Letterboxing

I blame it on my daughter-in-law, Kelsey! On Thanksgiving Day she took the kids and me out "letterboxing". It was fun, and I knew it wouldn't be the last time I spent time searching for hidden boxes by following clues and cracking codes from the AtlasQuest website. 

Once I got home, I started thinking about what my "trail name" would be. I came up with "Bear Claw" (actually Bear Claw 67, since someone else had already claimed Bear Claw). The name has some significance, because of my Alaskan roots; because our high school mascot was the Crimson Bear; and because I graduated in 1967.

Next came carving my signature rubber stamp, which is used to stamp into the letterboxer's logbook. Of course, it had to be a bear claw. It was my first time to carve a rubber stamp, and it isn't perfect, but I was happy enough with the outcome.

My very first find came a few days later, out at the tiny community of Zabcikville. After Christmas I met with another letterboxer - trail name Pumpkin Gal - and she taught me a lot more about the whole letterboxing culture and etiquette. While with her, I logged three more "finds" in my journal!

Today I was "itching" to crack some more codes, follow some more clues and find some more letterboxes. I chose to go to a couple of parks in Salado. I found two boxes, logged them in my journal and discovered a couple of interesting places that I hadn't seen before.

One of the parks is called Sculpture Park, and it is full of unique pieces of outdoor art. The first sculpture I spotted was near the entrance to the park, just at the edge of the parking lot. It was a huge raven made out of old tires! It made me laugh.

Here are a few of the sculptures I saw as I continued on my treasure-hunt for a letterbox.

After a successful "find" at Sculpture Park, I went to Salado College Park. Salado College was started by a group of prominent men from Bell County who met together in 1859 with dreams to create a top-notch school for the county. Salado College was incorporated by the Texas Legislature on February 8, 1860. Colonel Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson was chosen as President of the Board. A statue of Robertson stands near the preserved ruins of the college.

I did discover the letterbox that was hidden in this park, as well, so now my journal has a total of six stamps. Besides the gratification of solving the clues and finding the letterboxes, I can see that this hobby will be good for getting me outside,  exploring new and intriguing sites.