If you are able to go to this url:
http://po8.com/letterbox/possum/
you will see photos that may be of interest and also be helpful.
Letterbox Name: Possum Hollow and Coon Creek(two boxes
Location: GA, Canton, Cherokee County USA
Difficulty: Moderate...trail is a bit steep in places, but footing is
secure. Boxes are not difficult to find.
Date Planted: August 12th and 19th, 2002
Planted by :Jimmus and Charliedog
CLUES:
This is a relatively easy hike. Your main difficulty may be in
getting to the starting point...New Hightower Church and Cemetery on
Old Shoal Creek Trail.
Try these directions. Get off I-575 at the exit which is to Ga 140
west. This will take you across the bridge where you would turn in to
Boling Park were you to walk the Etowah trail. Continue on past
Cherokee High School on your left, on over and down the hill to the
intersection which has CVS Pharmacy on the right. A Walgreen
drugstore is presently being constructed on the left.
Turn left and in a few yards, just past the Cherokee Medical Building
on your left, Old Shoal Creek Road goes off at about a 45 degree
angle. Take that road.
You will continue on the road until it ends at New Hightower Church
some three miles away. Bear left at all forks of the road, do not
turn right into any subdivision road. Somewhere along the way, the
road name changes to Old Shoal Creek Trail.
With persistence you will arrive at the Church.. You can park in the
area on the right, at the end of the road.
At the end of the pavement, two metal posts and a cable block passage
to a cleared area beyond. There is a nice muddy area at the cable
gate where you may see possum, coon, rabbit, squirrel, dog, coyote,
fox, or human tracks...not all of them, of course, but even one
animal track is an adventure!
Several trails and old roads come into the clearing beyond the cable
gate. To get on the correct trail, do this:
Go to the left gate post. From the gate post walk 200 degrees for 12
paces, then 125 degrees for 30 paces. This should put you at the
beginning of the Etowah Trail. This is the end of the trail that
leaves Boling Park if you walk the trail to the Etowah Chief and
Woodland Meadow letterboxes.
As you start the trail, you will note a generic "No hunting,
shooting, tresspassing" sign posted on a tree, and above it a sign
posted by a hunting club. The club's sign suggests that you wear
bright colors when walking through the woods during hunting season. I
suggest it at all times since it would be easier to find a person,
should they become disabled, if they are wearing bright colors.
To the best of my knowledge, the trails and roads are not posted. The
trails and roads are heavily used by walkers and mountain bike
riders. You will not be required to get far off the trail to get to
either of these letterboxes.
Soon after you begin your hike, you will pass a large growth of
"ground cedar". This is a primitive vascular plant that is also known
as a "club moss" though mosses are nonvascular. Look closely and you
should be able to see the spore-producing "clubs" that grow above the
plants.
As you continue on the path, you encounter a sign post which points
the way to Boling Park and also to a longer loop trail. Continue on
toward Boling Park, and the path now goes downhill.
A wooden bridge crosses a small stream. Go to the end of the bridge,
but do not cross it. WELCOME TO POSSUM HOLLOW!
Possum Hollow Letterbox
But first learn a bit about these delightful creatures
Opossums are marsupials. The young are born at a very immature stage
when they are about the size of a honeybee. The rear legs are not
developed. The young crawl from the area around the genitalia up to
the pouch where they can get milk. More young are born than there are
nipples to nourish them...some simply get lost along the way. Life is
tough for possums.
They are also a very common road kill in my area of north Georgia.
This has led to a joke, perhaps a bit sick (??): "Why did the
chicken cross the road?"
Answer: "To show the possum that it could be done!"
Now for the letterbox: