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Family Pride LbNA #24764

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 18, 2006
Location:
City:Norton
County:Bristol
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:1
Planted by:Mahatma Dondi
Found by: FelixPezGirl
Last found:Nov 6, 2010
Status:FFFFFFOFFFFFFa
Last edited:Jun 18, 2006
This box was planted in honor of Father’s Day 2006 (and honored the father was!) by Water, Hogger, fish flatter and the Brown Bear, with lots of help from their Mom. The box has been hiding there ever since, and I offer apologies for not posting these clues sooner. [To make up for that lapse, attentive visitors might be additionally rewarded for their efforts].

Directions: Take rte. 140 south past rte. 123, passing the Norton post office and Old Town Hall Bookstore on your left. Shortly after the bookstore, you’ll enter the campus by taking a left on Howard Street. Pass by Beard Hall on your right, and as the road jogs right it turns into Fillmore Drive. Take your first right into the parking lot next to the Haas Athletic Center. Park.

The hike is around 1 mi. round trip along relatively flat terrain. It’s an easy walk, save the final two more primitive bridges across the water. The trail is otherwise friendly to kids (our 3.5 year-old helped to plant the box), and is bike accessible. Be sure to bring bug spray in the summer months.


* * * * * * * * NOTE * * * * * * * *

I’ve had to move the box from its original hiding place. Nighttime forest revelers, looking for firewood fuel or a stones to rest upon around their makeshift campfire, have repeatedly compromised the spot. These night creatures have been remarkably respectful of the letterbox, adding their thoughts to the logbook journal and carefully replacing the contents securely within the plastic container. Alas, they’re not always so good about re-hiding the container itself, so it’s now been removed, just a bit, from the beaten path. The clues below lead you to the new spot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Clues

From the first row of the parking lot, facing the Science Center across Fillmore Drive, turn to your left and spy the towering American Beech (so marked). Enter the path behind the tree that takes you over a bridge and up to a clearing, with Beard Hall in front of you. Turn to your left and pass by the Raymond P. Ferreira Switch House on your right. Re-enter the woods, re-engaging the path by proceeding through a stone wall.

Keep on this main trail for some time. You’ll go over a second bridge, and then a third, jumping over the tree that’s fallen across the path (if it’s still there). You’ll need to go right at the T intersection to cross the fourth bridge, much more modest than the prior three.

Up ahead, on the path … Oh, my! Is that a bear!?! Hurry along to a fifth overpass, the most modest of all. Continuing on this trail you’ll pass the remains of an older, more primitive civilization. You should feel free to stop and explore the site, but please respect and help protect the historical integrity of the ruins. This is not a National Park Service site, but please follow NPS rules stipulating against the use of “metal detectors or any other means to excavate, remove, disturb, deface or destroy any structure, exhibit, artifact, animal or plant.”

When you’re finished exploring, continue along the main trail. The path will zig-zag right, back left, and then hard to the right. The trail here begins to narrow gradually, and then considerably. Just when you think you’ve hit a dead end, the sky suddenly emerges overhead and you’re in a clearing dominated by feathery White Pines.

After emerging, follow the trail to your left along the perimeter of the clearing. Follow the path as it leaves the open sky and soon, on your right, you’ll see a stone wall. Go to the corner of the stone wall, and walk perpendicular to the trail. (Watch out for those boards, or fence posts, on the forest floor, as some have nails showing through). About 3-4 feet after the small cedar, and well before its larger brother, your prize is tucked into an overhang at the very bottom of the wall, hidden by a flat stone and some small logs. You do not need to move any rocks in the wall to find the box, save that flat rock I imported from elsewhere.

The box has its own ink and pen. After stamping in, PLEASE replace the box and conceal it with the flat stone and small logs, so that it is not visible from the trail. THANKS! We’d love to hear from you at mahatma.dondi@yahoo.com.

Hope you enjoy!