Letterbox hiding Advice

When I began letterboxing a couple of years ago, one piece of advice that some letterboxing websites gave was to make sure that you take your time and find a good secure hiding spot. This simple suggestion that on the surface seems easy to follow, but for me and I am going to bet for most beginners, more difficult to put into practice. First, what makes a good hiding spot? I am not talking about the destination spot for the letterbox, but the actual hiding location for it.

1 A place that is hidden from accidental discoveries by muggles
2 One that protects the box from the elements and animals
3 A location that gives the boxer a little seclusion so he/she may box quietly and undisturbed away from curious onlookers.

I am sure that many boxers out there can add to this list but even with just these three items it sometimes can be difficult to satisfy all of the criteria. One little nugget of advice I remember reading was that you need to make your box as small as possible because hiding spots are hard to find and they are right. Especially about the hard to find part.

When I first started to box and made my first plant, I could not get the box planted in the woods, run home and write the up the clues fast enough. My first hide was under a log. Not too bad of a location, but the box did not get much protection from the elements and after the first winter it had a little water in it. Now, the box is in a more secure site and I am using a lock and lock to keep the box dry so far, but it still could be in a better location.

Ok, ok where am I with this? Using my experience I would like to make some recommendations on what you may try when you decide to plant a letterbox.

Number one, either go by yourself or make sure that the people that you are with are as into letterboxing as you are. Two cases in point: First I took my kids hiking to an interesting pond (Inman Pond Lb) and did not see a good hiding place jump out at me and began to search for a spot and as you may expect 10 minutes later they wanted to get moving and I had to literally make a hiding spot, one that I will change this year the next time I go up there. Another example is when I was hiking into a secluded pond (The Fishbrook Lb) with some friends and went to hide the box. Again the same problem, impatience and I found an okay spot, but not one that you want for a box that is not going to be visited that much. And yet again I will be changing the hiding position on that one also.

Next I would say to the perspective hider, be patient yourself and don’t become too focused on planting the box in an exact location. Go to where you want to bring the finder and then begin to search around that area, literally circle the area in an expanding spiral until you find a good hiding spot that meets all the criteria or as many as possible that you have set for the plant. This I just did when I planted my Prospect Mountain Environmental Series last weekend. On my third box I had a lot of trouble finding a spot where I wanted to bring people and with the larger container that I used, made finding a good hiding spot in that vicinity impossible. So, I used the area that I wanted to bring people to as a landmark and found a more suitable location for the plant a little further up the road. That entire process took me about an hour There were potential locations in there target area, like under a log and such, that I could have used, but really were not good locations.

A last little bit of advice is to use containers that are water tight, like Snapware, Lock and Lock and such, and make sure that there are only as big as you need. I personally use the 6x6 boxes or 5x7 sizes deep enough to allow a stamp and the Strathmore 3x5 art pad with a little room for hitchhikers. Yes, if you can, make sure your box is large enough to fit a hitchhiker in it, because some boxer will put them in your box whether it fits or not. (I am beginning to not like hitchhikers anymore.) Also, buy yourself some black spray paint for plastic. And spay a little on the box, especially if there are any bright colors on the box. This will help if an inexperienced boxer finds your letterbox and does not place it back as good as they should. This way with a little camouflage on it will be more difficult to be seen by muggles.

This blog article has gone on longer than I anticipated so I will end it here. So to sum up the important points when planting a box:

1 Be patient
2 Box with real boxers when planting
3 Take the time to find a good secure planting location
4 Be a little more flexible and creative when a target site does not have a good hiding spot.
5 Use only the size box that is necessary for your purposes and camouflage it a little.