WilloWanderers letterboxes

Dawes Arboretum series
4 boxes
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Distance: 3.5 miles, accessible by car, bike, or foot
Willowanderers pace count is 53 per 100 yards

Dawes Arboretum is located on Ohio SR 13, about 3.5 miles north of
I-70 exit 132. It comprises several hundred acres of rolling fields
and woodlands. The arboretum has many native trees and other plants
natural settings, also many popular and more rare landscape plants in
formal and semiformal settings. There is a nature center, picnic
shelter, trails, bonsai collection, and many other features which we
will leave for your own discovery. All the boxes in this series are on
the auto tour route. Maps are available in the foyer of the visitor
center, which is open whenever the gates are open.
Gates open early, between 7 and 9 AM, depending on sunrise, and close
at dusk, which may be as early as 6:45 PM or as late as 9:30. Call for
hours if thats an issue. the visitor center and nature center are
open more regular hours, 8:30-4:30 or so. Dogs are allowed on leash.
The city of Newark and village of Granville are nearby, with many
attractions both natural and manufactured, including more letterboxes.
a favorite stop for lunch is Clarks restaurant in Jacksontown at the
intersection of SR 13 and US 40. Dont miss the family style dinner on
Sunday. Please report problems with any of these boxes to
WilloWanderers (tburkett@laca.org)

Please note: The arboretum is well tended and heavily visited. Be
especially careful when collecting and replacing boxes, as when
stamping in.

Nakamuras Vision
One of the highlights of the park is the work of Makoto Nakamura, who
designed a garden in 1964 and returned to oversee its development and
completion. Find the entrance to this garden, near its own parking
area, and look for the sign describing its features. Note especially
the Iwagumi (manicured rock garden) to your left. From the sign,
proceed 32 paces (1 pace=2 steps) at a bearing of 190 degrees. At this
fork, bear off south along the path for an additional 75 paces. Step
thirteen stones and find a place to sit with forty holes at your back.
The object you seek will be below your left hand. Look around, be
discreet. This is a popular area! Stamp in, then continue around the
path to enjoy the stepping stones, arch bridges, and bamboo garden as
you return to your starting point.

Commanding View
Passing pilots can not only see the arboretum, but know what it is.
Once you know how this is possible, youll be on your way to solving
this set of clues:

Fourteen it has that can be read, elevens the one for you
Stand at the tip of the center prong, look a spell, enjoy the view.
Turn north and south and east and west, at a hundred and ten degrees
Youll see afar the thing you seek, standing among the trees.
Pace off on that heading as best you can, counting a hundred and nine
Then turn to your right and count again, forty one steps up this time.
Three hundred and ten degrees and down, youll see a lonely shrub,
Uncle Jack Fogy is his name, beneath him you must grub.
Still hes in a spot that may be seen by those both far and near,
So quiet and quick your work must be, to use whats hidden here.

Trees Knees
Dawn-redwoods, members of the cypress family, were thought to be
extinct until a grove of them were discovered in the 1940s in China.
These ancient and fascinating trees have a beautiful orange bark and a
unique conical shape. You will find one, with a plaque dedicating it
to Dorothy & Stanley Rowe, near its cousins (the ones with knees).
Cypress trees grow knees to help them breathe, as their roots are often
completely submerged.
Find the dedicatory plaque and look to your left for a series of red
painted boards. Cross 123 of these, taking every available turn, and
youll arrive at a point where wood meets stone and earth. Step off 21
paces at 160 degrees and look for your prize among the humus in the
center of a large rotting stump. Step lightly, as the area is rife
with wildflowers. Note, too, that you are easily visible from the road
and a number of other areas where people tend to congregate.

Wood, Water, & Stone
Stand at the top of the observation tower and look off at 310 degrees.
Spy a tree with white bark close to a picnic table or two? Go there,
and sit on the stone bench near the white barked tree. Take a bearing
of 40 degrees, and move 5 paces, then 8 paces more with your left hand
on a rail. Look below your feet.


TJ Evans Bike Trail Series
3 boxes
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Distance: varies from .5 to 1.5 miles, accessible by bike or foot
Willowanderers pace count is 53 per 100 yards

The TJ Evans Bike Trail runs from Newark to Johnstown along an
abandoned rail line. It is asphalt paved and accommodates biking,
hiking, blading, scootering, wheelchairs, and strollers. Parking is
available at almost every road crossing, with lots in Newark (Cherry
Valley Road), Granville (Main Street and Wildwood Park), Alexandria
(off N. Liberty street), and Johnstown (Jersey Street). All towns have
food and other services. Newark has bike shops.

Mastodon
The most complete mastodon skeleton ever discovered was unearthed near
Johnstown in 1926. Celebrate by finding this box, made somewhat
challenging by the uniformity of terrain and flora. Begin by finding
the 13 mile mark on the bike trail, located between Windy Hollow and
Concord Roads, a bit more than a mile east of Johnstown. From this
point, count 174 paces (1 pace= 2 steps) NW along the trail. Turn to
220 degrees and count six paces from the edge of the trail. Your goal
is a tree with four trunks, growing along the fenceline. Your prize is
in the crotch of the tree. Be sure to camouflage it well when
replacing it, as it may be visible from the trail if you dont.
As this may be a tough find, here are some landmarks. There is a fair
sized rock along the fence 4 paces NW of the tree. Two large square
wooden posts are set in the fence 22 paces NW of the tree. From
Concord Road, the posts are 170 paces SE.

Clemons Station
If you are not starting from somewhere else on the bike trail, you may
choose to start at the West Broadway crossing, less than a mile south
of OH 161 on the west end of Granville. Take the trail west a bit more
than a mile, past the 5.5 mile marker.
At the turn of the century the Toledo and Central Ohio Railroad ran
through all the little towns in the Raccoon Valley. It might be hard
to imagine that there was a rail station between Granville and
Alexandria, as the two are only six miles apart. Still, the
foundations of it are here for you to see. Find the historical marker
on the south side of the trail.
Stand directly between the marker and the foundation, turn to 320
degrees and step off 26 paces along the trail. Turn to 40 degrees and
go 3 paces from the edge of the trail. Look for two old railroad ties
just to the right of a large sycamore tree. The top tie is rotted out
and covered with moss. Look beneath it.

Interurban
All the little towns in this valley had both rail and interurban
service. One of the large manufacturers of interurban cars, Jewett
Company, was located in Newark. You can see a restored car and learn
more of its history at The Works, a technology museum in downtown
Newark. The eastern terminus of this trail was once called Central
City, and was home to many railroad workers and railroad facilities.
Now its home to an ice cream shop, a pizza shop, a smoothie store, a
coffee shop, and a mini mart.
Travel northwest on the trail, past the .5 mile marker, and look for a
wooden bench on the south side of the trail, just at the point where
Raccoon Creek veers away to the north. Standing on the trail even with
the bench, proceed 14 paces at 320 degrees. Look for a long moss
covered fallen tree parallel to the trail on the south side. Two paces
off the trail at 230 degrees is the root end of the tree, in a tangle
of shrubbery, a small tree, and some old fencing. Look beneath a large
flat rock on the other side of the fallen tree. (About halfway along
the trunk a bluebird house is attached to a fence post.)

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]