Letterboxing Mimser Continues

Last night I received another request from a friend encouraging me to resume writing my blog. I have to admit that I truly missed coming home and writing about Sheba's and my experience on Haycock Mountain. And I miss not taking my camera with me when I letterbox. I feel that no one appreciates photos of letterboxing experiences except other letterboxers so I had stopped carrying it with me. Well, and the fact that it adds a lot of extra weight in my pack - my camera is not one of those teeny tiny digitals. So after I heard from Lotus last night and I went back and re-read the comments I had received (still in shock over hearing from the mysterious Rae Record!) and the emails that I have accumulated, I decided that the one I was hurting the most by not doing what I like to do, was myself. So, I am here to say that I plan on resuming writing my little stories. I am grateful to all those who told me that they really enjoy what I write, thanks so much for the encouragement.

So, with this being said - here I go again! Don't have any pictures to include from this past weekend's accomplishments but I do have some stories. The weekend started in the dark for me on Saturday morning. I was meeting a group of friends at Sadsbury Preserve later in the morning but wanted to stop for a new box by a fairly new local boxer, Evilmommy. Her Evilmommy's 32nd Birthday box was kinda, sorta on the way to the Preserve. The one thing which I forgot when I was planning this box was that it had snowed the day before and the clue to the box is a photo. I made it to the area using my flashlight and followed the footsteps of someone who must have been there the night before. I assumed that he stayed on the trail so if I followed them, I would be safely on a trail also. His footsteps ended before the box location though, so I was on my own. But I soon reached the rock wall mentioned in the clues. Boy, do things look different in the dark and covered with snow. I managed to be the first finder of the box though, and was rewarded with a birthday gift TO me from the birthday girl, a lovely first finders stamp pad. Thanks, Evilmommy. I am looking forward to more boxes from you.

I hurried back to my car because I was supposed to meet Sheba at Walmart at 8 AM. Those who have driven with me know that I depend on my trusty little laptop and GPS when I am out driving to letterboxes, I have no sense of direction. I hadn't brought my laptop with me this day because I figured I would be in Berks and Chester counties - how could I get lost. I won't admit that I was lost that morning because I knew where I was, I just didn't know how to get to where I needed to be. So after driving around and making several incorrect guesses about where I was going, I finally reached a road that I knew would take me where I wanted to go and that I would arrive there just in the nick of time. Then I received a phone call from Sheba who told me that she was running late - very late, so we made the decision that I would go find the next box on my list and meet her a little later. I then headed for Dogs with Wings And They Charged the People a Dollar and a Half to See Them. I had attempted this box once before and made a silly mistake in the translation of the clues. The clue is coded and I had literally translated the number of steps needed to reach the box into a roman numeral so I had walked way, way past on it on my first excursion. But this time I was successful.

After picking Sheba up at Walmart, we headed to the Preserve and pulled in at the same time as MizScarlet. The others who were joining us would be there later so we started out on our own. Our first find was another Dogs with Wings box, Moonshine . Feeling good about our beginning, we then found two of Hikerdad's boxes. Hikerdad is the boxer who has introduced us to this preserve and the boxes there have multiplied almost weekly. At this time we were searching for his Winnie the Pooh and we then moved on to Tigger and Rooh and sandwiched Lightnin' Bug's Ambigram 1 - Real or Virtual. We also sandwiched a new plant by MizScarlet, the Enchanted Forest Box. The stamp for this one is really lovely.

By this time the rest of our group had caught up with us - Cyclonic, Pony Boxer and Gerania. We then headed for a series of boxes which I already had found on a previous trip to these woods - Arashi, Sir Ty's Shield, Sweet Pea and Kokopelli. They also tested MizScarlet's clues and were first finders on the Enchanted Forest Box. Those of you who have found Dogs with Wings' Arashi box know that it should be colored in many different colors. Do you know how long it takes five people to color in a stamp? Let me tell you - it takes a LONG time, even when one of them used a single color but had to make TWO impressions (not mentioning any names, Nathan!).

As we finished these boxes, the cold was beginning to creep into our joints and hunger into our stomachs so we made a group decision to head back to our cars. I had hoped to reach my 800th box on this excursion but it was not to be. It was ok though, since Sheba and I were meeting the next morning to do the Ice Age Series by Lotus. I have copied my message from LBMA concerning this series:

I am still recuperating from our experience on the mountain
yesterday - Haycock Mountain that is. Sheba and I decided to make the
trek for the Ice Age series. Maybe we should have figured that
something was bound to happen when we ignored the snow flurries and
light drizzle on the way up to the mountain. And maybe another hint
might have been the slippery rocks as we began our walk to box number
one. But, we are women! We are tough! So we moseyed along the
trail, quickly picking up boxes one through four. (Oh, box number
three proved to be my 800th find!)

Somehow we seemed to totally miss box number five. Maybe it was
because we began to focus more on the ice which was coating the rocks
as we hit the higher elevation. When we hit a particularly narrow
rock which had a thick layer of ice and a nice drop down its side, we
decided that no box was worth this. So we turned around and started
to head down only to discover another trail heading up the west side
of the mountain. It proved to be a much easier walk and we quickly
ended up at box number 7 and also were able to get box number 6. We
then decided to take the same easier trail back down the mountain.
But being good little letterboxers, the call of box number 5 was just
too strong. So we thought that if we just headed east from the easy
trail, we would eventually reach the original trail and could search
for number 5.

What we didn't realize was that this mountain is one big boulder
field. We kept climbing over one boulder after another, always
expecting to see the trail after the next one. At one point we ran
into a nice young man who was there just to climb the rocks. He
informed us that we were actually between two trails and that the only
way to reach either of them was over more boulders. He also verified
that the parking lot was southeast of our location. We decided to
head southeast still hoping to cross the original trail. But it was
not to be. Almost two hours later, we finally crossed over one more
boulder and actually could see houses in the distance. We limped our
way to civilization, not having any idea where we might be.

Fortunately, there was a man out in his yard who informed us that we
were on a road which was directly parallel to the road that the
parking lot was on. What he didn't tell us was that it was another
mile and a half away. I was never so happy to see my little car as I
was yesterday.

I think that, yesterday, both Sheba and I were convinced
that we never wanted to see that mountain again but both of us have
already agreed today that we will make another trip to find that
elusive box number five.

Some things which I didn't mention in this message were the two falls that I took. One on my bottom so there was no harm done but the other one scared me a bit as my face hit a fallen log. I was very fortunate that I didn't have any damage from that one except a brushburn on my cheek. I also didn't mention that my companion, Sheba, stayed so very calm and cheerful at a time when both of us were wondering if this journey would ever end. And the most important thing that I didn't mention was the exquisite carvings found in the boxes. Lotus did a wonderful job with these stamps which definitely made it worth the trip and I almost look forward to returning for box number 5!