Letterboxing at Cochiti Lake

When I woke this morning I realized it is actually winter now in New Mexico. Yesterday we woke up to snow (a lot in the mountains and a little in town) and then this morning the temperature was 25° and there was a layer of ice on the windshields of the car. After I got dressed I started the car and defrosted the ice on the windshield and then headed out for my morning walk. My plan was to do my walk and then head out to find a couple of letterboxes at Cochiti Lake. I have been walking every morning on the Spur Trail in Rancho Viejo. This morning I did a ten mile walk and when I returned to the car (the temperature was now 44°) I made my way to I25 and drove the 20+ miles to the Cochiti Recreation Area. The area was very quiet and I was the only one there. First I went to the overlook area and parked. I walked up to the pavilion at the overlook and took a few pictures and then headed out to find Wronghat's Pueblo de Cochiti box. It was a short walk to the box and I found it easily. I found a spot to sit and stamp in and enjoy the view of the lake. I noticed that across the lake there was still a bit of Fall color. Once I was done stamping in I got the box back into its hiding spot and then walked a little further down the trail to take a few more pictures.

I returned to the car and then headed over to the Visitor Center (which has never been open when I am there). I took the Nature Trail behind the building and went in search of a letterbox placed by Wronghat with a stamp carved by Mim. I like this trail because it is a pretty easy walk with some incredible views. I easily found the box and sat on the trail (completely blocking it - there was no one else around so I wasn't worried about being in the way) and stamped in. After stamping in and getting the box into its hiding spot I walked a little further down the trail for some more pictures. I then retraced my steps back to the car and made the short drive back to the house. It was a great day to letterbox. A beautiful sunny day at the lake with a bit of a chill in the air. Thanks to Wronghat and Mim for two great boxes.

A Spring and a Crest

This morning I had to be in Albuquerque for an appointment which would only take me an hour. That left the rest of the day to do something. So last night I got together some clues for boxes I hadn't found yet so that I could go and find them when I was done with my meeting. I also gathered all my letterboxing supplies so that I would be ready in the morning. When I left home this morning I had everything I needed to enjoy my letterbox hunt - clues, logbook, signature stamp, compass, inks, water, hat and camera. After my appointment I headed out to do some letterboxing.
I headed east from Albuquerque on I40 and exited on Tramway and then turned onto Central which turns into NM333 (this is the old Route 66). I made sure to go 45 mph so that I could listen to the singing road and then turned onto Carlito Springs and made my way to the Carlito Springs Open Space. I did a little research about this open space and found that it is the newest open space area for Bernalillo County. I also read about its history which was fascinating. Here are some links about Carlito Springs . . .

Carlito Springs latest open space area to open just east of Albuquerque
Bernalillo County Exploring Open Space "Carlito Springs"
Oasis in the Desert: The Renewal of Carlito Springs
Carlito Springs Open Space Trail Map
Carlito Springs Open Space

When I arrived at the Open Space parking there were three cars in the lot. I gathered my things and hit the trail following the clues I had with me. I took the left fork of the trail from the trailhead and started my hike. It was about 11:00am and it was already getting hot - I was thankful I remembered to bring some water. The first part of the hike was uneventful and took me up along stone steps placed in the trail with switchbacks added in to help ease the steepness of the trail. I then crossed the first of two steel bridges. I passed a couple standing on the bridge, said hi and continued on. After the first bridge I started seeing lots of beautiful wildflowers on the side of the trail. I also started seeing some stone walls off to the sides. I then crossed the second bridge and continued my upwards journey. The stone walls and wildflowers became more plentiful here.

Carlito Springs

This hike was mostly uphill and steep in some places and I was really glad I had water - with the heat and the climbing I needed it. I assumed the stone wall were for terracing the steep landscape to support the landscape and orchards all around. Up above I noticed some greenish buildings and eventually arrived at an intersection marked with two wagon wheels. This was the landmark I needed to start looking for Wronghat's Carlito Ingress letterbox. I stopped to reread the clues and quickly found the box not too far from the wagon wheels. I took the box to a shaded spot to sit and stamp in. I always enjoy finding Wronghat's boxes and love his carvings. After I stamped in I returned the box back to its hiding spot and then continued on the trail to the springs.  There are quite a few cabin-like buildings and one stone house in the area. When I arrived at the springs there was a mom and her two young kids sitting on a wall by a small trickling pond and there were four teenagers sitting below at the spring soaking their feet. I took some stone steps down to the spring and took a few pictures and chatted a little with the teenagers. Two of which were out with very nice cameras taking pictures as well. After a short while everyone went on their way and I had the place to myself. It was incredible - so peaceful and quiet. I just sat next to the spring and relaxed for a few minutes - having a snack and some water. Then I started my hike back to the car. I decided to follow the same route I took up since it was the shortest way back to the car and since I was tired it had the most appeal. Next time I will hike the entire loop and maybe bring a picnic lunch. Thanks Wronghat for showing me this place - it was truly magical.

Dalmation Toadflax (Linaria dalmatica)

Wild Sweet Pea (Lathyrus latifolia)

Wild Sweet Pea (Lathyrus latifolia)

Wild Sunflower (Helianthus gianteus)

After this spectacular hike I made my way up to Sandia Crest via the Sandia Crest Highway way to the Sandia Crest House. Here I was looking for cottonwoodlady's Sandia Crest House and Sandia Crest Rosy Finch. I paid my fee and entered the building. I found a place to sit and read the clues looking for landmarks. For the Sandia Crest House box I was having good luck up to a certain point. I kept looking at one of the landmarks trying to find the next one but I wasn't seeing it. I tried to skip down in the clues to see if I could find the next part but still no luck. I gave up on that box and tried the Sandia Crest Rosy Finch box. Again I was good until a certain point and then I became confused and the clues made no sense to me. I kept going back and forth between the clues trying to understand them. Then a young boy over near the entrance started a tantrum.

Hummingbirds at Sandia Crest

When I looked over to see what was going on I noticed a landmark for the Sandia Crest House box. The parents took the young boy outside and I made my to the area and finally after 30 minutes of searching I had found a box. I took that box to some couches and stamped in there and then returned the box to the hiding spot. Now to try for the other box, again. The clues eventually lead you outside to a patio. This was great - the views of Albuquerque from here were fantastic. There were a few other people on the patio so I took a chair and sat and watched the hummingbirds and squirrels. While I did this I read the clues and tried to understand where the box was hidden. Unfortunately I didn't find the box - I gave up after 25 minutes of retracing my steps and looking around. I was also getting a bit nervous because I had been in there for almost an hour and I had seen a sign for surveillance and wondered if the staff was getting suspicious of me walking around. I also didn't know if the staff knew about the boxes or not so I was trying to be stealthy.

Finally after an hour I left the Crest and drove back down the mountain. I took NM14 back home. I love this back road drive, much nicer that I25. I had a good day letterboxing - I just wish I knew what I did wrong with that last box. Oh well, maybe another time.

A Letterboxing Odyssey

Last week a group of us got together to celebrate Astro D's 10 year letterboxing anniversary. For that celebration myself, ArnoldZiffel and Wronghat created a letterbox series consisting of three boxes. To celebrate Astro D arranged a lunch for rubberpeace, Wronghat, Semicolon, ArnoldZiffel and myself. At the lunch we had the stamps and boxes so that everyone could stamp in and then I took the boxes with me so that I could get them planted somewhere. Over the weekend I thought about a few places where I could hide the boxes - I came up with the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary and the Dorothy Stewart Trail. Astro D suggested the La Tierra Trails. This morning I went to her house to pick her up so we could get the boxes planted and we made the final decision on where we would plant them. The Great Wuga Wuga pointed out that the Dorothy Stewart Trail has very little parking (like three spots) and that might aggravate finders if they couldn't park to find the box. In the end we decided on the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary. So we made our way over there and started walking the trails. We walked the El Temporal Trail and the Bear Canyon Trail. It took us a while to get the three boxes planted because we were both being pretty picky about the hiding spots. We don't want these to go missing any time soon so we chose our spots carefully. The boxes are now in place and are ready to be found. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as we enjoyed putting this series together. Once we had the boxes hidden we headed back to Astro D's house. I dropped her off and then I left to run some errands. It was a nice time this morning and I was happy to be a part of this series to congratulate Astro D.

A Celebration Lunch

Today I had lunch with Astro D, rubberpeace, Wronghat, semicolon and ArnoldZiffel at Harry's Roadhouse. We got together to celebrate Astro D's 10 year letterboxing anniversary. She found her first box on July 30, 2005 and that box was Santa Fe Trails by silvereagle. A few weeks ago Astro D emailed me and asked is I was available for lunch on Friday, July 31 and she said that she was inviting a few of the other boxers in the area to celebrate. I emailed her back with a 'yes'. Not long after this exchange I got an email from ArnoldZiffel and she had an idea to make a box for the occasion. She discussed this with Wronghat as well. After a little back and forth we came up with an idea. And this is what happened . . . me, ArnoldZiffel and Wronghat were going to carve a stamp based on images from a box or boxes of Astro D's that we liked. ArnoldZiffel then cut a circle from Speedy Carve (the pink stuff) and then she divided it into thirds. She mailed one of the thirds to Wronghat and one of the thirds to me.

Semicolon, ArnoldZiffel, Wronghat, lionsmane, Astro D & rubberpeace

We then designed our own image and carved the stamps. We decided that after the lunch we would plant this box somewhere in Santa Fe. ArnoldZiffel also made the logbook for the box and I made Astro D a little memento book. I included some pictures of Astro D with other boxers throughout her ten years of boxing and I even threw in some statistics . . . after 10 years she has found 1665 boxes, planted 94 boxes, has had 13 blue diamonds and 2 boxes of the week. With these statistics I included some scanned images of some of her boxes - highlighting some of my favorites of her carves. I put some blank pages in the book so that we could stamp in and wrtie her a note. We had a great time visiting and reminiscing about boxes we found and places we have been. Astro D and I are going to get together and plant the box on Tuesday of next week. Once that is done I will log the box in and it will be available for others to find.

Congrats Astro D and here is to 10 more years and lots of boxes!

Boise Boxing - Day 3

Well I still had a few clues for boxes in Boise so I decided that I would spend the morning letterboxing while Thomas was at his conference. I left the hotel around 9:00am and headed toward the first box. I walked about four blocks and arrived at the Boise Weekly offices. Here I was looking for The Big Kahuna by Ravenclaw. I walked in and asked for the box by name and the woman that I talked with seemed to be confused about the box. So I explained what I was talking about and then she started to remember. Then she said she wasn't sure what happened to it but she said she would go and ask around and look for it. Ten minutes later she came back without the box - she said she wasn't sure what happened to it. So I thanked her and continued on. I walked another four blocks to look for Date Night and the second box in the series Hit and Run Now Showing all by Blackvelvetrav near The Flicks. Following the clues I quickly found Date Night and I took it to a nearby bench to stamp in. But before stamping in I decided to see if I could find Godzilla of Snacks (Box #2 in the Hit and Run series). Thankfully the box was only about 20 feet from the bench I was sitting on - so I quickly grabbed it and used the bench to stamp in to both boxes. After getting these back in to place I walked another two blocks to lookk for Box #3 in the Hit and Run series. I followed the clues and found what I thought was the billboard mentioned and then found the electrical boxes but unfortunately I didn't find the box. Not sure if I was in the right place or not but didn't see any other billboards so I assumed the box was gone and decided to move on. I walked another eight blocks to look for Box #1 in the Hit and Run series. I found the hotel I needed and looked around for the hiding spot. I felt very conspicuous and uncomfortable but I quickly checked for the box but didn't see it. I decided it wasn't worth it since I was in plain view of some windows and I couldn't tell if anyone was behind them watching me. So I moved on to the next box. Another five blocks later I arrived at Ben & Jerry's and followed the clues to Box #4 in the Hit and Run series. This time I easily found the box and found a spot to sit and stamp in. Once this box was back in place I only had clues for one more box in the downtown area. Five blocks later I was at The Chocolat Bar to find Chocolate Covered Lover by Blackvelvetrav. I went in and asked for the box at the counter. They actually knew what I was talking about. So I took the box to a table and stamped. When I was done I returned the box and then bought some delicious pieces of chocolate. I walked another four blocks and arrived back at the hotel. I found four boxes out of seven - I guess that is okay.

Back at the hotel I decided to take a break and get out of the heat. Well it wasn't that hot (about 85 degrees) but with the humidity I was pretty wet and felt uncomfortable. The room was nice and cool so I drank a bunch of water and had a little lunch. I relaxed for about 50 minutes and then decided to go and look for one more letterbox.

For this I decided to drive - it was about three and a half miles from the hotel and I didn't think I could handle the heat and humidity for that distance. I drove to 13th and Shoreline and parked near the Greenbelt. With my letterboxing stuff and the clues I followed the trail looking for Ravenclaw's ID Boxing Event (a series of three boxes). A short 2/10ths of a mile later I arrived at the location for the first box but unfortunately there were two people  sitting on the bench right near where the box was suppose to be. I decided to continue on to the second box and come back to this one later. So I backtracked about 100 feet or so and crossed a foot bridge over the Boise River to Ann Morrison Park. I followed the clues to the second box and found the landmarks but unfortunately I didn't find the box. I am pretty sure I was in the right place but I checked again and still didn't find the box. Time to head to the third box. Not too far down the trail I found the bridge over the drainage  and located the other landmarks. But again I was foiled - no box. I searched all over the area and around the rocks but came up empty handed. So I headed back to the first box but I wasn't optimistic about finding it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to look for it because the same people were still there. I decided to call it a day and count my losses. Once in the car I thought about maybe going to look for a box I couldn't find the other day but decided I was too hot and tired so I just returned to the hotel.

Thinking about my time letterboxing in Boise I felt a little disappointed about my experience. I was able to go to a couple of nice parks and saw a couple of interesting things but unfortunately it doesn't seem to me that the boxes in the area have very good luck. I looked for 25 boxes but only found 10 of those. Maybe it was just me and I missed the boxes and they are there but I feel I followed the clues pretty well. The other thing was that I had written on the Idaho board and was hoping to meet up with some of the boxers in the area but no one responded. And when I logged in finds and sent notes no one replied back. It would have been nice to talk with boxers in the area to find out more about the area and boxes. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy my time letterboxing here and I did find some really nice boxes. Maybe next time I can meet up with some locals.

Boise Boxing - Day 2

My plan for this morning was to have some breakfast and then do some letterboxing. Then I would meet Thomas for lunch and then we would decide what we wanted to do for the afternoon since he was free from his conference.

So I started slow again today having coffee in the room and watching the news (Is Donald Trump completely bat crap crazy???). Then I walked some eight blocks to get some breakfast at Bacon - a place I read about in some travel brochure. It was just a simple place where you order at the counter. I ended up with a Scramble Burrito made with cheesy steamed eggs, salsa fresca, roasted potatoes and berryhill bacon (bacon with a chile-sugar dry rub) in a flour tortilla - very tasty.

After eating I walked back to the hotel and got into the rental car and headed out to do some letterboxing. I first headed to a portion of the Boise Greenbelt in town and took a short walk to find Let's Ride Bikes! by NeverEatSoggyWheat. This was a quick and easy find and I had the trail all to myself to stamp in. Once the back was back in place I continued on with my search for boxes. I wasn't so lucky at the next few stops - I didn't find any more boxes this morning. I searched for the following boxes and came up empty handed . . .

Skeleton is Co-Pilot by Blackvelvetrav at Morris Hill Cemetery

Best Friend in a Backpack by poison ivee at Riverside Park

Attack of the Gators! by FrogiNater at MK Nature Center

Art in the Park - What Zoo Boise Needs by the dragon_wi at Julia Davis Park

Now I am not sure if they are missing or if I was just off my game and missed finding them. But the morning was a bust when it came to finding boxes. But I did enjoy the places I went to. By this time it was getting pretty warm and it was close to noon and time for me to meet up with Thomas. I am going to try for a few more boxes tomorrow so wish me luck.

Boise Boxing - Day 1

Yesterday Thomas and I drove from Boise to Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve to visit that park (You can read about that trip at Visiting the Moon). On the way there and in the area we looked for three letterboxes - we had absolutely no luck in finding a box. So I was hoping beyond hope that today I could at least find a few boxes in Boise.

I headed out from the hotel about 9:00am and made my way to the foothills of Boise to the Lower Hull's Gulch Trail. I took the quarter mile walk to look for Ribit by Blackvelvetrav and followed the clues. I easily found the box but was disappointed when I opened it to only find the logbook - there was no stamp in site. So I replaced the box and returned to the car. Not a good way to start the day. But I continued on and made my way to the next box - another Blackvelvetrav box - Easter Bunny Pei. This was pretty much a drive-by and an easy find. I took the box back to the car and was happy that the stamp and logbook were both present. After stamping in and replacing the box I was off again to the next box. I made my way to Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve to look for TaiChi and ChaiTea's To ID From CO. This was another easy find but for the second time there was no stamp, only a logbook. So I put the box back and returned to the car. I was beginning to think that someone in Boise doesn't like letterboxes - well actually the stamps in letterboxes and they were taking them. It was weird because it didn't seem that either box had been geotrashed - there were no trinkets in the box and the box was hidden back in place and really well. Not sure what was going on but I was hoping that the next box would be okay. So I crossed my fingers and headed out to find Birds on a Wire's National Treasure letterbox. This box is a series of four boxes and it is a mystery/puzzle box. You have to figure out the starting location for the first box and then that stamp leads you to the next box and so on. I really loved searching for this box. The clues, the stamps and the story were really well done. I was able to find all four boxes and I was extremely happy that no stamps were missing. And it was a good way to end my letterboxing for the day.

This afternoon I had other plans so more letterboxing will have to wait until tomorrow. Lets hope that the letterbox stamp stealers haven't taken any more stamps.