After finding our initial box in June 2002, we have since found letterboxes in 18 states and placed them in 13 states; 4 countries: Aruba, Bermuda, The Netherlands, Great Britain; and on a cruise ship! Thanks for stopping by our website and we appreciate your continued support.
"Have fun and just get out there & box!!!"
Email us: mjpepe1@comcast.net (Mark) or suepepe1@comcast.net (Sue)
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
A Very Lofty Endeavor!
Mount Frissel's High Point Marker, CT
Georgia letterboxing team, Mooky & Dipper, have begun a very creative series entitled Highest Point Series. As the name implies, this series of boxes are planted at the highest point in a particular state. Their Atlas Quest profile lists high pointing as one of their hobbies.
Click on the image of Mt. Frissel, CT's highest point for some pointers before you attempt this box. Recent additions to their Highest Point Series includeCT, MA and RI. We applaud them for their very high standards!
Looks like SpringChick has had a makeover - her website I mean!
Check out her new blog-style website design which features so much, including clues and very helpful section entitled "Getting Started" for the new letterboxer. Just click on the image above to see her front page.
Sue and I are very anxious to meet SpringChick on our mid June trip to Michigan which will include the 3rd Annual Great Lakes Gathering. While we've corresponded over the years, we've never had the pleasure of a face-to-face with SpringChick. We'll get that opportunity at the gather, whose theme this year is "Mo' Boxin' in Motown."
For all of our Michigan readers, please don't hesitate to send along any of your WoM's because I "Ain't too Proud to Beg."
Hope you all have a safe weekend. It looks like the weather may cooperate. Don't forget the meaning of Monday's holiday. Click on the image above to learn more about Memorial Day. Thanks to all of our veterans and current service people that protect our freedoms!
Alan/Letterboxer2002 has announced the event schedule and all the rest of the particulars for this, the second annual Trails Day Gathering in Tarrywile Park, Danbury, CT. Click the above link to go to our New England Gatherings Page for further details. Exhibits, Demonstrations, Grab Bag, Potluck, Special Boxes and even Boxing Bands! :-)
Our new T & L arrived yesterday with a special Family pullout section with ideas to keep the kids busy this summer - based on the amount of time you had to spend. Beginning with 15 days to spend with the little tikes, to a week, to a weekend and finally - a few hours.
Guess what made the few hours choice? Letterboxing. Here's the link to the T & L site where you can read for yourself. Click here.
Our Box of the Week is the Petroglyph Series, by Donutz, located in Colchester, CT. Petroglyphs are defined as a carving or line drawing on rock, especially one made by prehistoric people. The word petroglyph is derived from the Greek words petro meaning rock, and glyph meaning drawing or engraving. And here we letterboxers thought we were being so clever and artsy carving on soft rubber!
Poll of the Weekasks what you use as your favorite ink source when stamping in. Please vote below!
The Schmoopies had time between the rain drops to hunt for the limited edition Portland Girl Scout Boxes. Also stopped at the Cavvy Lovers HH Hostel where we found Sampson HH for the second time! Sue & I were first finders on Sampson after C & H placed that new HH in our Uncle Sam Letterbox, part of our Symbols of Freedom boxes in West Dover, VT. Now, almost 2 years later, Sampson is found alive and well in Portland, CT. The Girl Scout Series is only available until the end of May - we suggest you get out there before they are gone!
On my way home from work Thursday, I replaced container and logbook for There's A Fungus Among Us and also had some time to replace the logbook for the Hartford County Mystery Box. That box has seen alot of action as the time draws near for the end to The Engraver's contest. See the story below from Monday, May 2.
An unusual development has hit the homeowners of Kensington! Click the critters above for the complete story printed with permission from the Kensington Bugle.
Congratulations to The Engraver, who reached F1000 today! Glad she got to do that happy dance! Hope you get to find her Engraver's Special box that her daughter, Corinna, surprised her with and planted near her landmark box!
The Lazy Letterboxer is from Leominster, MA. Back in 2001, she and hubby, Dave, decided to plant a series of letterboxes celebrating famous native sons that were born in their hometown. Four years later, she's still carving and planting this series. This week, Deanne planted her 12th box in this series for Mark Osowski. Click his image above for the clues.
And watch for the new Lazy Letterboxer's webpage - coming soon to ourOther Boxers Websites!
Click the map above to be taken to a new letterbox by Randy Hall/Mapsurfer. This clue has been posted with the author's permission. Good luck - you'll need it!
Just as an enticement - the stamp is by Brian of TeamGreenDragon! Well worth the effort of figuring out these clues - you score a Mapsurfer find and a TGD stamp - a two-fer!
Our Box of the Week is a new Maine box, entitled Dahlia. Located in Grand Lake Stream, this box is the second box placed by MommaBee. Her first was Birthday Present, placed in Gorham, in honor of MaineKokopellian on his birthday.
Our Poll of the Week probably is an item about which you've thought recently. Today, Warrior Woman posted a link to the most recent article on letterboxing that was published in The Boston Globe. The article, Hikers, You've Got Mail, will undeniably bring to the surface once again the long-debated subject of whether publicity helps or hurts this pastime of ours.Please vote your feelings on this matter below.
Letterboxer 2002/Alan has been on a planting mission as of late. His newest saga is The Black Hole or the Adventure of Ren & Stimpy. Follow this lovable pair as they rocket through a vortex in space and end up in a black hole. Be sure to find the 2 boxes before they completely self-destruct!
Many of you may remember the Dartmoor Exchange program that was started last year and organized by Catbead. Letterboxers from the US carved stamps to place on Dartmoor by Brits and they in turn were to send us stamps to place here.Talking Turtle, one of our Dartmoor trip participants, brought the stamps across the pond during our trip there.
Word has just come via the Dartmoor Letterboxing Forum that Andy Wilkes, known as the Happy Wanderer and one of our guides and friends when we visited Dartmoor last September, is almost ready to place those boxes out as WOM clues in a series of 2 walks on Dartmoor. We hope to hunt for those boxes when we make our return trip to Dartmoor in September of 2006. I'm counting down the days already!
JBean and M & M have worked hard on a group of Girl Scout Letterboxes that they planted in Portland, CT for a gathering earlier this month. These 7 special boxes are by troops from the area and are available only until the end of this month. Check out the clue page and buy a patch for $1.50 to help support the girls! Also in the immediate area is another JBean box as well as her HH Hostel. Clues are here.
Phyto has just published clues to her newest letterbox, St. Francis of Bangor. Click the image above for the clues. As some of you may know, Phyto is a carver extraodiare as evidenced by the wonderful job she did on our new signature stamp!
Sue & I received numerous emails this weekend informing us of the welfare of some of our letterboxes from VT to CT. Present and accounted for are Russ Hiker, Inventor Series Mystery, The Last Flower of Summer, Fungus Among Us [need new logbook and baggie], Hartford County Mystery Box and Sad Clown. Thanks to all who dried out tupperware, replaced a baggie or just took the time to email us of their finds!
Our Box of the Week is MayEve'sOpera at The Bushnell, which is part of the Bushnell Park Series that made it's debut at the Spring into April Drive, this past Saturday. This particular stamp is carved by RTRW but others in this series are carved by Wild Rover and MayEve as well.
Our Poll of the Week inquires as to what kind of signature stamp you presently use - handmade, commercial or other. Please vote now!
The Engraver told us at the Spring into April Drive [and her post just reminded us!] that the contest for those wanting to complete the CT State Stamp series will be closed on June 12, 2005. Those completing the series are to email me with all of the county images by that date.Once verified, you will be placed on the Hall of Fame and be eligible for a drawing for some fantastic prized being offered by The Engraver and Corrina.
The Litchfield County stamp had gone missing and The Engraver just recarved a replacement.Clues for that stamp will be posted this afternoon. Clues for Litchfield and all the other counties can be found on our CT State Stamp Series page.
That drawing for prizes for all who have completed this series will be held at a special gathering, open to all letterboxers, on Sunday, July 3, 2005 at White Memorial Foundation in Litchfield, CT. Keep an eye on our gatherings page for further developments such as time, what to bring, etc.
MommaFox and Bald Eagle did it again! The 2nd annual May Day gather on Sunday was a a mystery gathering with a unique scavenger twist and a huge success!
Clues were posted 7pm Saturday for 10 letterboxes; one of which would contain "directions" to the gathering location. Boxers could start anytime they wanted but would meet at the mystery location between 2pm and 5pm. MommaFox asked that attendees bring a snack, a piece of firewood and a lantern.
Sunday morning found the Pomfret and Putnam areas filled with wet letterboxers, clues and umbrellas in hand, sloshing through the muck and mire. The images for the 10 letterboxes also represented scavenger items that letterboxers needed to bring back to the gathering to obtain a special Hunt stamp - compass, map, flashlight, bugspray, etc. The second box's image was that of a map with the gathering's location.
The gathering proved that you don't need good weather for a great turnout. 125 letterboxers filled the pavillion and snacked, exchanged and talked. It was great to see so many new faces; some with whom we've emailed over the past several months. Those that brought a fire log and a lantern received special stamps, represented by images of those two items.
Our thanks to MommaFox & Bald Eagle for showing us all a great day. Hopefully, there will be a 3rd annual - which we will look forward to with anticipation!
Letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or scenic places. Each container holds a logbook, a rubber stamp and stamp pad. The planter of the letterbox distributes clues to it's location via the internet, Word of Mouth, on websites or via other means. Clues can be easy to difficult. Finding a letterbox may require a combination of skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.
Letterboxers carry their own logbook and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. Upon finding a letterbox, they will imprint their own logbook using the found stamp, and leave their own stamping or personalization in the letterbox's logbook. Some artistic letterboxers carve and even design their own stamps and logbooks. Letterboxes are hidden in various locations throughout the world.
Letterboxing has its beginnings in Dartmoor National Park in England, where the first letterbox at Cranmere Pool was placed in 1854 by a Dartmoor guide named James Perrott, who left his calling card in a container there while guiding tourists through Dartmoor.
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