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Box Lunch At Brookhaven LbNA #35417 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:mdr
Plant date:Sep 23, 2007
Location:
City:Ridge
County:Suffolk
State:New York
Boxes:7
Found by: Krick (7)
Last found:Apr 25, 2008
Status:FFFFF
Last edited:Sep 23, 2007
Directions: (Please note: bring your own stamp pad and pen)
Long Island Expressway (495) to William Floyd Parkway, Exit 68. Travel north about 2 miles .The entrance to Brookhaven State Park is on your right, just after the traffic light for Whiskey Road. Park along the fence area, but please do not block the gate. This place is frequented by hikers and joggers, so please be very discrete in finding and re-hiding the boxes. The first and last box are regular size, the rest are micros. The log book is in the last box.

Clues: I’m so glad you were able to join me for this little letterboxing adventure! Today’s hike is a loop. Most of it is either on a wide woodlands road, or a paved one; a small section of the loop is a clearly defined, but narrow, yellow blazed trail. Since today’s walk is about two miles long, I took the liberty of making you a box lunch, just in case you get hungry.

First, we need to get to the wooden pavilion to pick up your lunch. We’ll start at the gate and walk a short way down this road, until we get to a horseshoe shaped parking lot on the right. We need to head south through the parking lot to the bend in the horseshoe, and then go on this dirt path to the pavilion where I’ve left your box lunch.. Hmmm…some critter seems to have moved it but I can see it behind the large pine tree that is about three paces off the southwest corner of the pavilion. Oh good, you found it. I’m glad it’s still intact! Maybe a raccoon or a red fox tried to carry it off. You know there are lots of animals that call this 2,500 acre park home. I’ve seen white tailed deer and wild turkey. There are also ruffled grouse, eastern box turtles, striped skunk and ring necked snakes. Maybe we’ll see some of them today. Keep your eyes open, there are always interesting tracks, or feathers to be seen.

Let’s turn around now and go to the other end of the pavilion, and start to walk on the dirt path on the right. We’ll take it as it heads toward that open field, passing a second pavilion off to the right. Did you know this open field used to be a baseball field? Some of the roads here, the pavilions and the baseball field were put in back in the 70’s when this land was ceded by the Federal Government to New York State. Stay on this path as it turns left and skirts the field. You may notice some interesting tracks in the soft dirt. At the T, we’ll turn right and keep walking past the baseball field until we come to fork in the road. It looks like a big Y, doesn’t it? Did you notice that in the middle of the Y is a triangular bit of land with three large rocks at each corner? Do you see that large yellowish rock? On your right, across the path you’ll notice a 3’tall stump, and behind it a fallen tree. That might be a good place to take a rest and enjoy a little snack.

Mmmm…fresh baked and home made. Nothing is too good for my letterboxing friends.
Let’s walk down the right side of the Y fork for a while. It’s very peaceful here, don’t you think? It’s hard to believe this land used to belong to Camp Upton, a very large army base used in both World Wars. Did you know that while stationed there during World War 1, Irving Berlin staged a little musical revue entitled “Yip, Yip, Yaphank”? Never heard of it? But surely you have heard the songs “Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” and “God Bless America”, which were written for the revue. We’re going to walk down this road for a while, until we come to an intersection. Let’s stand in the middle and turn around. Oh look, you’ve dropped part of your lunch and it has blown about 9 paces back along the trail. Another gust of wind has pushed it in back of that 2 sister oak tree you see about 6 paces off the trail on your right. I’m glad you got it. You might as well eat it now, and of course, carefully tuck that empty package back in your box. It’s been my experience that letterboxers are true nature lovers. Not only are they careful about their own litter, but they often carry trash bags with them and pick up bits of litter left by others.

Now that you’ve had your snack, let’s turn around again and head in the direction we were going before, straight ahead through the intersection. As we walk along you may notice that here we have newer growth, mostly scrub oak and pine. We are on a very old woodland road called Long Pond Road. Keep your eyes open for a narrower trail that will cut across what we’re now on. Looking down that smaller trail to the right, you can see a yellow blazed tree with a brown sign that says “Hiking trail. Pedestrian use only”. Why don’t we go about 5 paces down this trail and rest in the shade of those 2 oak trees on the right. Do you see them? They look like they’re forming a V, don’t they?

I was thirsty too. It must have been those chips. Let’s turn around again and cross over the wide path we were on. We’re now going to be walking on a narrow, yellow blazed trail. This is part of the Brookhaven Trail. (The entire Brookhaven Trail is a hike of about five and a half miles, starting on Rte 25A and ending at the Paumanok Path). This is my favorite part of today’s loop. It’s a nice long walk through beautiful woodland. When we reach the place where the blue trail appears on the right heading downhill, we’ll stop to eat. About 8 paces off the trail to the left is a very large pine tree that is a good place for us to have lunch.

Well, that certainly hit the spot! Now it’s back to the yellow blazed trail, and we will continue on for a while, until we reach another wide woodland road. This one is called Wading River Road. We’ll go left on this wide road and walk until we come to a trail going off to the right. Do you see that big rock about six paces up that side trail? You might want to sit on that rock and have a little snack.

Feeling rested now? We need to go back to the main trail and continue on until we get to that Y junction with the triangular bit of land and the 3 rocks on each corner. Do you recognize it from the beginning of our walk? Look to your right for a large oak tree with an 8 foot tree stump in front of it. I thought you might like to have your last snack here, and perhaps you would like to sign my guest book?

I’m going to head off toward home now, but if you continue on straight, you’ll pass that baseball field, and the horseshoe parking lot. You’ll soon see the gate where you’ve left your car. I’ve really enjoyed sharing this walk with you today! I hope we can go letterboxing again sometime!