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States We've Lived In Series LbNA #55801

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Sep 24, 2010
Location:
City:Mapleton
County:Lane
State:Oregon
Boxes:5
Planted by:2hearts1
Found by: Oregon Natives (5)
Last found:May 25, 2013
Status:FFF
Last edited:Sep 24, 2010
This is our favorite leterboxes to date, for the theme, I carved all of the stamps, made embellished stamp pouches & logbooks (Micki) and the location: Sweeet Creek Falls, near Mapleton is one of our favorite places to hike. Absolutely gorgeous & well worth the drive. There are water-falls, water-slides & water-cascades & plenty of deep pools!
We use the term "Nurse logs or Nurse stumps" here meaning they are dead, but they support new-growth of other trees or plants. The trails here are very well maintained. Here is a good website to visit www.localhikes.com/hikes/sweetcreek_2400.asp
You might want to take a lunch, trail snacks &, of course a CAMERA with! Though we're all "boxers", we need to think outside the "box": If we can't find it, at first, think "where else, nearby, looks simillar to the clues?"!! We can almost guarantee, you'll find it!!

If leaving fom Eugene, drive down Hwy. 126, as if going to Florence. From the juncture of Beltline & W. 11th, we clocked 41.7 miles to the left hand turn off to Sweet Creek Rd., just before the Mapleton corner on Hwy.36. Stay on Sweet Creek Rd. & follow it (winding 2-lane paved road)for 10.4 miles to the Sweet Creek Falls Homestead Trailhead on the right.
CLUES:
Box #1: MINNESOTA (Micki) I was born in Duluth, MN. Start at the Homestead Trailhead. Pass a bench, cross a cool bridge. Second bench, keep going...& pass yet another bench. Check out the view of the neat falls. Oh...there's a "nurse log", with initials carved in it, on the right. Walking...sharp right, slight uphill to "gateway". What a view! Now, left side of the "gateway" & left side of the log, between the bark & the log, find Minnesota. Please rehide from both sides of log!

Box #2: MICHIGAN REVISED:(Original box was MIA. We recarved, put together new box & replanted. Clues have not changed much, just slightly different location at same tree)(Micki) My family moved to Escanaba, in the Upper Penninsula (U.P.) of Michigan when I was 13. Continue on the trail. Cross a really cool "cat-walk", then cross a log bridge. Take in all the beauty on this trail! Up stairs now. Right before the next set of steps, one tree, on the left, in front of a huge old stump. At the front, base of the tree, left side, below very rotten, mossy, uphill log, in a hole, covered with mossy blanket, is Michigan.

Box #3: WISCONSIN REVISED: We heard WI was MIA so I re-carved it from an image & replanted it. Also, this box is different from the rest. (Micki) Later, when I married, I moved to Milwaukee, WI, where my 3 children were born. (Of course, I'm a big GREEN BAY PACKER fan!). Going up those stairs, another small "cat-walk". Further on, been going up, but now a flat area. There is a large rock in the ground on the right of the trail. In fact...you must walk around it. A small trail to the left, see the multi-footed tree with 2 larger trunks & one small "trunk". Around back, to the left of the base, & very near the base, is a VERY rotten, mossy log/stump. Look for the ledge inside, about 4-5 ins. off the ground & you'll reach Wisconsin. (Hint: If you can't find it right where you think it is, try a little further, one way or the other, on the ledge)

Box #4: OREGON (Micki & Jim) After divorcing, I moved back to Michigan & lived there for 20 years. In 1995, I moved to Oregon for work, where I met Jim, who was born in Springfield, & lived here all his life except for 4 years. (And of course, I'm now a DUCKS fan) Walking...going up a bit now, & between 2 big rocks. Then down...yet another gorgeous view! Near bottom...a plastic pipe here...continue ( the vistas just keep coming!!) There is a well-marked "T" in the trail. You didn't come all this way to quit now! Keep going. Passing through a "forest" of "nurse" stumps. Through another "gateway"...now heading up...then down...& up again. Ok. a very large, mossy maple, leaning over the trail. Under a "log-ledge", on the left side of the tree, as far from the tree as you can get, Oregon sits hidden.

Box #5: CALIFORNIA (Jim) Yes. Unfortunately, Jim lived in California when he was younger. Then moved back home to Oregon. Staying on trail, all of a sudden...WOW!!! Takes your breath away! Take it all in, then get back to the trail. Heading up (getting a little harder now)Want to quit? Don't! Walking the trail, be careful not to step on the trees' "toes". Hear the roar? Getting loud now. Round a curve, go up to the lookout point. (Go beyond the rails at your own risk!). Now...head back the way you came. First down, then up. Go down to the large mossy tree on the right. It's big, "naughty" & hollow. Inside, on the bottom right, against the wall & under moss that shouldn't be there...California here we come...

PLEASE reseal & rehide well, so that nothing shows from either side. THANX! Happy hunting!