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Fall is HERE LbNA #40874

Owner:Rabbit's Relations
Plant date:Jun 13, 2008
Location:
City:Wappingers Falls
County:Dutchess
State:New York
Boxes:10
Found by: Nairon (5)
Last found:Oct 11, 2021
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jun 26, 2017
On Sat October 14, 2007, Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, NY was the site of the 2nd not-so-Annual Hudson Valley LB Gathering: Fall is HERE! Stamps and logbook were mailed in beforehand by many fine letterboxers to be planted as a permanent reminder of a very successful Event. The boxes were originally planted near the Event site, but were pulled soon after in anticipation of permanent homes. Talking Turtle and Rabbit Relations have now found homes for the ten Fall is HERE boxes…

Directions to the Bowdoin Park:
From the North – go south on Rt 9 past the city of Poughkeepsie. Look for a Citgo gas station and a Best Western on the left side of the road, and a Bonefish Grill and self-storage on the right. Very shortly after, make a right turn onto Sheafe Road (there is a green directional sign saying “Bowdoin 3 miles”). The park entrance is on the right.
From All other Directions – Take I-84 to NY exit 11 (Route 9D/Wappingers/Beacon). Head north on 9D towards Wappingers Falls. Make a left onto SR28 (look for the big Pink and Green Barn on the corner). Take SR28 to the end. Make a right on to Main St/Channingville Road. Past the firehouse and the convenience store make a left on to Sheafe Road. Go approx a 1/2 mile and make a left into the park.

Enter the park, go straight through the first intersection (jump out here and pick up a trail map), and left at the second intersection to park at the visitor’s center or main office.

***** Every effort was made to avoid any patches of poison ivy when choosing hiding spots for these boxes. There is plenty of PI along the trails and climbing up many otherwise great hiding trees, but we are fairly sure that we have managed to steer you clear on this hunt. Keep a watchful eye out, and if you are sure you are in the right location, look for a PI-free way to get to the box.

***** UPDATE, SUMMER 2011: I've been informed by the last two finders (thank you!) that the "Orange" trail is now PURPLE. All other directions remain the same…
***** UPDATE, SUMMER 2016: Miraculously, all stamps are still in place! A little worse for wear, but they are old-timers now… YankeeFanInPA has kindly provided a bit of help for the sixth and seventh stamps, as trail conditions have changed since these were planted. Thanks to helpful 'boxers!

Your walk begins on the Nature Trail (red on the map, and up the hill behind the parking lot). Follow the trail markers around a bend to the right and up a hill to an intersection with a bench. Take a left onto the Red trail. (The Yellow trail is the right-hand branch. That way lie the Spring is HERE boxes…) Follow the Red trail a short distance until the intersection with the Orange trail on the left. Stand next to the tree with the triangle of orange markers. Off the trail on the left (about 10:00) are two rock outcroppings. Make your way to the larger one, slightly farther from the trail. Be careful of the rusted wire fence on the ground as you leave the path. Climb to the top of the rock pile. Note the roughly triangular rock leaning its point against the biggest boulder. At the base of this triangular rock, behind a few loose rocks, is “Apple of the Earth”, carved by Red Cloak. (The logbook is a tight fit – make sure the box is closed properly before re-hiding it.)
Continue on the Orange trail until you cross Sheafe Road. Obviously, this is a dangerous bit – most drivers are not observing the 30mph limit. You can hear them coming, however, and can see for a fair distance in at least one direction.
After you cross Sheafe Road, the trail leads into the woods, and then is crossed by an access road (leads to the Haunted Mansion in October). Find the Orange trail to the left beyond the access road. Stand at the first marker and look up the hill to your right. The largest tree midway up the hill has many deep crevices around its roots. Climb up and around this tree to discover “Happy Hunting” by critterliz under several rocks against the back side of the tree.
Continue on the Orange trail until it makes a sharp bend to the left. At this point, we stepped over two logs across the path (may be cut away at some point in the future). You’ve gone too far if the path stops being open and woody and becomes grassy instead. Backtrack 8 steps from the bend/fallen trees to see a large tree off to the right with a single vine twisting around its trunk. (non-hairy PI or something else?). Go clockwise around the tree to the back to find “Fall Time” by The Cichlid Guy under a pile of rocks.
Backtrack to the point where the Orange trail intersects the access road just after you crossed Sheafe Road. Now take the right hand branch of the Orange trail. (PS It does make a complete loop, but Talking Turtle and I discovered while planting the boxes that the section of trail from “Fall Time” to the next best place to cross Sheafe Road was REALLY overgrown. It was hard to spot and avoid PI, and we could imagine all the ticks…. Hence our odd route for this hike!)
Note the orange trail marker as you set off into the woods parallel with the road. Stand at the second orange trail marker, and walk to the double-trunked hemlock on your left. Look directly to your left up the hill for the tree with the slits. Behind this tree and under rocks is “Fall is Football” by the Doctors B.
Continue walking along the trail, keeping an eye out for more orange markers. When the trail is quite close to the road, you will spot a trail marker on a slender branch of a lumpy, bumpy, muscle tree on your right. (Neat spot for a black film canister LB – wish we had had one with us!) Just ahead on the right is an enormous downed log. On the road side of the log, at the far end, under where a shorter log butts up against the behemoth, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” by Lord and Ladybug is wedged into a niche, covered with debris, and then hidden with a few rocks.
The Orange trail continues across the other end of the access road and back into the woods, where “no motor vehicles of any kind” are permitted. The third trail marker from the access road is on a tulip tree on your left. (If you’ve walked past the long off-white sheds, you’ve gone too far) Stand here, facing down the trail. Over your right shoulder is a three-trunked tree (beech?). In a niche amongst the roots on the far side of this tree is “It’s a Hoot” by Bandaid.

##**##** at this point, YankeeFanInPA inserts this change: " While looking for the third trail marker, I got to the end of the mentioned long off-white sheds; so either the trail marker is no more (with changing trail color from orange to purple), or I missed it. But if one looks for the three-trunk beech tree about maybe 15 steps off the trail on the right, you can find box 6. Then return to the trail and look directly left for what now is a 5-6 ft tall stump (looks like the beautiful large tree and friends have toppled). At the stump is where I found box 7."

Return to the tulip tree with the orange trail marker, and look up the slope to your left (about 100* - almost directly perpendicular to the trail). About 22 steps up the slope will be a large tree with three small friends. (I know – I’m asking you to find a tree in a forest, but this combination is easy to spot – trust me!). Between the large tree and the nearest small one is “Little Kicker” by Sgordon651 under lots of rocks. (that's box #7, and now the tree and friends are stumps)

Continue on down the Orange trail, past a wire fence on the right, and stop when you are level with an enormous root system from a fallen tree on your right. A more intrepid letterboxer might have put a box here, but it looks like a home to critters to me, so we bypassed it….. Start counting steps from this point. At 10 steps there’ll be a twisty tree on the left, at 27 steps a broken-over tree on the right, at 34 steps a tangle of vines on the right, at 42 a trio on the left, and at 54 steps a dried out rooty hollow log on the right. Inside here is “Little Helper” by the lazy letterboxer. To retrieve the box, you’ll need to slide out two relatively large pieces of root/log which we pushed in on top of the box as a ‘plug’. If you study the log a minute before removing them, you’ll see how they fit in to hide the box…
As you continue on the trail you’ll cross a culvert and follow the small stream. This bit was wet and muddy after a June rain. Look for a rock wall on the right at a point where the trail comes very close to the road. Against the rock wall is a sawn-off stump. If you stand on this stump and look down at the side closest to the road, you’ll see a rather large rock. Five-pound bag of sugar size, I’d guess. Lifting this rock will reveal “Fall is Cheerleading” by the Doctors B. Be careful not to drop the rock on a foot! I do not usually like to plant near rock walls, but we were running out of suitable spots at this point. Please make especially sure that you have re-hidden the box from view of the road. (PS If you can find a better spot nearby, jot down details and email me, and I’ll move it…)
Keep going on the Orange trail, and you will shortly see a branch of the Greenway Trail going off to the right (and crossing the road). You want to stay straight on the Orange Trail (which will also carry Greenway Trail markers now). Cross another culvert, walk through an opening in a rock wall, and keep going until you come to a T. The trail goes to the left, but there is an access road/trail to the right. From the T, walk about 20 steps up the right-hand trail (you should be between two trees, with the one on the right a standing dead tree). Count 14 steps from here (are you at the end of the rock wall on the right?) and now another 9 steps. Now send your nimble mountain goat straight up the slope. As you crest the ridge, look forward to the forked tree with a smaller dead branch in the fork (about seven feet off the ground). Behind this tree is a suspicious pile of rocks hiding “Fall is Thanksgiving” by Rabbit’s Friends and Relations. (Yes, I know I’ve just done another “look for a tree in the forest” clue, but if you’ve calibrated your steps to mine, you should spot it without any trouble…) Getting back down to the trail is the tricky bit (watch out for the wire along the ground just at the top of the hill – didn’t notice it on the way up).
Now backtrack to the T, and take the Orange trail to the left (well, now you’re just going straight ahead, but you know what I mean…). This mown trail will lead you straight back to Sheafe Road. If you then cross Sheafe Road, you will be at the main entrance to Bowdoin Park. The Rangers don’t recommend crossing here (we were told after we’d already done it) because of the ‘blind curve’, but we didn’t think this blind curve was any worse than the one at the ‘official’ crossing spot that you used earlier. You can decide to cross here and make your way back to your car, or you can continue through the woods on the Orange trail to make a complete loop and backtrack on the Red trail that you came in on (now is a good time to consult the map you picked up at the entrance…).
Total round trip is about a mile and a half.

Hike Length: 1.5 miles