I tell you, I've had the WORST luck hunting down boxes on the AT. First there was the one in Gathland State Park (a VERY cool park, btw, although I'd like to complain about the lack of trash cans). I arrived rather late--nearly 8:00pm, and didn't have much time to look for it. Me, without a flashlight, needed to get to a shelter and set up camp pronto!
But I did stop briefly. The arch was obvious, but the second dip wasn't. The second dip in the trail? The second dip in the wall? I didn't see anything I'd really call a 'dip' per se, and ended up just looking under every flat rock I could find near the arch. No luck, I failed. Darkness was approaching, and I needed to get a move on before I could do a thorough search.
Then there was the Washington Monument letterbox--another very cool and bizarre place. This box I'm convinced is missing, because I found the tree with the blaze, and another split tree on the other side of the trail. Found a bunch of suspicious looking rocks and an indentation in the ground where it looked like a letterbox might once have been.
I sadly concluded that the box must be missing. As a consolation, I hid a letterbox in the nook of that tree with the white blaze mentioned in the clue, but it just wasn't the same.
I'm now nearly out of Maryland (0.2 miles to Pennsylvania) and can only say that my skills as a letterboxer are quickly deteriorating!
-- Ryan
PS. The trail in MD has been wonderful! This is what I expected in the Shenandoahs!
------------------------------
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MD: I'm a failure!
5 messages in this thread |
Started on 2003-07-01
MD: I'm a failure!
From: (RiskyNil@pocketmail.com) |
Date: 2003-07-01 10:21:50 UTC-07:00
Re: MD: I'm a failure!
From: knitwitmominmaryland (mitchellfamily4@mac.com) |
Date: 2003-07-02 03:24:46 UTC
I thought about you this weekend when we were at Greenbrier
State Park finding ADG's Search for the Golden Acorn series.
The AT skirts Greenbrier, and we must have just missed you! All
3 boxes found and in good shape. Beautiful books and stamps.
You could always go back and get them ;-)
KnitWit Mom and family
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, wrote:
> I tell you, I've had the WORST luck hunting down boxes on the
AT. First there was the one in Gathland State Park (a VERY cool
park, btw, although I'd like to complain about the lack of trash
cans). I arrived rather late--nearly 8:00pm, and didn't have much
time to look for it. Me, without a flashlight, needed to get to a
shelter and set up camp pronto!
>
> But I did stop briefly. The arch was obvious, but the second dip
wasn't. The second dip in the trail? The second dip in the wall?
I didn't see anything I'd really call a 'dip' per se, and ended up
just looking under every flat rock I could find near the arch. No
luck, I failed. Darkness was approaching, and I needed to get a
move on before I could do a thorough search.
>
> Then there was the Washington Monument letterbox--another
very cool and bizarre place. This box I'm convinced is missing,
because I found the tree with the blaze, and another split tree on
the other side of the trail. Found a bunch of suspicious looking
rocks and an indentation in the ground where it looked like a
letterbox might once have been.
>
> I sadly concluded that the box must be missing. As a
consolation, I hid a letterbox in the nook of that tree with the white
blaze mentioned in the clue, but it just wasn't the same.
>
> I'm now nearly out of Maryland (0.2 miles to Pennsylvania) and
can only say that my skills as a letterboxer are quickly
deteriorating!
>
> -- Ryan
>
> PS. The trail in MD has been wonderful! This is what I
expected in the Shenandoahs!
>
> ------------------------------
> Local access to PocketMail mobile
> e-mail now available in Europe, North
> America & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com
State Park finding ADG's Search for the Golden Acorn series.
The AT skirts Greenbrier, and we must have just missed you! All
3 boxes found and in good shape. Beautiful books and stamps.
You could always go back and get them ;-)
KnitWit Mom and family
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com,
> I tell you, I've had the WORST luck hunting down boxes on the
AT. First there was the one in Gathland State Park (a VERY cool
park, btw, although I'd like to complain about the lack of trash
cans). I arrived rather late--nearly 8:00pm, and didn't have much
time to look for it. Me, without a flashlight, needed to get to a
shelter and set up camp pronto!
>
> But I did stop briefly. The arch was obvious, but the second dip
wasn't. The second dip in the trail? The second dip in the wall?
I didn't see anything I'd really call a 'dip' per se, and ended up
just looking under every flat rock I could find near the arch. No
luck, I failed. Darkness was approaching, and I needed to get a
move on before I could do a thorough search.
>
> Then there was the Washington Monument letterbox--another
very cool and bizarre place. This box I'm convinced is missing,
because I found the tree with the blaze, and another split tree on
the other side of the trail. Found a bunch of suspicious looking
rocks and an indentation in the ground where it looked like a
letterbox might once have been.
>
> I sadly concluded that the box must be missing. As a
consolation, I hid a letterbox in the nook of that tree with the white
blaze mentioned in the clue, but it just wasn't the same.
>
> I'm now nearly out of Maryland (0.2 miles to Pennsylvania) and
can only say that my skills as a letterboxer are quickly
deteriorating!
>
> -- Ryan
>
> PS. The trail in MD has been wonderful! This is what I
expected in the Shenandoahs!
>
> ------------------------------
> Local access to PocketMail mobile
> e-mail now available in Europe, North
> America & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com
Re: MD: I'm a failure!
From: lizardbuttsfamily (mmebt@hotmail.com) |
Date: 2003-07-02 07:54:04 UTC
> I tell you, I've had the WORST luck hunting down boxes on the AT.
First there was the one in Gathland State Park (a VERY cool park,
btw,
>But I did stop briefly. The arch was obvious, but the second dip
wasn't. The second dip in the trail? The second dip in the wall? I
didn't see anything I'd really call a 'dip' per se, and ended up just
looking under every flat rock I could find near the arch. No luck, I
failed. Darkness was approaching, and I needed to get a move on
before I could do a thorough search.
>
Prepositions and prepositional phrases can be a bit confusing.
Bookworm states "in" or "on" the wall...pick one... this should have
been an easy find.
Dips can be difficult to spot while hunting in the woods at dusk.;)
Have fun walking.
Monica
Re: MD: I'm a failure!
From: wandaandpete (wandaandpete@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2003-07-03 22:46:37 UTC
!Oh, NO! After touring the Hocking Hills of SE Ohio, visiting caves
and hiking the Grandma Gatewood Trail while waiting to meet up with
Pete the next day for letterboxing and the gathering in eastern PA, I
actually took a dip down into Maryland just on the off chance that I
might run into Ryan on the AT! It was too late in the day to go to
ATC HQ , so I hung out and did the boxes at Gathland just north of
Harpers Ferry. Quite a few other hikers came through while I was
there, and almost every one of them, with eyes fixated on the white
blazes, would probably have missed the smaller, less obvious arch
near the mausoleum had I not pointed it out to them - even though it
was less than 50 feet off the trail! Too bad that Ryan missed that
spot, too, since I left a little hitcher there that I thought would
go nicely with his turtle! (Perhaps someone else can try to get it to
him up the trail, if he's not moving too fast!) And -who knows- maybe
we'll still meet him up in CT! There are hundreds of hikers coming
through right now - I must have seen at least 2 dozen while crossing
both the DWG and Bear Mt. bridges on my way home, so there's
definitely a lot of them out this year! Happy trails to all!
Wanda "the Breeze"
and hiking the Grandma Gatewood Trail while waiting to meet up with
Pete the next day for letterboxing and the gathering in eastern PA, I
actually took a dip down into Maryland just on the off chance that I
might run into Ryan on the AT! It was too late in the day to go to
ATC HQ , so I hung out and did the boxes at Gathland just north of
Harpers Ferry. Quite a few other hikers came through while I was
there, and almost every one of them, with eyes fixated on the white
blazes, would probably have missed the smaller, less obvious arch
near the mausoleum had I not pointed it out to them - even though it
was less than 50 feet off the trail! Too bad that Ryan missed that
spot, too, since I left a little hitcher there that I thought would
go nicely with his turtle! (Perhaps someone else can try to get it to
him up the trail, if he's not moving too fast!) And -who knows- maybe
we'll still meet him up in CT! There are hundreds of hikers coming
through right now - I must have seen at least 2 dozen while crossing
both the DWG and Bear Mt. bridges on my way home, so there's
definitely a lot of them out this year! Happy trails to all!
Wanda "the Breeze"
Re: MD: I'm a failure!
From: lizardbuttsfamily (mmebt@hotmail.com) |
Date: 2003-07-04 06:45:40 UTC
so I hung out and did the boxes at Gathland just north of
> Harpers Ferry. Quite a few other hikers came through while I was
> there, and almost every one of them, with eyes fixated on the white
> blazes, would probably have missed the smaller, less obvious arch
> near the mausoleum had I not pointed it out to them - even though
it
> was less than 50 feet off the trail! Too bad that Ryan missed that
> spot, too, since I left a little hitcher there that I thought would
> go nicely with his turtle! (Perhaps someone else can try to get it
to
> him up the trail, if he's not moving too fast!)
> Wanda "the Breeze"
I am happy that the box is still there. Thanks!
Monica