Go Letterboxing!

Off into the woods we went with a young friend, to try letterboxing for the first time.  What is a letterbox?  A letterbox is hidden "treasure," and there may be a letterbox right in your neighborhood.  We looked online and found that there are quite a few letterboxes in our state.  Some of the letterboxes required that we puzzle out some clues.  We chose some with storybook themes, recognizable starting points, and straightforward directions.

Unfortunately, three out of the four letterboxes for which we searched were missing, probably because they were too close to a well-traveled path, and had been purloined!

Then, inside a hollow tree, hidden behind some rocks and pieces of rotting wood, we found the fourth letterbox!  It was a firmly-sealed tupperware container.

My little boy opened it to see what was inside.

It contained a little book to sign, an ink pad, a dragon stamp, a geocaching medal, and some pens.  Geocaching is letterboxing using a GPS.

Each of the letterboxers pressed the dragon stamp into his own little letterboxing record book, and wrote the name of the letterbox with it, and the date.  Apparently, many letterboxers hand-carve unique stamps, but this was a store-bought one which suited the theme of the letterbox.

Then each added his stamp to the record book in the letterbox, and

a note or signature, and the date.

The boys repacked the letterbox, resealed it, and rehid it well in its special place, so others could have the fun of finding it.  I'm thinking of planting a letterbox in Switzerland some day!