Chester County Hiking

Most people who have ever boxed with me know that I am an early morning person and amazingly, I don't usually get any resistance from my friends when I name a time for starting my boxing day. That is why we were able to watch the sunrise over the Susquehanna at Highpoint a week ago and why we were able to observe the full moon setting and a sunrise at Cheslen Preserve this time out.

 Neither Dogs with Wings and I had never been at this Chester County park before so we were not sure what to expect.  One thing we didn't expect was a tree like the one below.  It was totally covered in poison ivy, much like kudzu covers the trees in the south.  So the start of our walk gave us a really icky feeling.

 First stop on our hike was at the Stargazers Stone. This was one of the original stones placed by Mason and Dixon to define the boundaries between Pennsylvania and Maryland.  This rather neat looking stone wall surrounded the actual stone.

 The actual 300 year old marker has been worn down to a little nibbly piece of rock.

 Box found and on to the second of the three boxes in this park.  We passed by this Potters Field which is also the burial place for Indian Hannah, the last native Indian to die in Chester County.

 This little cairn was hidden in the brush along the side of the trail.  If I didn't know that Black Swan was currently hiking the Appalachian Trail, I would have thought that he had taken this hike recently.

 One of the other boxes that we planned on finding almost didn't get found.  Although it isn't really obvious in this picture, the grasses in this field were waist high and it had been raining for about three days before.  We had to wade through about 30 feet of them to reach the tree line at field's edge.  We debated doing this and almost gave up but then, being true letterboxers, we plunged into the mucky mess.  As I placed each left foot down I could only think of the snakes that were slithering around me.  As I placed each right foot down I could only think of the ticks that I would be taking out with me.  Once we got to the tree line, the way into the box was so full of brambles and prickers that again, we thought of giving up.  But knowing that we would never want to walk through that muck again, we once more proved our determination and plunged into this new mess.  We were rewarded with the box, I think that both of us had really worried that we would have gone through all of this and the box would be missing.  Back out to the trail and we congratulated ourselves at being so bold and daring and only then we both mentioned out loud that snakes and ticks had been prominent in both of our minds.

 After leaving Cheslen we did a couple more boxes at a really boring "soccer mom" park and then, since we weren't yet ready to call it a day, we headed for Nottingham Park and a couple of boxes there.  We were not successful at finding the first of the boxes.  It was listed as a 1-2 mile hike and we ended up walking about 4 miles and not finding the landmarks in the clue.  Fortunately for us, our way out took us past this little unexpected monument in the middle of the woods which was also the home of another box, which this time was there.

 We sat on a little bridge which spanned this creek and stamped in, longing to take our boots off and soak our feet which had just carried us over nine miles.  But we were so close to being finished for the day that we decided to keep our boots on and head back to the cars.  Unfortunately, Dogs with Wings backpack rebelled and decided to take a quick dip in the creek.  My friend was a bit uncomfortable heading back to the car with sore feet and a wet backpack but we both were happy with the boxes that we had found and already dreaming about our next trip out.

Gypsyladybug Visits Philadelphia

When I had attended the Gargoyle Preserve event, I had found so many boxes by carvers that I had never seen before and one name which came up on many stamps was Gypsyladybug.  As it worked out, this same lady was going to be working in Philadelphia and Idlemoon quickly gathered a group of us to get together for a small meet and greet.

Here Gypsyladybug and I pose at the  TGI Fridays where we assembled.

 

Idlesun was oblivious to all of the women surrounding him as he focused on his games.

 

Treasurehonas and Idlemoon pose for a picture while we waited for dinner.

 We were soon joined by Lotus, Celtic Cat and Wednesday Bowler and we exchanged PTs and a very nice event stamp that Idlemoon had carved in a very short time.  When the music began and it turned out to be rap, it was time to break up the party and head back home and to reality.

It Was a Blue Delft and Idlemoon Kinda Day

Our boxing buddies, Blue Delft and Idlemoon had planted a plethora of boxes for Dutch Country PAL 2014 day and I was really eager to go find them.  I enlisted Red Cruzsader and Dogs with Wings to spend the day with me and we started at our search by climbing to the top of the Highpoint Scenic Vista so that we could watch the sunrise over the Susquehanna River.

 We could look across the river to the windmills that were circling lazily high about the river.  Before the day was over, we would be at the base of those windmills but for now, we were enjoying Highpoint, a park that none of us had ever visited before.

 

 This park was a bit different from most parks in our area.  It was mostly fields with trails mowed through them and I followed at a respectful district so that I could take my normal from the rear pictures.

 From Highpoint, we moved on to Sam S. Lewis State Park. I grew up picnicing at this park with my sisters and brother.  It is a small park but it is best known for its piles of large boulders that generations of kids have climbed on.  It is high on a hill top and when we pulled into the parking lot, this hot air balloon was coasting slowly in front of us.

 

 I learned something new during our visit here, I never knew that there were real trails in this park.  All we were ever interested in were the rocks!  But we went in search of the GRANDEST, LARGEST tree in the woods and were rewarded with a great tree which made Red and me look small.....oh, and a couple of totally neat boxes.

 Red stamps in to one of those boxes

 

From Sam Lewis we headed across the river to climb to the windmills we had seen earlier.  I didn't take many pictures on the walk up because the walk was a tough one.   Idlemoon had previously joked that it was about a four mile round trip walk - three miles up and one mile back.   The ladies had made the trip more bearable though by hiding several boxes to be found on the way up.  It broke up the walk and made it a little less tiring.  The details that went into all of the boxes that we found this day was wonderful  A lot of care and thought were put into the logbooks which matched the stamps and the finders' prize for one of the boxes we found is one of my favorites ever.  Below, Dogs with Wings and Red stamp into one of these wonderful boxes.

 

At one spot, I was able to catch a picture of the river through the trees.

 

Eventually, we reached the top and I was enthralled with the sight of the windmills close up.  I have been in awe of these structures ever since I saw them for the first time many years ago on our visit to the Flight 93 crash site.  Now we were so close to them.  They are massive!!

The view from the top of this climb was worth every painful step that it took to get up here.  Absolutely gorgeous!

 This was about as close as I would get to the edge of the hill though.  My fear of heights was kicking in and when Dogs with Wings offered to take a picture of me, I was VERY nervous standing here even though I was sure that it was very safe and secure.

 Red Cruzsader made me very nervous again as she clung onto the landing to look for the letterbox.  

 Our trip back down the mountain allowed us to pay a little more attention to our surroundings since we had captured all fo the boxes along the way and didn't have to focus on clues and we soon saw some of the wildlife in the area.  This little toad was right on the trail and in danger of being trampled until Dogs with Wings moved him safely into the woods.  No one was too worried about this little snake though as he wriggled onto the trail and then quickly slithered back into the woods.

 When we got to the bottom again, we took a little detour along the rail trail that runs around the base of the mountain and checked out this red caboose.

 Ground level view of the Susquehanna River.  It looked a lot more beautiful from high above on both the east and west sides of the river.

 Since we finished the Blue Delft and Idlemoon boxes a lot quicker than we thought we would, Red Cruzsader suggested a stop a bit further north to be first finders in a series of Ralph Spoilsport boxes. 

 Red had solved the location for the boxes and led the way through the park where we found four out of five of them.  It is unbelievable how quickly the warm weather caused the grasses and brush to fill in any open space previously exposed.

 We took in the view of this lovely pond and soon Red was exploring the dam end of it looking for a box.

 As we finished up our day, Dogs with Wings and Red Cruzsader exchanged personal stamps and some travelers.  They had not previously met but it turned out to be a very good letterboxing ensemble.

Gargoyles Enjoying the Great Outdoors, the People

What good is a letterboxing event without people?  No good, I say.  So here are my pictures of some of the people who were my companions for the Memorial Day weekend.

Below, Blue Delft and Idlemoon enjoying breakfast. Our first night camping was very cold and the sun was welcome to warm us up.

 The GarBar was THE place to hang out.

 Super Hedge Hoggie enjoyed the comfort of one of the swings to review the clues.

 Our hostess, WebCatcher explains the details to Idlemoon, Blue Cruzsader, Red Cruzsader and Blue Delft.

 Blue Delft stamps in to one of the almost 200 boxes that we collected this weekend.

 Idlemoon looks comfy cozy as she stamps in.

 Boxes were everywhere, including this little dock overlooking the river.

 My many thanks to Idlemoon who became our blood hound, searching out boxes and bringing them back to us as we relaxed and just enjoyed stamping in.

 Idlemoon discovers yet another hidey hole with Blue Delft.

 Time to relax.

 New acquaintances, Lilkodamas and her daughter, Blue Roo, exchange personal travelers with Red Cruzsader.

 Nothing was safe, boxes were everywhere and we had to check every little nook and cranny.

 Raffle prizes were given out and Nate the Great, Blue Delft's son, chose the gargoyle cake pop as his prize.  Idlemoon stamps yet another in her logbook.

 Bue and Red Cruzsader waiting to see if their raffle ticket earned them a prize.

 Hubbub of activity.  In the left background, the Cruzsaders chat with the FrogQueen duo.  Chicken Little in the foreground with her back to us and her daughters seated.  Mystical Lil Hopper in the orange shirt behind Chicken Little.  CTEagleEye chats with Night0wl and Super Rod to the right.

 Red Cruzsader searching for crayfish.

 My place in the rear as we looked for boxes on the island.  I am following the Cruzsaders who wore matching shirts the whole weekend except in different colors.  What a great couple.

 At the pond on the island, Leatherbottom and DEPPsperado discuss their finds while Mr. CTEagleEye takes pictures.  Night0wl steps off the picnic table while Super Rod surveys the pond.

 Irish Ref, Blue Delft, Sewsewbizzy and Idlemoon in discussion.

 Nate the Great played hard and fell asleep in this unlikely position.

 Blue Delft at the GarBar.

We had a wonderful time at this event, there was not a down side to anything.  The setting was idyllic, the weather was picture perfect, there were tons of new boxes to find, lots of new carvers in my collection, many new letterboxers to meet and several old friends to hang out with.  Thank you, Castlekeepers, for many new and wonderful memories.