Letterboxing: A Family Adventure

An unavoidable by-product of summer togetherness is bickering. If you have more than one child, there are bound to be spats brought on by earth-shattering issues, such as what television show to watch, who gets to sit where, which cookie is the biggest and who gets to eat it.

That's why the second idea (find the first one: here) for summer is to get out of the house. Usually, we try to get out the door by 10 a.m., which seems to be the witching hour when tensions rise and tempers flare in our home.

Recently, we set out on a new adventure: letterboxing. I stumbled across this activity a couple of years ago while scoping out campgrounds.

What is letterboxing?

Letterboxing is like a treasure hunt. Weatherproof boxes are hidden near trails or other public sites, with clues to their locations online. These boxes usually contain a rubber stamp and small notebook, and some also have ink pads and pens. When you find a box, you use your personal stamp to leave a mark on the letterbox's notebook, then use its stamp to make an imprint on your notebook.

Who hides them?

As far as I can tell, there are a couple different kinds of letterboxing: the official and unofficial.

In our state, the official sites are sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Forestry Division. There are 32 state forests, each with a hidden letterbox containing a different stamp. When you find five of these boxes, you can get a patch by sending in which locations you visited, and what your stamp looks like. After the Forestry Division verifies your stamps, it sends you the patch.

The unofficial letterboxes can be added by anyone. There are guidelines for hiding these boxes, and there are no official rewards, other than the excitement of the find and filling up your journal with stamps.

Where can I find letterboxes?

Letterboxing.org has the most comprehensive list of locations in our area. This site has the letterboxes organized either by town or placement date. These journeys range from stepping out of a car to find a box hidden in a parking area to hikes of several miles over rugged terrain.

For our first trip, we chose an easy official DEP location in Newtown's Paugussett State Forest. We found this letterbox within 20 minutes, and continued down the trail to find one of the unofficial boxes.

The excitement and anticipation of the boxes surpassed any complaining. Until we turned onto the wrong trail. After about half a mile of diligent hiking, we realized we made a wrong turn, and then the complaining began. If there wasn't a hidden box, why were we still hiking?  My answer of healthy exercise and family fun met with little enthusiasm.

However, we stopped along the way to see and photograph some interesting plants, including a patch of ramps (a.k.a., wild leeks), round-leaved Pyrola and spotted wintergreen. It helps to bring along a horticulturist, which in my case is my husband.

What will I need?

There are few things you will need for your journey:

• Bug spray and sunscreen
• Water and snacks
• Letterboxing supplies: a notebook or journal, your own stamp, an ink pad, pen, a trail name for signing your stamp entries
• A compass and trail map (check with the library if you don't have a CT trail map)

Overall, our small adventure was a success, and the kids are determined to find all of the official letterboxes in the state. The thrill of the hunt continues. One down, 31 to go.