Gangsta Fool - the letterbox LbNA #51077

This stamp was originally released at a small gathering on August 29, 2009, at the Troutdale McMenamins where I had the chance to catch up with some of my Portland letterboxing pals as well as make a few new friends. If you were at the gathering and already have this stamp you might want to skip it. Waste not, want not – it is now hidden out near Camp Sherman in a letterbox. The stamp doesn’t fit the surroundings, but what the heck, I hate to see a perfectly good stamp lying in a drawer. The image was inspired by what went on at LBNA on April Fools Day 2009. I fell so hard for their joke that I actually e-mailed the webmaster to tell them something was wrong with their site – my trail name was all garbled. I didn’t notice it was simply spelled backwards, and I’m sure the same thing happened to all the names listed there! During subsequent e-mails with the webmaster, I was told mine was particularly funny because it looked like some kind of “gangsta” name – thus the birth of Gangsta Fool: Killa-C. The faces in the image represent the “play now pay later” philosophy common to many incarcerated “gangstas” and indeed many letterboxers who are prone to going TOO far and TOO long before they give up, paying for it the next day with sore muscles and joints!

Directions: Find the Gorge Campground at Camp Sherman and park in a turn-out with an informational sign just outside the entrance to the campground, "Metolius River Fish Habitat Enhancement." There is room for probably 3 or 4 cars there.

Caution: Parts of this hike involve climbing over rocks and logs and picking your way through bushes etc. - possibly not appropriate for small children unless they are supervised.

Clue: Follow the trail downriver along between the camp sites and the river, then on along the river at the bottom of the cliffs that form the walls of the gorge. There is a clear trail marker just beyond the last camp site you pass showing that the trail goes up the hill and follows the cliff edge along the top, but don't take that one. Take the smaller trail along the river. Watch for an uprooted tree with lovely gnarly roots - this tree lies on the ground pointing at the river. Further on you will pass a burned snag with a huge downed tree lying against it blocking the trail - up and over you go! Further on watch for a spot where you can see old-and-dying behind a pinnacle rock at the top of the cliff to your right, a couple of young-and-healthies at the base of the cliff just ahead, and great-hunkering-grandfather right at your left hip – stop there. About 35-40 steps beyond that spot look for dead-as-a-doornail lying on the hillside to your right, under which lies Killa-C, the gangsta fool. The words “Killa-C” that were originally on this stamp crumbled away when the stamp lay soaked for an extended period of time, so I cut them off – all that is left are the fools!

Don’t YOU be a fool – do your homework before you go so as not to miss anything special nearby.



Hike length: 0.5 miles