Three new letterboxes

1 messages in this thread | Started on 2002-04-14

Three new letterboxes

From: Karen Rogers (krogers@netset.com) | Date: 2002-04-14 19:36:47 UTC-04:00

Rolling Hills Letterbox
Difficulty: Clues-1.5, Physical-2.5
Deer Creek State Park
Mt. Sterling, Pickaway County, OH
Placed: 6 April 2002 by Seeker of Flags
krogers@netset.com
General notes: Please take your own stamp pad(s). Ohios climate is not conducive to stamp pad durability. Seeker of Flags pace count is 19.5 double steps per 100 feet. A pace equals 2 steps. Degree of difficulty is on a 5 point scale. Please e-mail me at the
address above with any complaints, suggestions, or information about the status and condition of the Letterbox.

You can follow the signs from Mt. Sterling to Deer Creek State Park. Once on the Park grounds there are more signs to take you to the Main Lodge.

From the north side of the main parking lot by the Lodge there are two trails going north. The Rolling Hills trail starts near the Tennis Courts. The trail is marked by yellow blazes and goes 2.5 miles to the Campground area.

Follow the yellow blazes. After crossing the Woodchuck Trail, marked by a 5 tall post, start counting bridges. The half way point is just after the 8th bridge, and marked by a bench and a sign. Walk west from the bench for about 30 paces (double steps). This will take you through an area fairly dense with small trees. As you come out of the trees into a more open area, look for a man-hole cover and a pipe sticking out of the ground about 2 foot; shaped like a candy cane.
Stand between the man-hole cover and the pipe. You'll be far enough away to prevent the metal from affecting your compass. Take a bearing of 360 degrees. Step off 13 paces and look right. There will be a rock about 3.5 paces to the east. The rock is about 18 inches by 16 inches by 11 inches tall. The Letterbox is under the two smaller rocks beside it.

This Park is best visited in the Fall or Winter. In the Spring, or after much rain, the trails are very muddy and slippery. In the Summer, the reason for the original name of this area, "Tick Ridge" becomes very evident.

Deer Creek Letterbox
Difficulty: Clues-1.5, Physical-2.5
Deer Creek State Park
Mt. Sterling, Pickaway County, OH
Placed: 6 April 2002 by Seeker of Flags
krogers@netset.com
General notes: Please take your own stamp pad(s). Ohios climate is not conducive to stamp pad durability. Seeker of Flags pace count is 19.5 double steps per 100 feet. A pace equals 2 steps. Degree of difficulty is on a 5 point scale. Please e-mail me at the
address above with any complaints, suggestions, or information about the status and condition of the Letterbox.

You can follow the signs from Mt. Sterling to Deer Creek State Park. Once on the Park grounds there are more signs to take you to the Main Lodge.

From the west side of the west parking area at the Main Lodge, there is a sign for the Ridge Trail. Its a 1.5 mile loop with an opportunity to walk out to a Wildlife Observation Blind at the mid-point. Wildlife is enticed in with corn and a salt block.

After the first Ridge Trail sign, its about 35 paces to a small Park road. Cross the road. About 104 paces from there past the baseball field on your left to the next sign for the Ridge Trail. Follow the yellow blazes along the path to the right. Its a flat, easy walk, to the Observation Blind. As you come back to the main trail loop from the Blind turn right and count 137 paces to a bridge. The path gets steeper as it goes up and down through the reentrants close to the Lake. Count another 154 paces to a bench. The bench over-looks the Lake, across from a boat launch on the far side. Another 82 paces and you'll see a semi-open area to your left with a very shallow reentrant dotted with 7+ big boulders. From here 12 more paces and the path turns left away from the Lake. Keep on counting from 12 and at 20 paces look right for a boulder about 15 feet off the path, at 30 paces a path comes in from the left and the Ridge Trail turns right. Then the Ridge Trail turns left where a path to the right has been blocked off. Now youre just east and above the boulder. The boulder is your objective, but its protected by a lot of blood-thirsty stickers and vines. Your best options are to go back down the path to the Lake and look for a break in the vegetation to approach from below and west of the boulder. Or go past the blockage on the path and look right for a break in the vegetation and approach from the south.

When you get to the boulder the Letterbox is in a hollowed out spot protected by the east side of the boulder.
Return to the Ridge Trail and continue east. Approximately 88 paces and you'll recognize where you are.
This Park is best visited in the Fall or Winter. In the Spring, or after much rain, the trails are very muddy and slippery. In the Summer, the reason for the original name of this area, "Tick Ridge" becomes very evident.

Angler's Launch Letterbox
Difficulty: Clues-2.5, Physical-1
Alum Creek State Park
Delaware (city), Delaware County, OH
Placed: 10 March 02 by Seeker of Flags
krogers@netset.com
General notes: Please take your own stamp pad(s). Ohios climate is not conducive to stamp pad durability. Seeker of Flags pace count is 19.5 double steps per 100 feet. A pace equals 2 steps. Degree of difficulty is on a 5 point scale. Please e-mail me at the
address above with any complaints, suggestions, or information about the status and condition of the Letterbox.

You might find it easier to do a little preliminary work before you go to the Park. I would suggest that you mark out both 100 feet and100 meters with a tape measure. Then walk those known distances and count the number of paces it takes you to cover that distance. That way you can mathematically convert your paces over a known distance to the distances specified in the clues. Or I suppose you could take a longgggg tape measure with you.

Access Alum Creek State Park on the west side from South Old State Rd. Between Lewis Center Rd and Cheshire Rd. turn east on Hollenback Rd into the Park. Follow the signs to the Marina Boat Launch area. There are two large parking areas. Your clues start at a small building between the parking lots. The building is labeled PB2.

From the SE corner of PB2, shoot an azimuth of 252 degrees. Walk off a distance of 94 Meters.

From the octagonal traffic symbol that you find there, follow another azimuth of 338 degrees for 112 Meters to another type of sign.

Stand with your back to the P. Take another azimuth of 301 degrees and follow it for 65 Meters to another octagonal traffic indicator.

From there, try 308 degrees for 303 Feet to yet another impediment to forward progress.

From this point head 80 degrees, along the south edge of a park road for 103 Feet. The second pine tree on the left is 5 paces off the road. On the south side of the tree is a rock. Look under the rock.

Be careful here, youre in view of the road and houses across the field. Take the box deeper into the woods to stamp your book. Make sure you get it re-hidden well under the pine needles.