Finding Boxes Close to Home

Last night I was organizing things to run some errands this morning and I noticed a new box had been planted in Santa Fe. So I added letterboxing to my list of things to do. So after running all my errands this morning I headed over to the Spur Trail near the Community College. I parked and then read the clues and found where I needed to start to find the nine box series planted by ArnoldZiffel and Agent 86 called Dusty. I followed the clues to the first box and quickly found it. I sat on the edge of the trail to stamp in and who should show up - Agent 86. We visited for a bit and made plans to go hiking on Friday and then he continued on his bike ride and I finished stamping in to the first box. This box is the only one with a logbook, the rest of the boxes just have stamps. And, I was the first finder of the series. So I continued up the trail, following the clues and stamping the images into my logbook. Thankfully, the trail was quiet and I didn't have to worry about someone seeing me nabbing the boxes. I spent about half an hour gathering the images and enjoyed my walk along the trail. I really enjoyed the series, very clever - thanks ArnoldZiffel and Agent 86.

A SPOOKtacular Event Day!

Well, today was the day - the Santa Fe SPOOKtacular Letterboxing Event Resurrected has gone off without a hitch. I was up early to get my potluck dish complete and to get all my things together. Then I was off. Before getting to the event I made a quick stop to check on one of my boxes. Once that was done I headed to the event. When I arrived there were already people milling about. I brought in my dish, put my clues on the clue table, and hid a HIPS box.

Then I gathered any clues I needed and made a plan. I was a little concerned about the weather because it was overcast and a little windy. Thankfully, the rain held off except for a few drizzles at different times of the day. After saying hi to a few people Astro D, Bell Motel and I headed out to find one box just out the back gate on the trail. When we tried to find the box it wasn't there but as we turned to leave someone was walking up returning the box. So we sat and stamped in then replaced the box. At this point we all went our separate ways. I returned to the house to get a seven box series hidden around the outside of the house. When I finished this series I decided to sit at the event stamp table and stamp into those since there was no one there. I was about halfway through the boxes when I was joined by a few people. I had carved the event stamps for this event and our first SPOOKtacular event back in 2007 so that was three boxes I didn't need to stamp into. But I ended up getting the following event stamps . . . All Wrapped Up, Dobby the House Elf, and Mr. Pumpkin Head by ArnoldZiffel; Learning New Things That Might Be Helpful and Scary House by CorgiLover; Creepy Cryptex and Mr. Potato Head by Seekers Two; Booooo! and Spooktacular by C4; and Spooky Santa Fe by Kit. All great stamps. I then did some exchanges and personal travelers before finally taking a break and having a little lunch. After eating I headed out to the trails for one new box. I met up with Astro D and Bell Motel at the box and we all stamped in together. Then they headed off for more boxes and I returned to the house. I finished getting exchanges and personal travelers and then spent some time visiting. Then rubberpeace asked me to take her to my boxes on the furthest trails. So I drove her to those boxes and she stamped in while we talked. Then we returned to the house to finish off the day.

The event turned out great. It was a smallish gathering but extremely fun. The traditional boxes I found today were . . . Batter RIP, Posada's Calaveras, and Cozy Cone Motel by Bell Motel; Bob Bob Bobbin, A Halloween Carve, and Scary Monster & Super Freak by Astro D; Wild Things, Raven, Creepy Critters, Evil Eyes, and Devil's Tower by ArnoldZiffel; Dr. Frankenstein's Monster and Quoth the Raven by BirchMoon; Count Floyd by Wronghat; and La Llorona by Sunny Delight. The Exchanges I got were . . . Kit, ladyval, NMLeisa, CorgiLover, californiabluefrog, and sparkyNM. The Personal Travelers I received were . . . Corgis Were Here by CorgiLover; and Winter Solstice and Tiny Travelers by californiabluefrog. The attendees at the event were . . . Kit, NMLeisa, californiabluefrog, rubberpeace, CorgiLover, Sunny Delight, C4, Seekers Two, Wronghat, Semicolon, Wisconsin Hiker, Martini Man, ladyval, sparkyNM, Highwayman, The Great Wuga Wuga, Bell Motel, BirchMoon, Agent 86, ArnoldZiffel, Astro D, and lionsmane. It was a great group and a great event.

Planting Boxes for the Event

This morning I met with Astro D and ArnoldZiffel and Bell Motel joined us to plant boxes and get last minute things done for our Santa Fe SPOOKtacular Letterboxing Event Resurrected. We spent a little time talking about things and stamping in to some of the boxes. Then we all hit the trails and went our separate ways to plant the boxes. I hid three of my boxes around the outside of the house before we left for the trails and then I planted my next box just a short ways from the house on one of the closer trails. My last three boxes I walked to the furthest trail from the house and planted them there. Once I was finished and I had made notes I made my way back to the house. When all of us were back we spent some time putting together some goodie bags and then discussed what we needed for the event on Saturday. By the time I left everything was in place and we are now ready for a SPOOKtacular event.

Grabbing a Beer

Over the past week or so a few new boxes have popped up in New Mexico. A couple of those have been here in Santa Fe. I had printed those out the day I got notice of them but haven't had the time to get out to find them until today.


I had an appointment and some errands to run so I grabbed the clues and my letterboxing things and headed out for the day. After my appointment I ran two errands which put me near one of the boxes. So I made my way to Second Street Brewery on 2nd Street. Here I followed the clues for Plant a Beer 2017: Santa Fe Brewing placed by ArnoldZiffel. The clues were straight forward and I had no problem finding the box. Also the area was very quiet and no one was around. I grabbed the box and took it back to the car to stamp in. When I was done I was able to get the box back in place without anyone around. The carve is wonderful and I was the first finder - YEAH!!! Thanks ArnoldZiffel for another great box.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the other box because I had too many errands to run. I will get that box on another day.

The Lizard Spock Expansion

Today I had to run errands all around Santa Fe so I added one more stop to my list. A new box popped up yesterday and I had printed out the clues and put it on my list. When I am out running errands I plan them in an order so I end up making a loop and not backtracking. So during my travels around town I ended up on Rodeo Road and that put me close to this new box. I turned off Rodeo Road and made my way to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. Here I was searching for  . . .Lizard Spock (a two box series by ArnoldZiffel). So I followed the clues for box 1 and easily found it. I took it to the nearest bench to stamp in. When done I returned the box to its hiding spot and then went in search of box two. Another easy find and I took it back to the same bench. Only this box had a logbook so I stamped in and put the box back together. There was a first finder card so I nabbed that and then replaced the box and then returned to my car. I am a huge Big Bang Theory fan and I love the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock game and even more I love when Sheldon explains it. Thanks ArnoldZiffel for a great box and wonderful stamps.

11 Years of Letterboxing

Today marks my 11th anniversary of letterboxing. I found my first box on February 16, 2006 and that box was Santa Fe Trail Microbox by Silver Eagle. The past 11 years have taken me to 44 states and 6 countries to find letterboxes. Every February 16 I have gone out letterboxing to celebrate. Usually I leave boxes close to me so that I have something to find on this date. But when I started planning what I would do today I only had one box close - that one was in Albuquerque. But I found another one in San Antonio that I hadn't gotten to yet. So I decided to take a road trip and do some letterboxing. I left Santa Fe sometime around 8:30am and drove to San Antonio. The box is located in a small park not far from the interstate on NM 380. So I pulled in and followed the clues and easily found An Unusual Tourist by ArnoldZiffel. I took the box back to the car to stamp in and then after replacing the box I headed back to Albuquerque. When I arrived in Albuquerque I went in search of We Came to See the Balloons by nm sun. The clues for this box are cryptic and I thought I had figured out where it was hidden. But when I arrived at the place none of the other clues made sense. But I tried and looked in three trees (the clue said to go to a tree and look up) but didn't find any box. I don't know if I just had the location wrong, or if I didn't understand the clues once I got there, or if the box is missing. My belief is that I was in the wrong location. I will have to look at the clues again and see if I can figure it out and then try again. But at least I found one box to celebrate my anniversary. These 11 years have been so much fun. Looking forward to more.

The Pinto Line

On Sunday (1/7) ArnoldZiffel and Agent 86 placed a new box in Santa Fe. The box is placed near supports for an old trestle in the Rancho Viejo neighborhood. So today I was our running errands and on my way home I stopped to get this box. The parking area that the clues say to park in was locked so I parked in the Spur Trail lot and then walked to the parking area mentioned in the clues. From there I followed the clues and I easily found Pinto Line. I took the box to a spot off the trail where I could sit and stamp in. I didn't have any problems finding the box and the area was deserted (I didn't see one person on the trails) so I didn't have to worry about being seen. This box is about the New Mexico Central Railroad (formerly know as the Santa Fe Central Railroad). This line ran between Torrance and Santa Fe. It provided passenger service as well as carrying agricultural products from the Estancia Basin to market. The products included pinto beans thus earning the railroad the nickname "Pinto Line". It was a beautiful day for a walk to find a great box with lots of history - something I did not know. Thanks ArnoldZiffel and Agent 86.

New Mexico Central Railway train, southbound coal train,

vicinity of Arroyo de la Jara south of Kennedy and near Galisteo, New Mexico

All Things Gingerbread

Today was event day! The 5th Annual Kick Off the Holidays - Gingerbread House event in Parker, CO. As per my usual M.O. I was up early, it was still dark. I got up and dressed and somewhat organized my day. Then I went down to the breakfast room next to the hotel lobby and Thomas and I had some breakfast. After eating I returned to the room and got my things and headed out for a day of letterboxing. Thomas wasn't coming to the event with me, he was spending the day with a friend from high school.

The event didn't officially start until 10:00am at event headquarters (aka The Woodshed's House) but I had the clues for the boxes and there were some hidden outside the house and I decided I would go and start with those. So I got my letterboxing things and the clues and started searching the yard for stamps. I would find two or three stamps and take them back to a spot I used to sit and stamp and then return them to their hiding spots. While I was out there Agent 86 walked up, coming back from taking his dog for a walk. We talked for a minute or two and then he went inside and I continued my search for stamps. ArnoldZiffel came out and joined me for a while and then went inside for some breakfast. Not long later I found my last box and had now completed the Santa's Busy Elves series of 15 boxes and found In Between Box Nov 2016: Snoopy as Pilgrim Hunter. I then went inside (even though it was only around 8:30am) and checked in. I got my name tag, gift bag, registered for the door prize and had a pancake & coffee. After that I got a few of the event stamps - Gingerbread Forest (the actual event stamp); White Camellia, 1938; and Christmas Cryptex #2. I also did a couple of exchanges and got some personal travelers before deciding to head out for more boxes. The last thing we did before heading out for some letterboxing was to watch a demonstration on  image transfer using wintergreen oil. For this type of transfer, you need an image made from toner; wintergreen, tea tree, or lavender essential oil (100% pure) and a clean (washed with soap and warm water) piece of rubber. There a few steps and some waiting but this method really worked well and I will definitely try using it on my next carve.

Sometime around 9:30am I left headquarters with ArnoldZiffel, Lampwick, and HowD Girls and we headed for the Parker Library. At this location, we were searching for a series of 15 boxes called Gingerbread House Decorations. These were different candies and treats that are used to decorate a gingerbread house. We had a page where we could stamp the image on a grid and we had a page with the outline of a house that we could use the images to decorate it. At the end of the day, we were to turn in our decorated house and they would be judged and prizes would be given out. So we would find two or three stamps and then stamp them onto our sheets and then move on to other stamps. By the time we found all the stamps we had completed decorating our gingerbread houses and were ready to move on to the next location.

We all left the library and headed out to the Cherry Creek Trail. On this trail, we were looking for two series of stamps for the event and an older series that was in the vicinity. We started with Trail of the Gingerbread People (a series of 18 stamps). We would read the clue, find the stamp, stamp in (almost like an assembly line), rehide the stamp and then move on to the next stamp. While we were at stamp #2 another boxer showed up at stamp #1.

Since she was by herself we invited her to join us, so our group of four increased to five with the addition of Angel from Angel & Demon. After we found the 11th stamp in this series we took a break from gingerbread people and found the older series - Make Yourself Smart. We found three of the four boxes in this series and one of the boxes eluded us, so we moved on. We finished the Gingerbread People series and then went right on to the Trail/Story of the Gingerbread Man (this series had 12 stamps). This series took us off the main trail and onto side trail and we found all of these stamps without interruption. While looking for this series we passed another group of boxers that were already done and we asked them about the box we couldn't find. They had three adults and two children in their group and we had five adults in ours. It turned out that eight adults couldn't find the box and an eight-year-old kid could - not our finest moment. So when we finished the last series we returned to the area of the box we missed and with a hint we found the box. Now that we had found 34 stamps and completed all the series we headed back to headquarters. The remaining boxes we needed to find were all at that location.

Once we arrived back at headquarters there was one box on the outside of the house I needed so I worked on that first. I found the first box in the Gingerbread Forest series then I went inside and looked for the final three boxes for that series. I found all of those along with a bonus box for the series. Next, I moved on to the final series - Trail of the Gingerbread Houses (a series of 15 stamps).

These didn't have clues, you had to search around the main rooms of the house to find them (10 were upstairs and 5 were downstairs). These stamps were hidden in boxes that looked like gingerbread houses, a tin gingerbread man, and other 'gingerbready' type containers. It took a little time and a lot of searching to find them all but I finally finished the series. Now that I had all of the boxes for the event I still needed a few other things. There was one more event stamp that I got, a couple more exchanges, a word of mouth box and a few personal travelers. During this time I turned in my decorated gingerbread house, had some snacks and visited with other boxers. Then we all gathered for an event photo, then the drawing for the door prize, then the gingerbread house decoration awards, and finally the gift exchange. I actually won 3rd place for my gingerbread house. Once all of that was done a group of us went to El Trio for dinner.

After a long and fun day of letterboxing, I returned to the hotel around 8:30am tired and with inky fingers. Now that I had a shower and logged in things I am ready for some sleep. Tomorrow the plan is to letterbox in the area but at a much slower pace.

Letterbox Maintenance on the Hyde Park Circle Trail

Last week I made plans with Agent 86 to go hiking today on the Hyde Park Circle Trail. We agreed to meet at the Borrego Trail parking area at around 9:00am. Yesterday I found out that we would also be joined by ArnoldZiffel and BirchMoon as well. So I parked there and Agent 86 met me and then drove us to the Hyde Memorial State Park parking. ArnoldZiffel and BirchMoon had already started hiking so Agent 86 and I headed up the trail. We met them at the first box of my Land of Enchanment Series. They had already stamped in so I did my maintenance and then got the box hidden so that it would be good for the winter. By the way, there was some snow on the trail and more snow off the trail as we got a little storm a few days ago. We continued our hike and after they stamped in to the box I did the maintenance I needed and then replaced the box. We did this up to the top of the trail and that got five boxes of the series updated. Along the way we also tried to find a PI Joe box but had trouble - hopefully it is there and we just couldn't find it with the snow. After a short rest at the top we continued our hike now heading down. When we got to the bottom I did maintenance on box number six and while I did that Agent 86 walked up to the Borrego Trail parking and got my car while ArnoldZiffel, BirchMoon and I waited at a pullout. So we only did the west side of the Hyde Park Circle Trail. I will have to get the three remaining boxes in the Spring once the snow is gone. It was a nice hike, I love this trail and I want to get up there again this Spring or Summer.

Boxing NM 15, Trial of the Mountain Spirits and Big Tree Trail

We have a couple of things planned for today and you can read about that at Ruins and an Alligator. Along with these plans we also wanted to find a few letterboxes. Thankfully the letterboxes were around and in the areas we had planned to visit.
Our day started driving along NM 15 (part of the Trail of the Mountain Spirits).

View from Copperas Vista

The first letterbox we found was at the Senator Clinton P. Anderson Scenic Overlook (Copperas Vista). After taking in the scenery I went in search of Azroadie's Gila letterbox. This was a quick find. I took the box back to a place where I could sit and stamp in - this place also happened to be at a spot with a grest view. After stamping in I returned the box to its hiding spot.

We then continued along NM 15 and stopped at a pullout with an interpretive sign for Alum Mountain. From the sign I had to walk uphill on this two track road to a two trunked tree. It was only a short walk and I had no problem finding the box. I sat on the road to stamp in and again I had a great view. An added bonus was that the area under and around the tree was covered in morning glories. Once the box was back in place we continued to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

I know the rule that letterboxes aren't allowed in National Parks but I didn't plant this one, I was only looking for it.

Gila Cliff Dwellings from the Trail

The clues were a little off and I had to back track a little bit to find the box. There was just one part of the clue that was backwards. Anyway I found the box and took it to a bench to sit and stamp in. Thankfully it wasn't that busy at the park and the trail was deserted when I found the box and again when I put it back. Azroadie also has webboxes at different National Parks and there was one here at Gila. For these boxes there isn't an actual box. What you do is find signs and collect words and then plug those words into a url to get an image. I was able to find both signs and get both words while walking along the trail. So that was all the letterboxes for this area.

The last box that I wanted to look for today was Big Tree by ArnoldZiffel.

Trail to the Big Alligator Juniper

This box is hidden near the second largest Alligator Juniper in the country. So to get this box we had to hike about two and a half miles to the tree. It was an incredible hike - oaks, maples and tons of wildflowers. And the fact that it was a beautiful afternoon made it all that much better. I found the box and took it to a picnic table near the tree. We sat in the shade of the tree and other trees and stamped in. I returned the box to its hiding spot and then Thomas and I sat at the picnic table and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
Forty-five minutes later we headed back to the car.

We are now relaxing in the hotel room and talking about what we are going to do tomorrow. This trip has been incredible and we have had such an enjoyable weekend.

One Last Day of Celebrating

Okay, I had planned on planting a letterbox to celebrate my 10th anniversary on the 16th. But alas, I didn't get it finished until yesterday. I have put together a series of ten boxes and I have them ready to plant today. I had made a decision about where I would plant them and I got everything ready for this morning. Also ArnoldZiffel placed one last box for my 10th anniversary - Rail Trail. This one is also on the Rail Trail near the ones I found yesterday. I left my house at around 8:00am and made my way to Rabbit Road. I walked the Rail Trail for about a quarter of a mile following the clues and I didn't have any problem finding the box. I was first finder and I loved this stamp - and actually I loved all the boxes that ArnoldZiffel, Astro D and Wronghat placed this week. When I finished stamping in and replacing the box I returned to my car to make my way to plant my boxes.

The placed I picked to plant my boxes is the La Tierra Trails. From Rabbit Road I got onto I25 and headed south. I then took Exit 276 for NM599 and followed that for about 11 miles. Then I turned left onto Camino de los Montoyas and drove another mile to the parking area for the Calabasas Trailhead on the right. In the parking area there is a large sign with a trail map and I studied it and compared it to my printed out map. It was much easier reading the big map but the printed one ended up working just fine. I made the decision to plant the boxes on a loop following the numbers 1-8 on the map. These numbers mark trail junctions and if you follow the signs you can easily get from one number to next. To start on the trail I had to cross the road and go through the fence.

I walked a short distance along the trail and arrived at sign post 1. From here I started looking for landmarks that I could use to write clues and hide boxes. Almost immediately I realized that everything looks the same - junipers, pinons, rocks and dead trees. So I had to be creative and hopefully I could find something that I could use as a landmark. I was trying to gauge mileage using Map My Walk but soon realized that because I was going off trial and doubling back to find hiding spots I was not getting accurate distances. But I soldiered on. It was easy finding hiding spots but describing those spots proved challenging. I made sure to take good notes and pictures so that when I got home I could write the clues. I tried using the sign post at the junctions but with ten boxes to plant and only eight junctions I had to use other landmarks. The trail is wide in some areas and narrow in others and is easy to walk on. There are also great views all around. You also cross a lot of washes along the way and I tried using those but I wasn't always clear if I should call something a wash or not - so I was picky about using them. Eventually I completed the loop and got all ten boxes planted and had quite a few notes and pictures to help write the clues. The boxes have a theme and that is the Number 10. Nine of the boxes are like that - images that conjure the number 10 in some way and the last box is a lion crest with the number 10. I did a similar image for my 5th anniversary (lionsmane's 5 Year Letterboxiversary) - a lion crest with the number 5. I got the idea for using images that represented the number 10 from a conversation with ArnoldZiffel. When I first started planning these boxes I wasn't sure how I wanted to them but I had a few ideas. They just didn't seem to work, so when ArnoldZiffel mention the number 10 idea from something she had seen or a series of boxes she had found I started looking into using that. It worked perfectly! And since there are ten boxes I decided to put only one logbook and that one is in Box #10. This box is called lionsmane's 10 Year Letterboxiversay. It took me around three hours to get all the boxes planted - that was me being choosey about the locations, doubling back, taking long notes and some pictures. I am estimating that it should take between one and two hours to find all the boxes. The length of the hike (walk) is around 3.5 miles and there is only about a 250 foot elevation gain during the walk. It isn't a hard walk but it is long and the area is pretty much open space so I believe that in summer it could get really hot so it would be good to take precautions. Sunblock, hat, sunglasses and water would be a good idea. There are maps at each trail junction to help you stay oriented but I would suggest printing out a trail map before you go looking for these boxes. I had a lot of fun planting these and I hope they are enjoyed by all who go and hunt for them.

When I got back to my car I had one other box to plant. That was my Alphabetical New Mexico: Y (Yucca) box. The place I originally planted it was good but I realized there were no yuccas around so I pulled it and finally brought it out to the La Tierra Trails to hopefully place somewhere that had at least a few yuccas. I left the Calabasas Trailhead parking and drove to the Frijoles Trailhead parking. I left the parking area and went through the fence and started down the trail. At first I was discouraged since I wasn't seeing any yuccas and then about a quarter mile along the trail I saw a few. I decided to continue further along the trail to see if there were more, but I didn't see any. So I turned back and planted the box near the few I saw earlier. I took a few pictures and wrote some notes and then returned to my car.

It was a great day of planting and finding boxes and I am extremely happy to have this series done. It has been an incredible 10 years and I am looking forward to 10 more.

Another Letterbox on the Rail Trail

Well, another letterbox appeared on Atlas Quest yesterday. That box is also located on the Rail Trail, a theme that has progressed all this week - first with Wronghat's Santa Fe Super Chief, then Astro D's Toy Train Story and #07, and now ArnoldZiffel's Crossing to Safety (a three box series). I decided that I would get these boxes during my walk this morning. I usually walk the Spur Trail and then turn right and walk the Rail Trail towards Nine Mile Road. But today I decided to get these boxes so that meant I had to turn left on the Rail Trail towards Rabbit Road. This walk ended up being about a ten mile roundtrip walk. This was not a problem since I usually walk between six and twelve miles per day. And there was the added bonus of finding three boxes. The clues were perfect and I easily found all three boxes (and I was the first finder on these boxes). After finding the last box, stamping in and then returning it to its hiding spot I made the return trip to my car. These boxes were also planted for my 10th anniversary. The boxes were all about railroad signs which goes along with the train and rail trail theme. Thanks ArnoldZiffel for these great boxes.