Hey all ... just came back from the L.A. area where I was all of last
week visiting a former classmate of mine from grad school. Anyway,
interspersed with the "see-L.A." tourist stuff, I did a bit of 'boxing.

There are some great hikes out there! The San Gabriel Mountains and
the hikes in the Angeles National Forest are superb. I highly
recommend the hike to Switzer Falls ... it was an easy, fairly flat
hike about 1 mile in to the falls, and then another 1/4 of a mile or
so to where the "lookout" was. at 1.4 miles the trail intersected
with another trail and I saw that you could travel to the base of the
falls in another 7/10 of a mile. It seemed from that point that I had
climbed a thousand feet or more, but I really hadn't. I started from
the parking lot already at about 3000', and the falls basically fell
into a valley 300 or 400 feet below me at least, so I was up high
without actually having to climb too much!

The scenery was wonderful! I actually took the higher trail another
1/4 of a mile or so to where the mountain turned and took in a full
panorama of the place ... the sound of the waterfall was amazing and
just about the only sound out there. It was later in the afternoon
(about 3:00) and as I was on the western side of the mountian, the sun
shone in highlighting the entire place in delightful and warm light.
The trail basically follows the edge of the mountain, and although
narrow at times, the entire time you hike you have a view.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find the letterbox that was on this
hike, but I thank the placer anyway as I wouldn't have discovered this
wonderful place had there not been a box to hunt!

Another observation:

Most of the 'boxes I found in California were Altoid containers or
other small containers such as large pill bottles. I never saw a
letterbox in a container simlar to what is in wide use in New England,
where I box mostly. Very interesting. Ink was never included, and
because the boxes were small, they were harder to find in some cases.

I don't want to exclude anyone intentionally, but a couple of my
favorites were:
* the box at the Getty Center - a covert box for sure and a fantastic
place to visit,
* the hike to Switzer Falls and beyond (even though no box was there)
* the hike up Mount Hollywood (again, the box was missing, but a great
hike none-the-less)
* the hike (and found box) at Millard Falls
* the interesting information learned about Pasadena from the clues to
Pasadena area boxes, such as the bridge designed by Greene & Greene,
the location of the orginial Busch Gardens, the story of Tiburcio
Vasquez, and the former mansion used as Wayne Manor in the TV series
"Batman"

All in all, a decent letterboxing trip, although I was disappointed at
the number of boxes I either could not locate or were not there
according to the clues. The area has so much potential; I hope
'boxing catches on a bit more there!

All told in the eight days I was there, I nabbed only 23 boxes
(although I probably hunted close to 35), but not bad seeing as how
this was not a dedicated letterboxing trip.

Best,
CPAScott
http://home.comcast.net/~scott.e.hall/letterbox.html