Hi all,
Like some of the recent posters to this list, I too first heard of
letterboxing by reading the article in the Sunday, September 3
edition
of the Hartford Courant. It really excited me, I have to say,
because
I used to hike the blue trail system a few years ago, before I met my
wife. I haven't hiked at all over the past few years, and I had
recently resolved to start again. So this article was quite timely.
Getting started is a tad overwhelming. Part of it is that I want to
start right away, but I don't want to just buy a stamp off the shelf.
I'd like to carve my own. And my wife would like to do some of the
hunts with me. I have been to http://www.letterboxing.org, which is
an excellent site. There, I found links to stamp-making, which will
likely be my next step.
It seems like Connecticut is one of the best states in which to
practice this hobby, so I feel fortunate to live here for that
reason.
In fact, my house sits on land which shares a border with Devil's
Hopyard State Park, which has two letterboxes hidden. It's nice to
know that I have dozens of letterboxes to explore in this state
alone.
I do have a few questions, however:
(1) If my wife and I jointly find the letterbox, should we stamp the
book with each of our stamps? In other words, if X people jointly
find a letterbox, will they place X stamps in the log book?
(2) If I decide to place letterboxes of my own, is it customary to
ask
permission of the management of the land on which you plan to hide
the
box?
(3) How often should one check a letterbox one has left? I ask this
because it seems to me a log book could fill up with stamps
relatively
quickly, especially as the popularity of the hobby increases?
I may have more questions later. I just wanted to introduce myself
to
the group. My name is Christopher Van Loon, and I live in East
Haddam, CT. For the record, I'm 28 years old.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know approximately how many Connecticut
list members there are?
Thanks for any advice, answers to questions, etc.
Chris
Just getting started in CT
4 messages in this thread |
Started on 2000-09-06
Just getting started in CT
From: Christopher Van Loon (vanloonc@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2000-09-06 15:41:58 UTC
Re: Just getting started in CT
From: Jay Drew (drewclan@aol.com) |
Date: 2000-09-06 16:09:00 UTC
Welcome, neighbor! This Courant article is going to be wonderful for
us!
>
> Getting started is a tad overwhelming. Part of it is that I want
to start right away, but I don't want to just buy a stamp off the
shelf. I'd like to carve my own. And my wife would like to do some
of the hunts with me.<>>I do have a few questions, however:
> (1) If my wife and I jointly find the letterbox, should we stamp
the book with each of our stamps? In other words, if X people
jointly find a letterbox, will they place X stamps in the log book?
>
[JayD] You could do either. There is a family from Long Island who
have one stamp for the bunch of them. Or, you could each have your
own stamp. We have six folks in my family, and all use our own
stamps. We started with store-bought, and would like to switch to
handmade, but they sort of become a "signature" that people recognize
so we haven't changed. My kids Ariel and Ned are now famous with a
picture of their personal stamps in the Courant article. They showed
that off at school their first day back!
> (2) If I decide to place letterboxes of my own, is it customary to
> ask permission of the management of the land on which you plan to
hide the box?
>
[JayD]That's been a question, sometimes sticky, in the past. We
figure don't ask, don't tell in general. But there is someone who got
permission from the US Park Service once. We do hope that private
property will be respected and that letterboxes will be on publicly
accessible sites.
> (3) How often should one check a letterbox one has left? I ask
this because it seems to me a log book could fill up with stamps
> relatively quickly, especially as the popularity of the hobby
increases?
>
[JayD]As often as you want! I know some letterboxes have been placed
while folks are traveling and never anticipate re-visiting. Others
are orphaned for other reasons. What is probably the most-visited
letterbox in America (Elaine and Jerry's Rocks) had a filled-up
logbook, which is now on display at EMS in Waterford's Crystal Mall
(no commercial affiliation here..)
Again, WELCOME to this wonderful hobby,
Jay Drew
East Lyme
us!
>
> Getting started is a tad overwhelming. Part of it is that I want
to start right away, but I don't want to just buy a stamp off the
shelf. I'd like to carve my own. And my wife would like to do some
of the hunts with me.<
> (1) If my wife and I jointly find the letterbox, should we stamp
the book with each of our stamps? In other words, if X people
jointly find a letterbox, will they place X stamps in the log book?
>
[JayD] You could do either. There is a family from Long Island who
have one stamp for the bunch of them. Or, you could each have your
own stamp. We have six folks in my family, and all use our own
stamps. We started with store-bought, and would like to switch to
handmade, but they sort of become a "signature" that people recognize
so we haven't changed. My kids Ariel and Ned are now famous with a
picture of their personal stamps in the Courant article. They showed
that off at school their first day back!
> (2) If I decide to place letterboxes of my own, is it customary to
> ask permission of the management of the land on which you plan to
hide the box?
>
[JayD]That's been a question, sometimes sticky, in the past. We
figure don't ask, don't tell in general. But there is someone who got
permission from the US Park Service once. We do hope that private
property will be respected and that letterboxes will be on publicly
accessible sites.
> (3) How often should one check a letterbox one has left? I ask
this because it seems to me a log book could fill up with stamps
> relatively quickly, especially as the popularity of the hobby
increases?
>
[JayD]As often as you want! I know some letterboxes have been placed
while folks are traveling and never anticipate re-visiting. Others
are orphaned for other reasons. What is probably the most-visited
letterbox in America (Elaine and Jerry's Rocks) had a filled-up
logbook, which is now on display at EMS in Waterford's Crystal Mall
(no commercial affiliation here..)
Again, WELCOME to this wonderful hobby,
Jay Drew
East Lyme
Re: [LbNA] Just getting started in CT
From: Randy Hall (randy@mapsurfer.com) |
Date: 2000-09-06 18:13:52 UTC-04:00
> (1) If my wife and I jointly find the letterbox, should we stamp the
> book with each of our stamps? In other words, if X people jointly
> find a letterbox, will they place X stamps in the log book?
Sure why not? I'm oversimplifying, but one of my boxes was stamped
by a couple that each had half the stamp. You really can pretty much
do what you feel in these regards ...
Cheers,
--
randy "the mapsurfer"
http://www.mapsurfer.com
Re: [LbNA] Just getting started in CT
From: (mohmers@aol.com) |
Date: 2000-09-08 08:09:20 UTC-04:00
In a message dated 9/6/00 8:45:10 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
vanloonc@yahoo.com writes:
(2) If I decide to place letterboxes of my own, is it customary to
ask
permission of the management of the land on which you plan to hide
the
box?
My name is Christopher Van Loon, and I live in East
Haddam, CT. For the record, I'm 28 years old.
>>
Hi Chris, Welcome to the fun. Just thought I'd add my advice .... #2...I
have found that it is good to get permission from community
parks....otherwise the grounds crew will likely remove the box....even when
hidden in the most un-obvious location. Our boxes have faired much better
after receiving permission.
Mohmers
:o)
vanloonc@yahoo.com writes:
(2) If I decide to place letterboxes of my own, is it customary to
ask
permission of the management of the land on which you plan to hide
the
box?
My name is Christopher Van Loon, and I live in East
Haddam, CT. For the record, I'm 28 years old.
>>
Hi Chris, Welcome to the fun. Just thought I'd add my advice .... #2...I
have found that it is good to get permission from community
parks....otherwise the grounds crew will likely remove the box....even when
hidden in the most un-obvious location. Our boxes have faired much better
after receiving permission.
Mohmers
:o)