Los Alamos Letterboxing

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I looked at the Atlas Quest event list today and boy are the letterboxers busy – there were five events listed for today. I hope everyone had a great time.

Astro D and The Great Wuga Wuga returned home from their trip to Thailand earlier this week. Astro D and I were able to get together yesterday for coffee and talk about the trip and letterboxing. The trip sounded like a whole lot of fun and they got to relax as well.

Eventually the topic turned to letterboxing. First, Astro D and I are involved in a postal letterboxing ring called Friends Carving Friends. You had to carve a signature stamp for your friend interpreting their trail name. The ring started March 15th. So we got to exchange the stamps we carved for each other. She did a totally different lion than I had been doing – and of course I love it (but then again I always love her carvings). Now we mail these off and wait for other stamps to arrive in the mail. I also showed her the State Insects that I carved for that postal ring. And I showed her the stamp that I carved and sent to the Hoosier Heart Gathering (which incidentally happened today) – I hope they all liked the stamp.

We also talked about the new boxes that have been placed in the Albuquerque area. I placed three! And there seems to be a couple of new boxers in the area . . . 6jumpingbeans and Twinville_Trekkers5. I hope they continue to be involved – they have each planted two new boxes in Albuquerque. Maybe Astro D and I can go next Friday and get some of these new boxes.

After talking for a while we decided to go for a hike. But first we replanted artTrekker’s SF Trail box. The place where it was hidden had been manicured and the box was completely exposed. We found a better hiding place and sent the new clues to artTrekker – we wouldn’t want this box to go missing – it has an incredible stamp. We then headed to the Dorothy Stewart Trail. Astro D and I had a great walk and talk. Such an enjoyable and relaxing time. The weather was also great – my only worry of the day was the Junipers. They are full of pollen and I couldn’t keep myself from worrying about my allergies – so far I’m okay. I’m not sure how long we were out on the trail, since we found a couple of benches and sat and talked for a while. I always have a great time visiting with Astro D. And sometimes we get carried away talking and the entire day slips by – sorry John and Thomas.

I returned home yesterday afternoon after my visit with Astro D and I got to play with my new stamp image that Astro D had carved for me – then I boxed it up to mail it to the next person. Thomas and I then talked and decided that this morning we would head out to Los Alamos to look for a couple of Astro D’s boxes.

We awoke to a spectacular sunrise and I just knew the day would be fantastic – and I wasn’t disappointed. After a short and uneventful drive to Los Alamos we arrived at the Mitchell Trail. There were a few cars but it didn’t seem too crowded. We ended up only seeing two people during our hike. Our goal – a natural arch and Astro D’s Crackle Pop Rattle Hiss letterbox. Not long into the hike Thomas was jumping a stream crossing and twisted his knee (it was already a little injured). It was a little sore but he wanted to continue so we kept on going. The first part of the hike wasn’t bad but eventually there was some rock scrambling. This didn’t hurt his knee but he did have to take things a little slow. Finally we made it to the arch. Thomas found a place to sit and rest his knee while I climbed up under the arch and began my search for the box. Pretty easy to find – Astro D always gives great clues!!!





Let me tell everyone – if you are in the Santa Fe area make time to go and get this box. The hike is incredible (you go through an area that was burned in the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000), you get spectacular views of Los Alamos and the surrounding area and you get a beautifully carved stamp image. I have found most of Astro D’s boxes and I am pretty certain that this one is my all time favorite. She will have to work hard to beat it – all aspects of the box work great – the hike, the views, the image, the carving and the experience. THANKS ASTRO D! We made it back to the car without problems and figured out where we need to go for the next box. I read the clues for the next box and Thomas drove. Once we parked, we headed for the trail to Deer Trap Mesa so we could find Astro D’s Deer Trap letterbox. This was an easy and leisurely hike with terrific views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in Santa Fe. Thomas found this box and then we found a nice spot to sit and stamp in. Another great stamp and experience! We ended up sitting atop the mesa for about a half hour or more. The sun was shining, it was warm with a gentle breeze – if we had stayed a little longer I may have been able to fall asleep and take a little siesta.

We decided to call it a day and wanted to get something to eat for lunch. We stopped at The Hill Diner. We had a great lunch following our perfect day of hiking. Tonight we are taking it easy and will probably do the same tomorrow. I just love letterboxing!