I eventually consented and the article appeared in the February 15th Sunday Edition Living Section. You can read the article on Astro D's blog at 15 Minutes of Fame. Well this week I realized that I should have listened to my gut instinct and not done the article. It seems that I violated some rules and placed a letterbox too far off the trail. I received an email from a Specialist with the City of Albuquerque's Open Space Division. You can read the General Rules and the Geocaching Guidelines (which also apply to letterboxes). So I have now retired my Los Vaqueros letterbox and removed it from the park. This letterbox already went missing once when planted close to the trail and I felt it needed to be further away for the safety of the box but then that meant putting undue stress on the landscape. I did try and find a place that fit the guidelines (no more than two feet off the trail) but it just didn't work out. Now I am not saying that the article was the problem - I actually broke the rules but the box had been in place since March 2007 and there had been no problems. By making the hobby, box and location public it brought undue attention to it and thus compromised it. Well no more interviews for me and I will definitely be extremely careful about where I place boxes.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Following Your Gut Instinct
Recently a reporter from the Albuquerque Journal contacted me about doing a story about letterboxing. I was hesitant at first because I was unsure if the publicity would hurt the hobby. 
I eventually consented and the article appeared in the February 15th Sunday Edition Living Section. You can read the article on Astro D's blog at 15 Minutes of Fame. Well this week I realized that I should have listened to my gut instinct and not done the article. It seems that I violated some rules and placed a letterbox too far off the trail. I received an email from a Specialist with the City of Albuquerque's Open Space Division. You can read the General Rules and the Geocaching Guidelines (which also apply to letterboxes). So I have now retired my Los Vaqueros letterbox and removed it from the park. This letterbox already went missing once when planted close to the trail and I felt it needed to be further away for the safety of the box but then that meant putting undue stress on the landscape. I did try and find a place that fit the guidelines (no more than two feet off the trail) but it just didn't work out. Now I am not saying that the article was the problem - I actually broke the rules but the box had been in place since March 2007 and there had been no problems. By making the hobby, box and location public it brought undue attention to it and thus compromised it. Well no more interviews for me and I will definitely be extremely careful about where I place boxes.
I eventually consented and the article appeared in the February 15th Sunday Edition Living Section. You can read the article on Astro D's blog at 15 Minutes of Fame. Well this week I realized that I should have listened to my gut instinct and not done the article. It seems that I violated some rules and placed a letterbox too far off the trail. I received an email from a Specialist with the City of Albuquerque's Open Space Division. You can read the General Rules and the Geocaching Guidelines (which also apply to letterboxes). So I have now retired my Los Vaqueros letterbox and removed it from the park. This letterbox already went missing once when planted close to the trail and I felt it needed to be further away for the safety of the box but then that meant putting undue stress on the landscape. I did try and find a place that fit the guidelines (no more than two feet off the trail) but it just didn't work out. Now I am not saying that the article was the problem - I actually broke the rules but the box had been in place since March 2007 and there had been no problems. By making the hobby, box and location public it brought undue attention to it and thus compromised it. Well no more interviews for me and I will definitely be extremely careful about where I place boxes.
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2 comments :
Awww that stinks. And that location was stellar!
Noone went tramping around ruining the landscape...we all stayed on the narrow simple trail. bah!
My kids and I found a very special coyote jawbone near that box location that we never would have found otherwise. It led to many discussions about animal life cycles, coyote habitat and food sources and much research that we might never have done if it weren't for us 'going off trail' a little bit.
Why does everything have to be so sterilized and citified anyway? That only serves to separate us from nature. bah!
I'm sorry this has happened to you. That was one one of my favorite boxes and stamp, too.
I was rather annoyed that Flynn included some things that I never meant for her to publish...like hints to clues (especially mystery boxes). I only shared that info with her to give her an idea of the different ways that some of the boxes can be placed...and then she went an included it. Hello! It's a Mystery Box, lady! Why'd she have to go and share that information publicly?!
I agree about no more letterboxing interviews.
I hope it doesn't lead to any of our boxes being stolen.
But on the upside, I've had several new letterboxers find my boxes and introduce themselves, via Atlas Quest, and say how excited they were they read the article and discovered letterboxing. So maybe we'll get a few new letterbox friends from the article at least.
~Lisa
The article got my wife and me started. Our first was Netherwood and last week we found Urban Forest. I've started trying to carve rubber stamps but the examples I've seen are scary good. Mine look like the original Netherwood tho so we're thinking of doing our first plant. Thanks.
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