Rustypuff and I had the chance to do a bit of letterboxing in New
York's Hudson Valley this weekend, and to check up on a box I placed
last August.

We are pleased to report that Kancamagusdabull's Boxin' On The Hudson
boxes -- all three of them -- are intact and in place. Although I
grew up in Woodstock and spent a fair amount of time in Kingston, I
had never been to Hasbrouck Park, and so had never seen that
particular view of the Hudson. It was a gorgeous day and the view
was specatcular!

We also took the opportunity to check on a box I placed last year. I
hadn't heard a peep about my Kaaterskill Falls box since placing it
on 20010810, so I was prepared with a newly-carved stamp and
outfitted box when we visited yesterday. Would the original box be
gone? Or would it still be there, undiscovered by anyone? I
couldn't wait to find out.

Climbing the trail, which had been improved even more since I was
last there, I spotted something on the ground. "That doesn't belong
there," I said to Rustypuff, and I dutifully picked up a discarded
(unused and unopened) feminine product and placed it in my backpack.

We climbed a little further and were soon in sight of a large flat
rock lying on the left side of the trail. I can remember stopping
there for snacks on hikes past. There was something on the rock, and
from a distance it looked like an empty potato chip bag -- more of
someone else's trash for us to pack out. On closer inspection it
turned out to be something else entirely -- my Kaaterskill Falls
letterbox! Just sitting there, inside a ziplock bag, right out in
the open!

Wow.

Inside the box everything was present and accounted for, if a bit
damp. And what's more, the log was filled with entries, mostly from
non-letterboxers who left their names and comments, but also from a
few letterboxers with their own stamps.

According to the dated entries, the box was first found on 20020418,
eight months after it had been placed. After that there are a flurry
of entries throughout the summer, which makes me think it was not
rehidden carefully by casual hikers. The greatest number of entries
are from 20021020, the day before our visit, which makes me think the
box had been sitting out in the open at least that long. Hikers from
as far away as the Netherlands and Wales signed in. Some stamped
their fingerprints, other stamped with leaves they had found nearby.
A couple of folks left haiku.

This is the first time I've been able to recover a log from a box I
placed. Can you tell I'm tickled?

We're amazed that the box was sitting there waiting for us. We're
incredulous that no-one messed with it and that it seems to have been
treated with respect -- no-one wrote any rude messages inside or
scattered the contents to the four winds. And we're puzzled and
fascinated, wondering how it came to be where it was, wondering how
long it had been there, why it took so long to be found the first
time, and why it was apparently so easily found afterward.

Anyway, we took the box and continued on up to the falls. There we
consolidated the old box and the replacement box I had brought --
original stamp, new ink pad, new log -- and returned the letterbox to
its original hiding place.

The clues have not changed and can still be accessed at:
http://www.quahog.org/cscm/where/letterboxes/kaaterskill.html

This hobby just gets cooler all the time!

cscm Rustypuff
p9 f153 x88 e4 p9 f71 x27 e2