Letterboxing in Como Park (part 2)

With three fresh stamps in my logbook, I started following directions to my fourth and final box of the day. I saved 10,000 Lakes for last because it had the most cryptic clues. It took me into parts of the park that I had never seen before. First stop was the monument above. It was conveniently located next to a restroom building, which became my second stop.

I blew my nose on some two-ply, then back to the trail. I had to duck under an intimidating barricade to access the next location. The hole in this table is beautiful in an urban-decay kind of way. It's complemented by some charming graffiti.

This structure near the park bench looks like something you might find playing Oblivion, deep in an imaginary forest, although the chain link fence gives it away. This eroded architecture looks like it must have been part of a larger building at some point. I would like to find out more about it. Does anyone know its history?

Finding this letterbox was a fun little journey, but the best surprise was what I discovered next. Tucked inside the box was a tiny "hitch hiker." These mini-letterboxes are designed to travel from one box to another, carried to new locations whenever they're discovered. I stuck this one in my pocket to drop off when I go letterboxing again. I wonder where it will end up next?

Letterboxing in Como Park (part 1)

This weekend I went in search of four letterboxes in St. Paul's popular Como Park. More than one set of clues contained instructions to "rehide well," since it's usually such a busy area. But on this cool, damp Sunday afternoon, it was almost empty. A perfect day for letterboxing!

The damp air near the conservatory was filled with cheery carousel music. I moved away into silence, following directions for the Claddaghs past the Japanese garden and into a small patch of woods. After uncovering these two boxes, and carefully re-hiding them again under branches and leaves, I went straight for the next one.

Snot was dripping down my nose and into my mouth by the time I found Fall 2007: Harvest. It was hidden beside a path that must be impossibly busy during nice days. It's a limited-edition letterbox, due to be removed on the last day of autumn (December 21). There was a nice two-color stamp inside. Alas, I only brought one pad of ink.

In part two, I find the best letterbox ever.

Letterboxing in beautiful I.G.H.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, the fog was thick as a brick. I didn't have much time, but it was too lovely out not to go letterboxing. I decided to plan a trip for the closest box I could find. This turned out to be South Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights, just south of St. Paul.

Once I found the park and headed up the trail, it quickly became my most enjoyable hike so far this year. The birds were out in force and they were loud. I saw and heard all kinds of creatures: geese, cardinals, robins, chickadees, a lone gull, and some big noisy bird that swooped overhead. I stood in one spot for just a couple of minutes and saw four or five little downy woodpeckers flitting about.

I found the hiding spot without too much trouble. The challenge was extracting the letterbox from where it was iced to the ground. This one had been discovered before by some animal and used as a chewing toy. Luckily, the contents were safe. I tried to remove a beer bottle from the ground to clean up the spot, but that one was stuck tight. Maybe the next letterboxer will take that trash out.

Crosby Farm Park letterboxing

It was a beautiful 32 degrees Fahrenheit day on my second successful letterboxing trip. A good day for secrets. Most of the snow is melted away, leaving mud behind, but the trails at Crosby Farm Park were mostly clear.

My clues identified two separate boxes on this trail. The first was exactly where I expected to find it. The previous finder had returned this box to its hiding spot in a root mass, and buried it well with leaves and twigs. Nobody else was around, so I took a few minutes to flip through the log book and leave my stamp. This box contained a nice hand-carved stamp and everything was sealed in Ziploc bags. I put it back the same way, and covered it completely.

The second letterbox belongs in this opening. I used that stick to dig out about two inches of hard-packed dirt from the top. I unearthed a lot of rocks, but didn't hit a letterbox. Either I needed to keep going, or the box has gone missing. I went back and pulled out the first box again to leave a note for future seekers. When I got home, I sent a note to the owner of the letterbox. I hope that it turns up again.

On my way out of the park, I picked up some garbage off the trail. Letterboxing sites encourage you to leave the area cleaner and nicer than you find it: "cache in, trash out." Check out the patina on this can of Bud. It's practically an antique. Too bad it's not flat enough to paint on. I threw it away, but my trip was a success with one new stamp in my logbook!

First letterboxing find

Last week, I bought everything I needed to start my new hobby (a Moleskine notebook), but there was too much snow on the ground for outdoor letterboxing. I know, because I tried! I went to where a letterbox should be along the Mississippi, but the entire area was unplowed. I might have found it eventually with the help of a shovel. Instead I gave up and decided to come back later.

Then, I found a new online source for clues, and tracked down an indoor box. I don't want to give it all away, but it was very clever. The box was hidden inside a hollowed-out fake book that is checked into a local university's library system. I was the second one to stamp the visitor book in the letterbox, and their stamp became the first entry in my personal log. That's one down, and plenty to go.

Letterboxing, Geocaching... whatever you call it, it's treasure hunting!

Every so often, I find out a hobby exists that seems pulled straight from my imagination. Letterboxing is a search for secrets hidden by fellow hobbyists. Geocaching brings this pastime into the 21st century by incorporating the use of a GPS. Both of them get you walking around outside and let you pretend to be a pirate who is hunting for treasure. Needless to say, I think that this is awesome!

I lack the proper technology for geocaching, but I plan to track down my first letterbox when the snow clears out this spring. This intriguing hobby dovetails with the discovery of the Perplex City "Receda Cube," which I read about in an article by the winner. I'm intrigued by the idea of "alternate reality" competitions like this one. From a business standpoint, it's very clever. The winner got $200,000, but how much do you think they earned?

They make money by selling packs of 6 cards for $5 a pack. Players use the cards to solve clues, move the game forward, and eventually locate the Cube. With 256 cards total, an individual player would have to spend at least $213 to collect them all. The company would break even on the prize money with less than 1,000 hardcore players. That's a really simplified calculation, but anyway, I'm more intrigued by the possibilities of the game itself. The play's the thing, and why pay money when I can go letterboxing for free?