Letterboxiphilia

Sis has found a new hobby:  letterboxing!

Briefly, letterboxing is a search using clues for a box with a journal and hand-stamp hidden outdoors (it's not geocaching, which uses GPS technology).  There are thousands of letterboxes hidden around the world.  Connecticut's State Forest System even has a program with letterboxes in every state forest, with a patch and a trekking pole as rewards for finding a certain number.  It's great for both families with children and experienced outdoorspeople, with trails of different difficulties.  And apparently some of the boxes have bonus boxes nearby and even trinket rewards!

Sis's Daisy troop went letterboxing last week at a nearby park, led by one of my co-leaders who is a very experienced letterboxer.  My co-leader is also very creative and super organized so there was a whole camp set-up with a "Happy Trails" sign and a table set with a variety of ingredients to make into trail mix (marshmallows, banana chips, butterscotch chips, raisins, peanuts, M&Ms), which they put into little bags with their names and our troop's letterbox stamp on it (yes, she's creative and organized and very detailed).  There were also little letterbox logs for each of them.

They set off as a group up the trail, with several adults in attendance, but not me (too steep, root-y, and rocky).    I stayed behind to watch base camp.  But Sis told me all about it.  There were a few boxes on the trails and each girl got to stamp her journal at each stop.  Then they all trooped back for more snacks.

And Sis planned on her next, our next, letterboxing trip.  I think we'll like it as a family--outdoors but in a controlled place like a park, the incentive of a treasure-like hunt, keeping a journal, eventually carving  our own family stamp, even traveling around the country and the world.  And it sounds like our own state is a great place to start!