HORSETRAP TRAIL LETTERBOX
Fish Hatchery Park
Grants Pass, Josephine County, OR
Dropped April 14, 2002
By Mark, Jeanne, Jade, Matt, Shan and Annette

(Directions and clues written by Mark. If you find any problems with this
letterbox, please email Annette at nehnie@aol.com).

Trail length: About 1.5 miles roundtrip if you stay on track.
Clue Difficulty: Easy.

In 1999 two kids named our route Horsetrap Trail and in 2002 they dropped
a letterbox there. No one but them (and now you) calls it Horsetrap Trail,
so don't look for any signs that say that. As they hiked, the kids would
find sticks and dig holes with them. They had seen a guy riding a horse out
there, and it scared them, so the holes were horsetraps. Now you know.

The trick in finding this letterbox is finding Horsetrap Trail itself.
Go to Fish Hatchery Park, 8 miles south of Grants Pass, Oregon. (Go south on
Highway 238 to New Hope Road, right on New Hope Road 3 miles to Fish Hatchery
Road, right on Fish Hatchery 2 miles to Wetherbee Road just before the bridge
over the Applegate River. Go right again half a mile to the end of the road,
and stay left. In 2002 when this letterbox was dropped, there were no signs
for the park until we actually entered it.)

From the parking lot head west (i.e. downriver) on the main trail, an old
wagon road that parallels the river. After 600 meters, the wagon road veers
right, away from the river, and a narrower trail appears on your left.
(Because there are other trails veering to the left, the kids will give you
another clue: There are a bunch of posts with numbers on the top throughout
the park, signifying the location of different tree species that are part of
a guided nature walk. The junction of which we speak is right next to a post
with the number 19 on top).

You could go to the left at this junctionit is a nice side route that
pops out on a sandy river bar before looping back to the wagon road.

But to find the letterbox stay on the wagon road. Horsetrap Trail begins
where the sandbar trail loops back to the wagon road 200 meters farther
west. Horsetrap is the continuation of the wagon road, but this is a tricky
junction, so be careful. Generally speaking, you want to be staying to the
right here. There is a post with the number 16 on top, and you want to
stay well to the right of that. Horsetrap Trail changes from a wide path to
a single track path where it dips down to cross a rocky creek bed before
going uphill 300 meters. If the trail you are on doesn't have this long
hill, it isn't Horsetrap.

There is some poison oak in here, so stay on the trail. Additional clue:
Half way up the hill is a post with the number 15 on it.

Near the top, another trail comes in from the right (across from a post
with the number 14 on it). This other trail is an alternative way back to
your car. It just isn't as pretty because it is out of view of the river.

To find the letterbox keep going west (i.e. downriver). You are high
above the Applegate here, and it is quite pretty. 80 meters from post 14,
Horsetrap crosses a cut 3 feet deep that requires hikers to go down then
steeply up.

Go to the bottom of that little gully, and look directly (not left, not
right) up the hill. Twelve meters above the trail (as it crosses the base of
the gully) is a cedar tree with a small rock pile at its base. Hidden behind
the rock pile is the Horsetrap Trail Letterbox.

(Woohoo! This is our first dropped letterbox. Please email us with your
Horsetrap Trail Letterboxing experience after searching! nehnie@aol.com).