familiar place and then back to your car.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you had a nice time!