Buck Mt in November

I went back up Buck Mountain, in Fort Ann NY today for a general hike and to see if I could find the Leaf Letterbox, that my son and I were unable to find this past May. I found it! It was exactly where the clues said it was, except you have to pay a little more attention to the landmarks and less to the pacing. One treat was I found a Hitchhiker there that was launched 2003! The logbook had many beautiful stamps in it and was wonderful to look for. I will hold on to the HH for the winter as there are not many boxers out there now and I want to get it into an active box so others will move it along.

The trip up Buck Mt was fairly good some icy spots and I went down in a stream and got wet, but it wasn't too bad. About 1.5 miles from the Katskill Bay trailhead the DEC has rerouted the trail to the summit due to erosion. I think that the new trail will be just as bad in 5 years as the DEC only cleared the trail thread but there are spots that need to be stabilized.

Here is a Late Fall view from Buck Mt.

Pilot Knob Ridge

I patrolled the trails today and left my tools at home as it has been a while since I have just enjoyed the trails. I took a couple for pics for your enjoyment.

First though the trails are clear and is great shape. Take some time to hike the blue trail to the falls, the water is flowing.

A view of Lake George from the Gazebo

The Gazebo

Some fall color, even if it is on the ground

And yes with all the rain we have has in upstate New York, the falls are flowing.

Invasive Species how Letterboxers and Geocachers can help!

I have been working as a volunteer trail steward for the Lake George Land Conservancy for over six weeks now and I love it! One of my responsibilities is to keep an eye out and destroy any invasive plant species that may invade the preserve. The LGLC has compiled a list of the top five most invasive plant species in our area and the list is at:

http://www.lglc.org/media/Terr-inv-chart.pdf

Right now purple loosestrife and shrubby honeysuckle are the two that I have seen and have had to deal with the most. The LGLC prints the brochure that I have linked to above and distributes them in their trail kiosks and also is making a concerted effort to educate homeowners as to the benefits of removing invasive plants and planting native plants on their properties.

You should read the brochure that I have linked to see the problems and issues regarding these plants and most importantly what you can do about them. Also, these are the top five most invasive plant species in my area. You should look to see what plants or animals for that matter are invasive problems specific to your region. One of the main problems with invasive species is they tend to out compete native plants or animal and can have an impact on other parts of the ecosystems. For instance, the fruit of shrubby honeysuckles tend not to have enough protein for migratory birds that feed on them and may impact their migratory success rate.

I know that many of us letterboxers and geogachers like to do things that shine a favorable light on our hobby. I think that if you educate yourself on this problem and then find a way to take some action in your area. Being out in the parks and nature trails as we are we can be the eyes for those who would like to remove and mediate the impact of these plants and animals. Do not cut or remove any plants on public or private property unless you have permission. One thing that you can do is contact those in charge of the property and tell them where the infestation is and if you could help in any way. Make sure you obtain permission first before you act on the ground.

Pilot Knob Ridge Preserve

While this blog has been mostly about letterboxing, it really is supposed to be about all of my outdoors exploits. Recently I have not been letterboxing, as I have become a volunteer Trail Steward for a little preserve in Lake George, New York. It is the Pilot Knob Ridge Preserve managed by the Lake George Land Conservancy. I have been a Trail Steward for about a month and I am finding that I absolutely love working on this beautiful piece of land.

I am not going to bore you with all my responsibilities, but keeping the trail clear, clean and well-marked sums up most of them. What I am finding interesting though is I have gone up there each weekend for the last month, and each time I go up there I see something different. When I go up know I try and go up with a fresh pair of eyes and just observe nature, and I am seeing or I should say rediscovering the importance of visiting a trail or hiking area repeatedly to really get to know that land. The way hunters get to know a hunting ground.

I have for a long time concerned myself with visiting and hiking new trails and felt a certain amount of disappointment when I only had time to hike an old trail to “train” for the next great hike. I think that going to new places is fun and exciting, but it’s importance has diminished for my, and now it is more important to visit the old trails looking for something new each time I go there. To go off the trail and discover what most people miss.

What I do now is not only look for wildlife, which is exciting, but also looking and learning about the habitat’s plant flora. This I must say is new to me, but since becoming a Trail Steward we are supposed to look for invasive plant species and remove them. In order to do this I had to get a good tree and shrub identification book and learn friend from foe. By taking the time to do that I discovered that I have a shrubby honeysuckle in my backyard (now removed) and that the preserve has an area that this weed has a foothold in, and needs to be dealt with.
Anyway, I hope to write some interesting happenings that are going on at Pilot Knob Ridge Preserve and encourage people to visit this wondrous place.

Work has me tied up

I have not been able to do anything outdoors in a week. This week is always busy at work and keeps me from running wild in the great outdoors. However, I have found some time to carve some stamps for my series I plan on planting on the backside of Prospect Mountain in Lake George NY. I have the stamps carved and actually I have the locations for my places and have even thought of a theme for the entire series which will include a single letterbox and tie another one with the series.

I think however that I will wait until spring to release it. This are is heavily used by hunters and I really don't want to start it a couple of weeks before the season opens. This is one area that I would recommend people not to go into during deer hunting season. But, we'll see. I have other things going on right know that I will talk about next week.

A Geocaching Adventure

I know that I have posted this blog a few too many times this week, but I need to talk about a wonderful experience that I had last week while camping of one of Lake George’s (New York State) beautiful islands.

I love exploring the mountains on the eastside of Lake George and I noticed before we left for the camping trip that there were a few geocaches hidden along a trail system that I wanted to hike. So without interest from my family I headed out solo from a lakeside trailhead located near Red Rock Bay on Lake George.

The trail going up was worn, but in good shape and the RED ROCK BAY VISTA geocache was an easy find. I then set out on the ridge trail that looked like it was hardly used and these are the ones that I like to hike, especially on a cool breezy day that I had.

The next geocache was The Narrows Lookout, which was located off the trail near old forest fire. This was a cool place, and I enjoyed the views.

The next and the last geocache that I found that day was In the Shadow of It's Tail , which is a really fun multi-cache. The first part I made a lot more difficult than I had to. When I was walking down a rock outcrop and the ridge trail again picked up it’s north-south direction I noticed that this cache may have been a little out of the way and it looked like some serious climbing get to it. However, after I descended off the outcrop and walked a bout 0.25 mi. south along the ridge trail, I noticed a trail intersection and it led in the general direction of the cache, so I went after it. Recorded the waypoint of this intersection and before set off. After awhile I noticed that the cache must be to my right up hill and that the trail was taking me away from the cache, so I bushwhacked for about 1000 feet until I hit a rock face. The cache was only 136 feet away from me, but it might as well have been a mile. This rock face ran perpendicular to the first 800-1200 feet of the trail I just walked down, so I headed back toward the trail, along this rock face until I found a spot where deer had gone up the face and even for a chicken like me I was able to scramble up and find the micro. This one will make you laugh, but I will not spoil it. The second and final part was easy, just maintain your elevation. I wanted to practice my compass skills so I took a direction on the trail intersection waypoint and compassed out, almost stepping on a yearling deer in the process. By coming up the rock face, I was able to get behind her with her noticing.
I made it to the intersection and set out to find one more geocache, but when I reached the spot where the first micro was, there was a group of muggles having lunch, so I decided that that one would have to wait.

All and all I had a fabulous 7-mile loop through some beautiful country that offers a wonderful array of habitats and a plethora of photo opportunities. The hike actually was not that difficult either. Fun Fun Fun!

Col Williams Monument is Back!

After I gave this one up for lost a persistent Letterboxer found it about 6 feet from the original place. I am not sure why someone felt the need to move it, but its was dry and in good condition. I brought it home and replaced the Rubbermaid box with a Lock and Lock and camouflaged it a bit and set out this morning to place it in a better spot. I spent about 20minutes searching and ended up near the original spot, but a little better hidden. Hopefully this new location will keep it safe.

The clues for this box are at the following letterboxing.org link

http://letterboxing.org/BoxView.php?boxnum=21263%26boxname

This poll is closed and here are the results.


Would you feel more comfortable on a longer hike with a series of boxes to bring you along?


Yes, it's like having trail makers 29 (59%)

No, I will hike anyway. 19 (38%)

Don't care, just want more finds. 1 (2%)

What this has told me is that from now on that I am going to use series and better trail descriptions for those remote letterboxes that I may place. I think that it is very important to help people who are looking for your box, feel comfortable and to have fun looking for your place. By using a series in an imaginative way, that is possible. My goal with my first series is to bring people to a fairly tame area, but wild all them same. To give them a taste of the Adirondacks.

Thank you to all those who participated in the survey and to those who left comments regarding this survey. I listened and really appreciate all of your input.

My Letterbox was Found

My Col Williams Letterbox was found the other day after I had retired it a month ago. The persistent letterboxer found the box about 5 feet from my original place. The irony is that I would have found it if I was searching for it, but since I placed it I knew where it was supposed to be and when I didn't see it I actually searched around for evidence that it was muggled, not that someone moved and hide it. I didn't think that another boxer re-hid the letterbox in what they thought was a better location. I will remember that if it happens again.

I have it ready now to be placed again. I am going to place it in a better, more secure spot as this box gets a lot of traffic, so I am going to try and find a hiding spot that will be a little more out of sight of possible muggles. It is in in a new lock and lock and has a 100 page logbook. I even camoed it. I hope to have it back in commission by this weekend.

Would you feel better with a series of boxes on a long hike.

This is something that I am curious about. I have noticed, and I have talked about this before, that many letterboxes are located in nature trails, close to the parking area when they are solo, and also, even of easier hikes, if I locate a single box more than 1 mile from the road that it does not get visited very much.

I thought that it was more of a physical thing, but I thought a little and I'm am thinking that maybe a may be a comfort thing. That is hiking in on a new trail that takes you into the WOODS, may be uncomfortable to some. I didn't think about this as I grew up in the woods; raised by, well not wolves, but close; and I am very comfortable going in to new places. I just know how to prepare.

So my thought was, and I have posted a poll that asks if a series of boxes will make you feel more likely to go on a longer hike of not. I am figuring that if I gave detailed descriptions to the boxes along the trail, that other boxers will be more likely to look for them and enjoy these areas as they will have a "trail of breadcrumbs" to follow. But, maybe I am way off.

Please cast your vote and if you have more to say, please commit on this subject, as I would like use this information to customize my series a little better.

I will also post the fianl results on the Yahoo group so that we can take a look at the results.

Thank you.

Thoughts on Series Plants

Over on the LbUSA Yahoo group there was quite a discussion on whether or not there needs to be a logbook in each box in a series. There were a few people who stated that if the box is to be considered a letterbox that it must have a logbook. Many others stated that they felt that in a series that there did not need to be a logbook in each box and that there only needs to be a logbook in the final box. There were yet a few more that thought there should be a logbook in the first and the last letterbox. This discussion generated a lot of heated discussion, and there are a few ideas that I took from this discussion.

First, and foremost that letterboxing is all about fun and that there are really no rules in how to go about planting your boxing. Also, from this discussion and from reading the FAQ's on Letterboxing.org and the book The Letterboxing Companion that the most important item in letterboxing is the stamp. That is what makes letterboxing what it is; what makes it unique.

So, my personal thoughts on whether there should be a logbook in each box in a series are that it really depends on what you are attempting to do. I think that if you are locating a series and that each plant is really independent of the other then yes I think that having a logbook in each in important. However, if you are using the boxes to bring people to places or along a trail with some sort of theme and these boxes are dependant on one and other, then I really think that you don't need to place a logbook in each; I feel that the experience becomes too redundant. You must have a logbook in the final box and maybe one in the fist box, again that really depends on what you want the finder's experience to be.

What makes this activity so interesting is seeing how creative people can be with their stamps and their plants and that is why it is important to not have a set in concrete rules, that would kill this hobby faster than anything else.

Black Mountain Letterbox is Placed

I had a great day yesterday! We had great weather and it was perfect for a hike. I love hiking Black Mt. from the lakeside as it offers the so many opportunities to see Lake George from different perspectives. My reason for this hike was to finally get my Black Mountain Fire Tower letterbox in place. Which I did although there really weren't that many places to hide it as I needed to stay away from an in place geocache. But I was able to place it is a fairly secure and semi protected location. I used a lock and lock container that I camouflaged to help keep it away from the muggles.

I also upgraded my Black mountain Point letterbox with a lock and lock container also...I feel so secure now!

Today I picked up a letterbox, Orra Phelps, and a geocache, Orra Phelps' secret at the Orra Phelps preserve in Wilton NY. It is a nice small nature preserve with a stream running through it. It is known for its large variety of ferns.

Well anyway I really had a nice letterboxing and geocaching weekend.

Fort George Letterbox Maintanence

I finally was able to find some free time to replace my container at my Fort George Lb place. I found the box in great shape, well hidden and dry. My logbook was full, so the timing was perfect. I am using the Snaplock brand container to try it out in the field. The size is what I like, maybe a little large. I am using a 100 page sketchbook, instead of the 24 page one that I have been using as this box is getting a lot of traffic.

What has pleased me the most is that there seems to be a lot of young letterboxer finding this box as it is easy, but has a lot of clues, and the box has been very well taken care of! Baker Happy!!!

I have camoed this box like I have with my newer ones and I plan on doing this to all my plants from now on. My camo technique is simple. Just a light coat of black plastic adhering spray paint. It helps to make the box a little less obvious if it is not re hidden with care.

Now if they will just invent muggle repellent ;-)

The Good and the Bad of it

Today letterboxing for me was a mixed bag. Good over all, but with some bad news. My daughter joined me today on my letterboxing adventure and we bagged six great boxes and really enjoyed some nice places. Also learned a little local history. I think I got her hooked.

The bad news happened when we got back and I decided that I had time to upgrade my Col Williams Monument Lb planted near Lake George, NY, with a new box and logbook as I was informed that there had been a lot of activity recently. When I went to retrieve it, it was gone! This is my first box that I have lost. This was a high volume Lb that was in a fairly guarded location but a tree came down near the box and removed a lot of the covering brush. If the box had not been re hidden carefully it would have been seen. I am hoping it was just a muggle, but I didn’t see any evidence that the box was scattered. So I don’t know.

I am not going to replace this one. It is a good location for a box that maybe could be planted a little more cleverly. This was one of my first boxes I planted and it had a white lid so if it was not covered, especially after the tree took out some of the understory near the box, it would have stood out like a beacon. Now I camouflage my plants with black paint so they are a little more difficult to see.

I am a little disappointed as I had a lot of nice stamps impressions in the logbook and received a lot of positive complements on the placement but that’s the nature of the game. It had to happen sooner or later.

Some nice caches

Today I went on a nice hike up Sleeping Beauty Mountain in the Southeastern Adirondacks. I went to just enjoy the hike, but ended up finding two great cachers Sleeping Beauty Cache and Sleeping Beauty's Prince Charming. The second one is probably the best geocache I have ever found. It was in a great location, great clues and real a nice cache.

Also, I really had fun on my hike. I had the top of the mountain all to myself. I also did the loop hike, in that after I hiked to the summit, I took the trail down to Bumps pond an then back to the trail head. It was fun . Total trip was 7.8 miles of some real quiet Adirondack hikin.

Here are some pics.

This are the remains of the old Dacy farmhouse.

A view from the summit of Lake George.

Bumps Pond

LPC and Micro's I do not like them I say

I was listening to latest installment of the Podcacher, when Sonny mentioned his dislike of LPC’s or lamppost caches. A dislike I also strongly share. This is geocaching’s version of a mico box that is just placed somewhere by someone who just wants to place a cache or box someplace. Letterboxing micro’s and boxes for that matter still are being placed as far I can tell, at places of interest, but geocaches seem to have a higher percentage of caches that are hidden for the soul reason to hide them. The place has no historical or scenic attributes. This seems to be what the LPC really is.

I not a numbers guy, in fact I really don’t have that much time to myself where I can cache and box, so when I do I really want to be taken to an interesting location or learn some history or something! All my found letterboxes so far (27) have been that. I would say 5 of the 40 caches that I have found have been just a box in the woods somewhere, with no redeeming features. However, I have been noticing some letterboxes being listed that look like the quality of the place is decreasing, but I don’t know for sure until I look for them. I will say this though. If a cache or a letterbox says up front it is a micro I will not look for them, as I feel that most of these are in locations that are not to my personal liking.

I like to visit a nice nature preserve and look for a box or a cache off the beaten trail, so you can open them box up and read the logbook and take your time without having to look out for muggles constantly. That is where I attempt to place all of my boxes. That is fun and relaxing to me. The James Bond thing is not for me and a location looks too mugglely, I will pass the Lb or cache up.

I think that each person who is thinking of placing a box or hiding a cache should think very hard about the interest that the location will generate, where the container can be placed in proximity to the muggle world, then the quality of the box itself and how well you can maintain it. I think that one of the reasons I don’t have, as much time as I would like to find boxes and caches, is I spend some of the precious time I do have, maintaining my boxes. I check of them twice a year and I up grade the containers and such, so that when the box is looked for the seeker has a better chance of finding my box and really enjoying there experience.

I think though, later I will discuss my maintenance practices of my boxes and how I think I can reduce the number of times I need to check on them…but later.

...A little later in the day...I have just read a couple of responses to the letterboxing news group and I think that one of the things that I am saying in those posts and this blog is I just want to see that the new boxers and cachers stay true to the tradition of connecting the box to the locaction.

Podcacher

As I said in my first post on this blog, I have been away from the blogging world for a while and in my previous blog I mentioned a podcast that I really enjoyed. Well, I have rediscovered this podcast and I am very happy to see that it is still up, fresh and thriving while I was away. Of all the different podcasts that I have listened to this is the only one that I have found that has continued for as long as it has and has improved with every show. This has become a weekly program that I can count on and look forward to listening to and leaning from every week.

The name of this podcast is Podcacher, and if you are interested in geocaching you really want to listen to this program. It is fun, interesting and a classroom that you will enjoy! You have the Baker's guarantee!!!!

Had Some Time!!

I had a couple of free hours today so I grabbed my letterboxing gear and my gps and headed out to the Great Sacandaga Lake to find a letterbox that I have been meaning to get for a while know. I drove in from Hadly of County Rte 4 and had some great views. The box was and easy find, with a real nice hand carved stamp. The Park that you park at is a nice place to have some lunch and just relax.



I also found the geocache whose container has been chewed by and animal. This cache is easy, and in a nice location, but it needs some work. I TNSL and STAMPED IN:-)

Geocachers Should have Personal Stamp

I was thinking today on how close letterboxing and geocaching really are. I was also thinking about how much I have learned from each of these activities, and have been able to apply some of the techniques of one to the other. For example, I have been taking a little more time to camouflage my letterbox containers better, so that if they are not re-hide well, at least they will not have a glaring red lid beaming its location all about. I am doing this mainly form seeing many of the geocaches I’ve found camouflaged well and they seem to stick out less.

One thing that I would like to see geocachers do is carry a personal stamp to stamp the logbooks of the geocaches they have found. I have one for letterboxing and a separate one for geocaching. Here is my reason for this. I am seeing a lot more cachers not exchanging items with the caches anymore. I am seeing a lot of TB’s getting moved around and messages like SLTN, in the logbooks. So why not leave a stamp imprint in the logbook? The cacher who hides the cache pays a lot of money and goes through a lot of effort to hide a good box. And when they come to check on the cache, more times than not the box needs more good swag and a new logbook. Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture to leave something for the person who hides the box in the logbook? I think that it would show that the finder appreciates a good hide and the effort that the hider is going through to maintain the box. I think that TN, but stamped in, would be much better than SLTN.

Your stamp can be hand carved, store bought or custom made, it just needs to say something about you, or mean something to you. Letterboing.org talks a lot about this if your are interested.

Made a New Plant

This letterbox I planted yesterday, is one that I have been planning since I visited the Pilot Knob Preserve. (http://www.lglc.org/NaturePreserves/Pilot-Knob.asp) this past spring. This little hike is a gem. With just a little effort you will be rewarded with gorgeous views, waterfalls and a lot of opportunity to see wildlife. The blue trail is especially full with a pleura of bird species singing and flying around. I was really happy finally get the time to plant this box.

The clues for this letterbox can be found at:

http://letterboxing.org/BoxView.php?boxnum=32698&boxname=Pilot_Knob_Moose

The Changing World of Letterboxing Containers and the weather :-)

Today was a frustrating day for me. First, the weather was as usual not cooperating with my letterboxing plans. We had multiple thunder boomers roll through today and I am not even going the think about trying for a few boxes. I have my son onboard as far as enthusiasm, but the rest of my family is not really interested in Letterboxing. So I don’t have many days free to go and letterbox and with most of the letterboxes found near me, I have to venture out which takes time that I don’t seem to be able to find.

The other thing that I found frustrating today was while visiting my local target to purchase a couple of Lock and Lock, or Snapware containers to begin replacing my Rubbermaid boxes, that the do not carry Snapware anymore and the Lock & Locks are not the size I really want. They are a little small and I have to cut down my favorite size logbook, the Strathmore 4x6. Target replaced the Snapware with a Sterilite container that has a steam release vent on top with a depression to allow your finger room to open it. If I had to use them I would have to seal this with silicon. These containers seal like lock and locks so they would be nice and they have some of the sizes that I like to use. I just don’t like that there is a hole in the lid. I should just plane ahead and order the lock and locks or Snapware directly one a year. I don’t really plan on make a ton of places, but who knows?

Non Stampers

I have begun to start my early summer checks on my boxes I have placed in my area and I have noticed more people are just signing in and not stamping. Also, of the boxes I checked one was not hidden very well and the other the top was left unsealed. I hope that this is just a fluke, because I would think that if you want to join in on this activity that you should at least carry a store bought stamp.

On another note my Black Mt Point letterbox needs a new container. The lid on that one is very hard to reseal and it looks a little warped. This was one of the old creamed colored lid Rubbermaid's, which have worked well, but I think it is time for a lock and lock for this place, as it is a little more difficult for me to check in the off season.

That's it for the Adirondacks

Later

Noonmark Mt, Keene NY

Yesterday we had a great day for hiking. We took a little trip up Noonmark Mountain in Keene, NY and had a blast. The last mile was very steep, but worth the views that we were treated too.

I ended up finding an old geocache up here the Leonid Cache (GC28E5). The cache was in very poor shape, it was in a plastic container, right out in the elements. The cache was very wet as were much of the contents. The log book was intact, and I was able to sign in. If a cache needed some attention, this one is it. It really needs an ammo can to hold up the the harsh conditions that this poor cache has to live with. I had one, I just didn't think to bring it. :-( Someone had at some time brought up the current containers , but left the original container right next new one???? We packed out the old container and disposed of it.

Poor Island

We just returned from our camping trip on one of the little islands on Lake George in New York State. This island is about 125 by 225 feet and it lost 26 trees from a freak local thunderstorm last month. All of the large tree are gone. They either snapped in half, half way up the tree or they where simply tipped over as the soil is so shallow.

When we arrived on the island, I was struck with how different it looked and it took me a moment to grasp the violence that occurred here. One tree was blown apart by a lightning strike. I am glad that I was not camping they on that day!

Now all the old 100 year old plus trees were cleared out, but almost all of them were rotted inside and really should have been cut down years ago. Also, with some of the smaller trees now in full sunlight, their time now has arrived and they now will be making the shadow instead of living under one. Thankfully this storm happened outside of the busy camping season and nature must had felt that a little pruning was in order.

I think that it will be interesting to visit this Island in ten years to see how it is progressing. I hope to visit it every year for a long time.

Good times for Letterboxing

I was looking through the list of letterboxes on LbNA and realized how much letterboxing has grown in the last couple of years. When I starter there were only a few letterboxes in my area, now there are a ton and they are growing as more people find out how fun this activity is. Just in my immediate 4 county radius I have been brought to some beautiful areas that I would never have heard of, and now I enjoy visiting again and again. I personally enjoy carving and placing as well as finding letterboxes.

A couple of things that I am noticing is that I am seeing Lb’s being placed in so-so locations and I am seeing Lb’s that are not being maintained by the placers. One of the things that I try to do to help other boxers is to help them maintain their boxes that are close to me and far from them. I think that this is important to keep the interest going and we must make sure that the prizes out there are in good shape to make sure that the finders experience is a good one. My Col. Williams Monument Letterbox in Lake George NY has had 3 boxers find it that it ended up being their first experience finding a box. That is why I feel that it is all of ours responsibility to maintain boxes. Similar to when you stay at a lean-to in the Adirondacks, when you leave you must leave the site better than you left it and do things like leaving a nights worth of wood for the next camper. That is the type of thing that I like to see and see from many other boxers in the Letterboxing community. I would just like to see a little more. Many times my boxes are not re-hidden well and sometimes left open or the Ziplocs are not zipped and the logbook gets damp. Same junk all placers have to deal with, but would like some help with. I think that when teaching a new boxer, you really need to emphasize the letterboxing ways.

Rubbermaid Premier Containers

Current Rating: Not Yet rated

Rubbermaid Premier Containers

I would like to have people from the letterboxing community to take a moment and write a review about this product if you have used it. Then please give it a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating.

Please write your comments in the comment section at the bottom of this post.When I get five responses I will post the rating on my sidebar for easy review.Write your experiences with this item and what size you used and please give any recommendations so that other boxers may learn from your experience.

Thank you

Baker

Rubbermaid Flex and Seal Containers

Current Rating: 4-Stars

Rubbermaid Flex and Seal Containers

I would like to have people from the letterboxing community to take a moment and write a review about this product if you have used it. Then please give it a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating.

Please write your comments in the comment section at the bottom of this post.When I get five responses I will post the rating on my sidebar for easy review.Write your experiences with this item and what size you used and please give any recommendations so that other boxers may learn from your experience.

Thank you

Baker

Product Review Rubbermaid Durable Containers

Current Rating: 1-Star

Rubbermaid Durable Containers (Red Top)

I would like to have people from the letterboxing community to take a moment and write a review about this product if you have used it. Then please give it a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating.

Please write your comments in the comment section at the bottom of this post.When I get five responses I will post the rating on my sidebar for easy review.Write your experiences with this item and what size you used and please give any recommendations so that other boxers may learn from your experience.

Thank you

Baker

Product Review Lock & Lock

Current Rating: 5-Stars

Lock & Lock

I would like to have people from the letterboxing community to take a moment and write a review about this product if you have used it. Then please give it a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating.

Please write your comments in the comment section at the bottom of this post.When I get five responses I will post the rating on my sidebar for easy review.Write your experiences with this item and what size you used and please give any recommendations so that other boxers may learn from your experience.

Thank you
Baker

Product Review Snapware

Current Rating: 4-Stars

Snapeware

I would like to have people from the letterboxing community to take a moment and write a review about this product if you have used it. Then please give it a rating of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst rating. Please write your comments in the comment section at the bottom of this post.

When I get five responses I will post the rating on my sidebar for easy review.
Write your experiences with this item and what size you used and please give any recommendations so that other boxers may learn from your experience.

Thank you

Baker

Fishbrook Pond

I really love this little pond. The hike in from the Lake George Shore Trail is short, but steep. We ended up following a moose all the way to the pond. I don't believe the trail was more that an hour old. At one point I thought we could smell him/her.

I also checked on our Fishbrook Letterbox and it survived the winter, but was a little damp. I will bring a lock and lock up on the next trip. This is one of the boxes that is really located in a very nice area and it is worth hiking in and enjoying this little slice of paradise.

Nature's Destruction

We were sad to find out today that our favorite camping island on Lake George was the scene of a large blow down that closed the island for a while. We are sad that we are going to miss our camping trip, but it is so sad to see such a nice island wrecked.

It looks like this island will be closed for half the summer. The island next door lost 100 trees! The storm was just a small localized pop up that generated 82 mph winds! A warning to us all to be aware always when in the outdoors.

Fortunately no one was hurt.

Plan ahead

Today I had a good morning of letterboxing and geocaching. I picked up two letterboxes and one geocache. I was hoping to get more, but I had to plan B two of my locations as there was too much company. The Story of Micky and Lasher Letterbox and the Karner Blue Lb at the Wilton Wildlife Preserve was going to bag me 6 boxes, but when I rolled up I saw a school bus dropping off kids. So I plan B'ed it and went and 0 found a quickie at Bryants Bridge (LbNA#31441); I went on to the Starks Knob Letterbox and met with success. It really is a quick find, but a really neat place. Mookie had also hidden one in the same area, but she stumped me. I could not find it for the life of me.

I moved along to the Lock 5 Lb, but there was a whole bunch of motorcycles parked there, with about 50 people milling around where I thought the box was.

Plan B time, I whipped out my GPS and lo and behold there was a geocache located about 0.25 mi away. A few minutes later I had a geocache and yet another nice place to go for a little walk. I saw huge carp jumping in the old canal there, something that I didn't expect to see.

That was it. When I go out know I bring a loose leaf binder full of nearby (within 20 mi) boxes and I load up my GPS so if some of the places that I want to search are loaded up with muggles I always had a Plan B.

A day on Buck Mt

Had a great hike today with Border Collie up Buck Mt. He hid a series of two boxes along the way up to the summit. The views from the top made the hike worth the work up the mountain. The day was a little warm, but very clear. We could see some of the high peaks and some nice views of Lake George.

We looked for the Leaf Letterbox, but didn’t have much luck. I am not certain that we found the right spot, but I am 60 percent sure that the box may be gone. The top got very crowded when we were looking for the box so after trying for another 20 min we bagged it. I have to come up again to get a geocache so I will look then.

All and all we have a great day!

Been Out of town

I have been attending a continuing education class at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde park NY. What a beautiful area. I have until about Noon to myself so I have been exploring the Norrie State Park a little north of here and found a geocache and two nice letterboxes. Saw deer, rabbits pilieted wood peckers and no people!. Nice.



I even went behind our quality Inn and found a nature trail there where I found three more geocaches. (The where and who's I will list when I get home if anyone cares). That trail system seemed big and I bet that there were a few letterboxes on it. It was quiet and a lot of places to hide stuff. I don't know where the trail head is, but I believe it is referred to as the Hyde Park Nature Trail. When I reached the trail from a private access trail it was well marked, and looked like there were loops, but without a map it was hard to tell.



I also went over into New Paltz to a trail called the Rail Trail. There is a serious called the Riverdale Series, that the carving was great, but the trail is straight and the boxes were right near the trail, so it was a little hard for me to look for them even at 6 am as there were a good amount of people out taking their morning contitutionals. It was hard for me not to look suspecious and I didn't want to alarm some of the ladies that were walking on the trail by themselves. The boxes are easy to find. If I really wanted to get these boxes I would have come out with another person to act as a lookout. I only found 4 out of 13...I stopped at the fifth.



That's it from my baking adventure.

Prospect Mountain Fire Tower Letterbox

Well I got up at the crack of Dawn and placed this letterbox up on Prospect Mountain. I went up the backside and checked on my Lost Farm Letterbox and it was in good shape. Had a great hike and I think the new box is in a pretty good location. I also am using a lock and lock type container. I hope that it takes the elements better than the newer Rubbermaid containers.

Boxing and Graveyards

I was able to go after a letterbox on Friday. The Sunset on the Bog Lb by Scout and found it, but the stamp was missing. I contacted scout and him/her will carve one and send it to me to replace the missing stamp. I don’t mind going to this site as it is close to work and you have a lot of wildlife to see. I just noticed that there is a Hybrid geocache within 300 feet of the Lb so I’ll get that when I replace the stamp.

I also went after a couple of boxes in the Victory graveyard and I found the location of one of them, but I did not feel right stamping in that sacred ground. I have a great grand father in the Prospect Graveyard across the street. It just didn’t seem right. I am not going to even attempt graveyard boxes. Not right.

My Inman Pond Letterbox

When I visited my Inman Pond Letterbox I was a little sad to see that it only have one visit since July 2006. The location is wonderful and offers a good opportunity to see wildlife. This really is a perfect little hike with a nice pond at the end of the trail that will provide mom and dad with a way to keep the little one interested.

Porspect Mt

I have a new stamp carved and I am waiting for my artist drawing pad to arrive from Misterart so I can go a hide this box.

At LbNA I opened up a slot for this box, even though I didn't hide it yet as I missed hiding one on this mountain 2 years ago when hungery joe arrived. But that box was lost so now I can hide the new stamp I just carved in this location. I guess I am sort of saying dibs. If someone else hides one in the mean time I will still hide this stamp as I will link it to my Lost Farm letterbox that is about 3/4 of a mile away.

Spring 2007 Looking good

I have checked on three of my six hidden letterboxes. The Fort George Park, Col Williams Monument and Inman Pond are still in good shape and are waiting for boxers to find.

The Inman box was a little damp. I don't like the new Rubbermaid containers with the red lids. They don't seem to seal as tight as we would like. I am going to switch the two red lidded hides I have out there with Lock-n-locks as most boxers I have seen seem to like these the best and I would like to try them out.

I'm Back

I lost my letterboxing and geocaching blog over the winter. I was editing it and for some reason I deleted it. Dumb!, but shit happens right?

I have been very busy this week. I have carved three new stamps and found four geocaches so I have had a little fun.

I have also found some intesting new hiking areas that I will talk about in future posts.

So for a little while I will work at rebuilding my new blog that will hopefully be read by someone.

I will work hard at not deleting this one. ....I hope