Letterboxing
Sunday we went Letterboxing. Letterboxing is a past time that from what I have read, began in England but is now becoming popular in the United States. I think the official website describes it best:
Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.
Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.
Thanks to my husband (he rocks!) we sucessfully uncovered 3 of the 4 stamps that were on our treasure map. Unfortunately the reason why we did not find one of the stamps, is that appears someone found it and took it. One of the main "rules" of letterboxing is after you find it, you put it back in it's hiding place for others to find. But all and in all, it was still pretty cool to find that 3 were still hiding in one of our local parks.
Here is the website if you would like to find out more: http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html#001
Good luck and have fun!
Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.
Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.
Thanks to my husband (he rocks!) we sucessfully uncovered 3 of the 4 stamps that were on our treasure map. Unfortunately the reason why we did not find one of the stamps, is that appears someone found it and took it. One of the main "rules" of letterboxing is after you find it, you put it back in it's hiding place for others to find. But all and in all, it was still pretty cool to find that 3 were still hiding in one of our local parks.
Here is the website if you would like to find out more: http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html#001
Good luck and have fun!
posted by Anastasia Studios at 8:33 PM
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