Planting Spring Flowers for the Young at Heart LbNA #73639
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Add Location| Owner: | wandaandpete
 |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Mar 20, 2019 |
| Location: | |
| City: | ??? |
| County: | Mystery |
| State: | Mystery |
| Boxes: | 6 |
| Found by: | ??? |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Oct 26, 2019 |
| Status: | FFF |
| Last edited: | Mar 22, 2019 |
A long-overdue seasonal recycling of these colorful flowers in a fairly new preserve for the “young” generation of letterboxers
Almost can’t believe that it’s been ten years already to the day since we first planted these little flowers for our “Springing Up Lantern Hill” gathering way back then at the Vernal Equinox - March 20, 2009! And, yes, we have to admit that we, too, were guilty of planting these letterboxes back then as the “temporary stamps” we now so decry, even though it was only these six boxes on about a two-mile loop, and not dozens or hundreds of stamps plopped out for a few hours in a backyard, parking lot, store or some such thing, which we feel really cheapens not only the individual stamps, but the whole experience of what letterboxing was meant to be!
Young letterboxers nowadays may not even be aware that the original letterbox gatherings in this country were just to meet other boxers, and letterboxing itself was done only on one’s own time. Gatherings were just to chat, eat and match up faces with the stamps we had actually seen in letterbox logbooks, and the early letterboxers back then would never have dreamt of exposing themselves publicly online as to which boxes they had found because that was privileged information to be seen only by those who actually went out letterboxing and visited the boxes themselves! That was part of the fun and mystery of letterboxing and is still the way we play. We were even quite surprised to find out recently that some of the “young” generation, caught up in the current stamp numbers listing craze, actually thought that public logging of finds on AQ was a traditional part of letterboxing, which of course, it isn’t - just as “temporary” gathering day stamps are not “traditional” either, so we feel that those should not be counted as such. However, these newly transplanted flowers that can be visited any time can now be truly considered permanent traditional boxes, so please feel free to box away on any given day!
Anyway, to get back to that long ago spring gathering, at the time I guess we must have felt that having a dozen or so folks get together in a few small groups to hike up Lantern Hill, do a few sun salutations, eat a few cookies and find a few letterboxes along the way was not that far off from a genuine letterboxing experience. We thought that anyone who wanted the stamps would probably come that day, since they were only my carvings anyway and not of interest to “stamp snobs”. We were always glad just to go out on an adventure to try to find anything at all in the woods, the hobby having started out for us with mostly bought stamps and crude carvings on erasers, but we must have felt even back then that some folks were getting somewhat persnickety about stamps and wouldn’t want to actually do a walk for them!)
Apparently, however, it turned out that some other letterboxers wished they had come to get those stamps, once they saw from someone else’s logbook that they could actually look quite pretty when properly colored. We kept saying that we were planning to plant them permanently in places where you could in season see each particular flower blooming - like the snowdrops, which we had hoped to plant at Olana, where thousands can be seen blooming at the end of snow season - but that never seemed to happen. Years went by, so we finally just decided to plant them for the “young” generation now on a short loop in a new preserve near one that reminded us of letterboxing in the “good old days”!
Of course, the older generation of letterboxers may know right off the location we’re thinking of where almost two decades ago Jay Drew planted poetic boxes near and dear to the heart of man (although now that would seem closer to a “deer hart” than a “dear heart”;-). Letterboxing may have “gone south” since then, but trail building continues here with red, blue and yellow blazes.
Once you have gotten your colored pens at the ready - you will need at least sky blue for the background, green for leaves, purple, pink and yellow for the flowers, with orange and gray for possible highlights, but don’t even think about using black! - head rather abruptly up the red trail from the preserve sign whose name we have now mentioned several times in this clue.
At the junction with blue, go left to the end of the short spur and stop at the last blue blaze on a crooked tree to the left. Carefully step down to the long flat lichen-covered rock to the left between that tree and another to sit on its mossy green left side. There on its northeast side under a stone or two is where we left a green camo pouch with a white snowdrop in it! (Please be very gentle with the camo pouch - we didn’t realize until planting that it was already ripped, so we just added an outer baggie.)
Now go back out the blue spur and straight across with the red blazes. (Perhaps someone else will plant on the red loop to the left one of these days?) Pass through mountain laurel to a more open rocky area with a red arrow-shaped blaze pointing left on a shagbark hickory. Stop and look under a stone in the small front cubby of the leaning tree directly to the shaggy one’s right for a camo pouch sporting a purple crocus.
Continue, curving right with another red arrow, up to a rise with the yellow trail junction. Take a few steps west to the first yellow blaze tree on the right, and look between the two rocks in front of it for another small pouch harboring some pale-lavender hepatica.
Continue on the yellow trail to another blue-blazed spur, this time on the right. Take it to the last blue blazed tree with a rock at its front right side, then about 5 steps at 315* to another tree with a smaller rock on its front right side. Under a small flat stone behind that tree, we left another small pouch with pale pink trailing arbutus.
Now back out the blue spur and south down yellow to double yellow diamonds on a tree just past a yellow arrow pointing right. Sit on the east side of the flat rock near the tree and reach down under a stone or two between rock and tree tree for a pouch with a yellow marsh marigold.
Continue down the yellow trail past a marsh on the right until you reach another yellow arrow pointing right. Stop here at the corner with a cut log on each side and take 10 steps at 235* to a birch tree. In a cubby behind its right foot is where we left a small round container with the final spring flower of this series, a purple birdfoot violet.
Simply follow yellow out to the paved road and then just a bit north along the road back to your car. If you drive just a bit south to the next road junction, there were actually whole bunches of snowdrops blooming in the front yard of the house on the northeast corner on the first day of spring when we planted these boxes. Here’s hoping that you all see many flowers, plant many boxes, stay young at heart and have a happy spring!
Cheers,
W & P
Hike length: 1 mile
Almost can’t believe that it’s been ten years already to the day since we first planted these little flowers for our “Springing Up Lantern Hill” gathering way back then at the Vernal Equinox - March 20, 2009! And, yes, we have to admit that we, too, were guilty of planting these letterboxes back then as the “temporary stamps” we now so decry, even though it was only these six boxes on about a two-mile loop, and not dozens or hundreds of stamps plopped out for a few hours in a backyard, parking lot, store or some such thing, which we feel really cheapens not only the individual stamps, but the whole experience of what letterboxing was meant to be!
Young letterboxers nowadays may not even be aware that the original letterbox gatherings in this country were just to meet other boxers, and letterboxing itself was done only on one’s own time. Gatherings were just to chat, eat and match up faces with the stamps we had actually seen in letterbox logbooks, and the early letterboxers back then would never have dreamt of exposing themselves publicly online as to which boxes they had found because that was privileged information to be seen only by those who actually went out letterboxing and visited the boxes themselves! That was part of the fun and mystery of letterboxing and is still the way we play. We were even quite surprised to find out recently that some of the “young” generation, caught up in the current stamp numbers listing craze, actually thought that public logging of finds on AQ was a traditional part of letterboxing, which of course, it isn’t - just as “temporary” gathering day stamps are not “traditional” either, so we feel that those should not be counted as such. However, these newly transplanted flowers that can be visited any time can now be truly considered permanent traditional boxes, so please feel free to box away on any given day!
Anyway, to get back to that long ago spring gathering, at the time I guess we must have felt that having a dozen or so folks get together in a few small groups to hike up Lantern Hill, do a few sun salutations, eat a few cookies and find a few letterboxes along the way was not that far off from a genuine letterboxing experience. We thought that anyone who wanted the stamps would probably come that day, since they were only my carvings anyway and not of interest to “stamp snobs”. We were always glad just to go out on an adventure to try to find anything at all in the woods, the hobby having started out for us with mostly bought stamps and crude carvings on erasers, but we must have felt even back then that some folks were getting somewhat persnickety about stamps and wouldn’t want to actually do a walk for them!)
Apparently, however, it turned out that some other letterboxers wished they had come to get those stamps, once they saw from someone else’s logbook that they could actually look quite pretty when properly colored. We kept saying that we were planning to plant them permanently in places where you could in season see each particular flower blooming - like the snowdrops, which we had hoped to plant at Olana, where thousands can be seen blooming at the end of snow season - but that never seemed to happen. Years went by, so we finally just decided to plant them for the “young” generation now on a short loop in a new preserve near one that reminded us of letterboxing in the “good old days”!
Of course, the older generation of letterboxers may know right off the location we’re thinking of where almost two decades ago Jay Drew planted poetic boxes near and dear to the heart of man (although now that would seem closer to a “deer hart” than a “dear heart”;-). Letterboxing may have “gone south” since then, but trail building continues here with red, blue and yellow blazes.
Once you have gotten your colored pens at the ready - you will need at least sky blue for the background, green for leaves, purple, pink and yellow for the flowers, with orange and gray for possible highlights, but don’t even think about using black! - head rather abruptly up the red trail from the preserve sign whose name we have now mentioned several times in this clue.
At the junction with blue, go left to the end of the short spur and stop at the last blue blaze on a crooked tree to the left. Carefully step down to the long flat lichen-covered rock to the left between that tree and another to sit on its mossy green left side. There on its northeast side under a stone or two is where we left a green camo pouch with a white snowdrop in it! (Please be very gentle with the camo pouch - we didn’t realize until planting that it was already ripped, so we just added an outer baggie.)
Now go back out the blue spur and straight across with the red blazes. (Perhaps someone else will plant on the red loop to the left one of these days?) Pass through mountain laurel to a more open rocky area with a red arrow-shaped blaze pointing left on a shagbark hickory. Stop and look under a stone in the small front cubby of the leaning tree directly to the shaggy one’s right for a camo pouch sporting a purple crocus.
Continue, curving right with another red arrow, up to a rise with the yellow trail junction. Take a few steps west to the first yellow blaze tree on the right, and look between the two rocks in front of it for another small pouch harboring some pale-lavender hepatica.
Continue on the yellow trail to another blue-blazed spur, this time on the right. Take it to the last blue blazed tree with a rock at its front right side, then about 5 steps at 315* to another tree with a smaller rock on its front right side. Under a small flat stone behind that tree, we left another small pouch with pale pink trailing arbutus.
Now back out the blue spur and south down yellow to double yellow diamonds on a tree just past a yellow arrow pointing right. Sit on the east side of the flat rock near the tree and reach down under a stone or two between rock and tree tree for a pouch with a yellow marsh marigold.
Continue down the yellow trail past a marsh on the right until you reach another yellow arrow pointing right. Stop here at the corner with a cut log on each side and take 10 steps at 235* to a birch tree. In a cubby behind its right foot is where we left a small round container with the final spring flower of this series, a purple birdfoot violet.
Simply follow yellow out to the paved road and then just a bit north along the road back to your car. If you drive just a bit south to the next road junction, there were actually whole bunches of snowdrops blooming in the front yard of the house on the northeast corner on the first day of spring when we planted these boxes. Here’s hoping that you all see many flowers, plant many boxes, stay young at heart and have a happy spring!
Cheers,
W & P
Hike length: 1 mile