Lets Go Huntin!

For weeks Mama Huntin Dog and I have been trying to get together to go letterboxing. She was the one who introduced me to letterboxing and we had never gone letterboxing together before. We would try to get together but then something would come up and we wouldn't be able to go. But finally we got together!!
Tyrus we at a family birthday party and could join us. We went around London (not England, silly!) and searched for tons of boxes. A lot of the boxes we were looking for we gone and that was a bit upsetting. Also, some of the the places where the clues told us to go were horrible spots to begin with. Hidden at an Elementary school? With today's day and society, I don't think that's such a great idea. People snooping around a school, digging through bushes and trees. To the school, that could look a bit sketchy and can send the school in lock down if they are in school. Then another spot was just hidden in some decorative grass along the fence. It was a long stretch of grass and not specified where along the grass it was. This grass was wouldn't last in winter and was just all stringy.
With letterboxing does come disappointments but luckily we were able to find some boxes! Of the boxes we did find, only one of them were new to Mama Hunting Dog. All of them were new to me. A bunch of the boxes we found were actually her's. I would read the clues and try to find them on my own, then she would check the boxes for any needed repairs and such. It was very interesting.
One thing I like about letterboxing is that you go to places you didn't even know/notices was there. We drive by the same locations everyday and don't realize the places around us. When we went letterboxing I discovered many new cemeteries that I didn't know existed! Now I know a bunch of places to hide letterboxes!!
While out with MHD there was one place we went to find a box that was at a crazy intersection. In this area there use to be a log cabin there but all that is left is part of the chimney. It was a cool spot to hide a box but there's nowhere to park. So we had to pull to the side of the road, park, turn on the car's blinkers and got out of the car. We brought along a small trash bag to pick up some trash. as soon as we got out of the car a police man stopped by us! "Is everything okay?"the officer asked. "Just picking up some trash!" MHD responded holding up the trash bag. It was a bit scary. We did pick up some trash before and after I logged the stamp. It was a dirty place!
One of the last boxes we went to find (we weren't leaving without finding it) was the first box Mama Huntin Dog has ever found! The Class of '99 was planted in May of 2006 and still alive and kicking!! It was cool finding the first box that she found since she introduced LB to me.
Our last stop was at Jeeves' house! Jeeves......... no matter what, if you become very active in letterboxing there will always be one letterboxer that you want to meet. For me and Tyrus the one letterboxer we wanted to me was Jeeves! We stopped by her house to say hi and to do a stamp exchange. I was very excited to meet her! We exchanges signature stamps and told her about our day. It was cool. And little did I know, but a few days before a woman on FaceBook sent me a friend request. The only person who was friends with her was MHD. I discovered that this women was Jeeves!
On the way back to my house we had to stop by Beardog's house to get a few of MHD's boxes. I've met her and her sister once before at the Franklin County Fair. We went inside and got the boxes and found out they had a beautiful St. Banard named Beardog.
Almost every we were in the car driving to the next location I was busy stamping away. She grabbed a box she hid at the library so I could stamp it since the library wasn't open on Sundays. she also had some boxes that she pulled for various reason that she let me stamp plus all of her personal traveler, which I had to answer some questions or tell a story to stamp the PT.
It was a very busy day with a lot of stamping. I filled up 3 full pages in my log book with all those stamps! I also gave MHD my 2 LTCs that I've made and she gave me half a dozen of LTCs she has done. I like LTCs and have all my cards in a sleeves and in a binder.

I have started up school.... for me that means I can't letterbox that much anymore :( I am lucky if I have free weekend this school year. I am in an AP class and some accelerated classes and I tend to get a ton of homework. It has taken me 3 day just to write this blog post!

Well, we've reached over 100 subscribers! Woot! Woot! I thought that I would get a few subscribers who might just glance at my post. I did expect to get 100 subscribers! Here is a look of the stamp I carved for my Jenny the "Face of a Time Lord" series and my Jenny LTC!

Feel free to contact me if you want one of my LTCs! There are only 25 Jenny LTCS!

 

~Catchow

What a Long Few Days...

Monday morning(8/20/12), Tyrus gets a text from his mother saying he has strep and has to go home. Great. So we had do cancel everything we were going to do that day (which wasn't much). So stuck at home within my room, what am I to do? Well I carved!
I got the stamp "Jenny" done for the "Face of a Time Lord" in MA. First time I had ever carved a human figure. Well I have carved a human image before but it was a cartoon image. I was hesitant about carving jenny since there were any animated images of her that I liked so, I had to create lines on the picture of the actress. After carving the stamp it looked pretty good! I am going to make some limited LTCs of Jenny before I send it out to be planted.
If you don't know who Jenny is, which not many do... She's a character from the British TV show "Doctor Who." The best TV show ever, by the way. She was seen in the episode "The Doctor's Daughter" that aired on May 10, 2008 and was only in this one episode. She was created from a genetic sample taken from the Doctor's hand and was literally born to fight. In a sense she is his daughter but the Doctor doesn't want to accept it. Throughout the episode a war is being fought between the humans and the Hath(half fish, half human creatures). Well they almost come to peace and Jenny gets shot and dies and they soon find out she is a Time Lord since she regenerates! That's why I carved Jenny for the series.
Speaking of LTCs... I did my first set of LTCs! I did them for the LTC trade "In Honor of our United States." I did the stamp for Ohio. I think it looks pretty good. If you want one join the LTC tracker (if it isn't closed yet) or just AQ mail me for one.

The next day (8/21/12) I also didn't get to hang out with Tyrus because he wasn't given his meds till late the night before. My plan for the day was to just work on my LTCs. Then my grandfather came over to take my brother out for sushi for his 8th birthday. He also said he would take us up to Prospect and Radnor Ohio to letterbox! We left about 2.5 hours after he came over.
I quickly printed and carved a stamp to hide in the cemeteries we were going to. I carved out the Welsh flag. It was slightly challenging and had little time to get everything together, but I did it!
I chose the Welsh flag because I come from a long line of Welshmen. I love my Welsh heritage and my favorite soup and cookie(well... I think its a cookie thing) are Welsh! I am VERY Welsh. If you go back at least 8 generations on my mother's side you will find Welshmen. On my dad's side they are Welsh and Scottish.
We first stopped in a little town called Prospect and stopped at their cemetery. Mostly Welsh and Germans are buried in the Prospect Cemetery. My great grandparents are buried there as well as some cousins and other relatives. My grandparents will be buried there when they pass. There are some places you could hide some boxes but it was right by the Scioto River, which floods.

Shot I took at Prospect Cemetery

My great grandparents

 

After going to the cemetery we stopped for some icecream in prospect! $2.50 for the small icecream and we couldn't finish it all!



My little brother Gavin. He just turned 8!!!!

 

After that (and a stop to a relatives house, that I didn't know) we went over to Radnor, Ohio. I thought Prospect was a small little town... Radnor... if you stand at the right spot you can practically see the whole town. They had a very large cemetery in the very small town. Not as big as Greenlawn... but still quiet large. Radnor Cemetery is made up mostly of Welsh. My Welsh relitives that first came to the United States are buried there. My great, great, great, great..... grandmother was the first person who was buried in the Radnor Cemetery.

At Radnor Cemetery there is a Lynch gate, which are found though out Wales and England.

 

It was pretty cool there. I got to see a lot of stones that belong to my relatives. Well, Radnor Cemetery, being made up of mostly Welsh, was the perfect place to hide my box! There were tons of places to hide boxes. I found the spot (no spoilers!) and put a mental puzzle to find the box. I also included two of my relatives in the clues!

Me and My Brother

I wasn't lying about the tail!

 

The box I hid is named: Y Draig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn

it is in Welsh and means "The Red Dragon Leads the Way"

 

It was a noswaith dda!

 

~Catchow



LB How 2s: Finding Boxes

Once you have your gear and your clues now you need to go out and find the boxes!
Remember when you head out, the box may or may not be there. Always check when last the box was found before heading out. If you want to be the boxer who goes out and confirms the missing box go right ahead! You might be a hero saving the box and showing it’s still there.
Any who, try to find out about the area you are going to be hiking through. You will want to know if the area may be unsafe during the day and/or night, if there might be dangerous animals like bears, and when closing and opening times are.
Where ever you are hiking around looking for letterboxes remember to be stealthy. There are noxers (non boxers) out there and you don’t want them to know what you are doing. Also be respectful. A lot of boxes are hidden at historic location, cemeteries, and parks so you want to be respectful while out on these ground. Abide by the park rules. Don’t pick flowers or disturb the forest and don’t feed the bears! But there will be one rule you will always break, going off the trail. Can’t really get around that and you’ll be busted for picking flowers and less likely busted for going off trail. Also, if you bring your dog please pick up after him/her. No one wants to step in dog poo and don’t leave any trash behind. Leave the area better then you found it.
When you follow the clues and find the box, take out the stamp and stamp it into your book. After that, return the stamp to the box and take out the boxes’ log book. Stamp your personal stamp in the logbook, put your trailname, date, where you’re from, then return the logbook. Lastly, you then need to replace the box back where it was hidden. If you moved leaves, sticks, bark, ect. to find the box, make sure you put it all back so it’s well hidden. You don’t want the box visible from the trail or a noxer could pick it up!
Another good thing to do is carry around baggies and duct tape to fix up a box if it’s in bad shape. If its way beyond a simple repair contact the owner and let them know.
After all this is done don’t forget to log your find on atlasquest or letterboxing.org!
Remember to be safe, be respectful, and to have fun while letterboxing!
~Catchow

Letterboxing Shoes

Yesterday I spent a LONG time working on painting my shoes. I was volunteering at the zoo the next day (today) so they had to be finished before I went to bed. I took my black converse shoes and started painting them white. School is starting up here soon, so that means new shoes. Plus, these shoes have holes in it and are well beaten up. So any who, I painted them white, put a couple of more coats of white on, then now what do I do? Well, I decided to stamp it!
Sunday I spent a good 6 hours carving out stamps for a new letterbox series. So I took those stamps, plus mine and Tyrus' signature stamp, and stamped those onto my shoes. The first stamp-on was perfect and I painted over it with paint. Most of the other times I tried stamping the stamp on my shoes, they ended up not fully printed so I had to paint over them. For some reason, when I stamped an image black and painted over it... some how the ink turned green. Black ink+white paint=green?
It took a really long time to paint these. Like over 6 hours. But the work was worth it. I think they turned out great.
When I was in the processes of painting my shoes white, my dad walked in the room and was like "What are you doing!?"
"Painting my shoes?" I stated.
"WHY?"
"Because they're old and have holes in them..."
"Oh, okay." And he left.
Every time I paint something, he flips.
Below are some photos of my shoes. (I still need to clean up soome spots)

Our Couple's Creed stamp (left) and Nyan Cat (right)

This orange cat stamp was my original Catchow stamp.

The AtlasQuest Chick. It is the only image (aside from NESW sign) that was drawn on.

Catchow and Tyrus signature stamps.

I only took pictures of my left shoe (it looked the best).



Now after all that painting, I sprayed it down with this coating to help the paint stay. I could still smell the spray on my shoes when I went to the zoo today. While at the zoo, my fellow volunteer said she liked the armadillo on my shoes.

Quick story while I was at the zoo today. The keepers put the male koala in the indoor exhibit with the female. The other volunteer and I were in the exhibit picking up their poo (fun right!?). While in there I herd this noise like some one's stomach was growling. Looked up at the other volunteer and she didn't say anything. Continued cleaning and herd the sound again, this time louder. We both looked up at each other then to the kolas. The male had moved really close to the female and she started to growl at him! Never in my life had I ever herd a kola growl! This went on for a good 15-20 mins with the two growling at each other before the keeper took the male out. Interesting day today.

~Catchow

Newport Aquarium and Geocashers

Today my Youth Group took a trip down to Newport Aquarium. It was a very neat place to go to! It was hard taking pictures there. Turn on flash, you get a glare. Turn off flash, you get a blurry picture. Above was the best picture I got of the sharks (and well, all of the non flash photos). We got to pet sharks there which was pretty cool too.
Well, after the aquarium we went letterboxing (with a bunch of noxers too!. When we got to the aquarium, I discovered I left the clues at home, 2 hours away. So I asked my brother to text me the clues but it failed to send. Then it wouldn't send at all. When we were done at the aquarium I called him up and he read the directions to me while I wrote them down(the things we do for letterboxing...). Well we went to the Purple People Bridge which was a short walk from the Newport Aquarium. It was a beautiful day and wasn't crowded on the bridge. We followed the clues and found the box. We had to be super sneaky because there where security cameras. We grabbed the box and walked down to the nearest bench and took a seat. We opened the box and......... the stamp was gone. There was a cheap guitar pick left in its place. It was really upsetting. We most likely wont be returning to Newport in a long time. The box is only listed on atlasquest and had no recorded finds. When we looked through the log book there were two recorded finds which were not recorded online. With the stamp gone and a guitar pick left there, only means that a geochasher must have been there. I just don't understand why a geocasher would take the stamp if it is a LETTERBOX and not a GEOCASH. I guess there must have been a geocash at the location at one point or something. I don't know. It was very, very frustrating.
I really don't like geocashers. However, I do like the letterboxers who also geocash (they are educated on both hobbies). It's just the geocashers who know nothing about letterboxing stumble upon a box and think its a geocash and then take the stamp. I found a few geocashes before while finding letterboxes. The other thing that is annoying is the hybrid boxes. A geochash-letterbox. We found one box in Virginia that was a hybrid and even though the owner wrote all over the box that the stamp wasn't part of the geocash, someone still took it. It can become very frustrating for not just me, but other boxers and the planter. I think that geocashers who don't know about letterboxing should be educated about letterboxes. I guess that is also are job to do. I think now when I place boxes I will state "This IS NOT a geocash."
Sorry about the ranting. I know others have ran into this problem too.

~Catchow

Lets Beat the Rain!

10a.m. and we are ready to go letterboxing! Off to Hillard we go! The rain can't stop us!
Our first stop, First Responders Park, a park dedicated to the first responders during 9/11. There weren't any boxes actually hidden here, but it was the beginning point of quiet a few boxes. It was a very interesting little park and it had pieces from the twin towers there. From the park, we were headed to Old Bag of Nails. We walked over there and found it wasn't open till 11a.m. With over 30 mins. to kill, we decided to go to the next box. It was located at a police/fire department. We went in to the desk and no one was there. We waited around and watched this women walk from one room to another and back again. I started looking around the desk and couldn't really find the box. After about 15 mins. I sat down on the couch next to Mother Hen.
 From the couch near the desk, you could see everything on the desk. At the other end was the box. No one came. I just sat there looking at the box. Finally the lady who was walking back to and from the doors came over and helped us. She didn't even know what the letterbox was. So I explained it to her and she told us that no one works at the front desk(weird...). When we began to stamp in, it began to rain. Great. We knew it was going to rain at some point, we were just glad we were inside when it started. I also found out that I left our "Couple's Creed" stamp at home. I had to glue it to a piece of wood because of how soft the material was that it is carved in.
When it stopped raining we were off to Old Bag of Nails. We had to get the box from the bar so we sat there while we stamped in. It was a bit weird sitting there. Never sat at an actual bar since I'm under age, but we stamped in and were out in a couple of minutes.
From there we went to Wesley Chapel Cemetery to save Princess Peach from Bowser. Was a nice cemetery and was much larger than we thought it was. We didn't run into any more rain but everything was wet. We couldn't sit in the grass so we had to juggle everything while stamping our logbooks. At one point we were under a tree and it started dripping on my logbook. I freaked out. I didn't want my logbook wet. I also freaked out when Tyrus stamped his thumb print into my book back in June. It took up space in my book but I got over it. The box series was nice but the stamps were huge. After that we had time for one last box. Kittylove. It was a very cute box and well done.

So today we are giving the Llama Award to First Responders by B Spaniels and KittyLove by HappyTrails and Nitrocat.

~Catchow

The Olympic History of Letterboxing

JerseyTrailblazers posted this on the Letterbox Chatter board the other day and I thought the story was neat so I felt like sharing it.

"For those of your that are not already aware of this, Letterboxing was once a part of the Olympic Games. Yes, it is true. So, for those newbies out there and as a walk down memory lane for the old fogies, I will tell the tale that has been passed down to me by members of the Letterboxing Illuminati during their annual "Beer and Brat" gathering at the White House. So pull up a chair and crack open a bottle of Mad Dog 20-20 and lend me an ear.

Previous Olympic Games included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like
polo, tug of war and jaywalking. These sports, known as "discontinued sports", were later removed either because of lack of interest or absence of an appropriate governing body. Archery and tennis are examples of sports that were competed at the early Games and were later dropped by the IOC, but managed to return to the Olympic program (in 1972 and 1988, respectively). Demonstration sports have often been included in the Olympic Games, usually to promote a local sport from the host country or to gauge interest and support for the sport. Some such sports, like baseball and curling, were successfully added to the official Olympic program (in 1992 and 1998, respectively, baseball however has been discontinued after the 2008 Summer Olympics). One sport, Letterboxing, was introduced at the games in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 and subsequently discontinued after the games in Athens, Greece in 2004. In 2002, Teams from various countries competed in the first competitions with the heavy favorites being Team England and Team USA. The English Contigent led by elderly Team Captain Tom Gant was steeped in tradition but the upstart USA Team led by Co-Captains Tom Cooch and Erik "The Vermont Viking" Davis were ready for the challenge. It was a grueling set of challenges involving standard plants as well as mystery boxes, WOM's and some tense signature stamp exchanges. At the end of the Quarterfinal rounds the suprise team from Easter Island found themselves in contention for a medal after competing in the 'visionary' category and producing what would later become known as an "LTC", this one being in the form of a Moab statue. At the end of the Games it was Team USA with the Gold, Team England with the Silver and Team Australia with the Bronze. Team Aussie staged a late point garnering rally with their Cootie Design, "Shrimp on the Barbie". A different story emerged prior to the start of the 2004 games when the organizers from the main letterboxing governing body of the USA, LBNA, were challenged by the new group from Atlas Quest led by Team Captain, Ryan "Turtle Boy" Carpenter. AQ was a flashy upstart that was challenging the 'old ways' and they demanded a 'seat at the table' and a voice in selecting members of the team. For some reason they wanted to change the team logo to that of a moose head. When LBNA members Randy and Choi balked, one AQ'er yelled out, "Hey, Wassamatta U"? As tensions stirred the IOC became involved and IOC chairman Art Vandelay of Vandelay Industries was brought in to mediate the dispute. It looked like there was to be a compromise and a possible combination of teams but with only days to go before the start of the 2004 games, the negotiations broke down. Rumours circulated that a mysterious woman named Amanda had somehow thrown a monkey in the wrench. But it turns out that it all came back to a somewhat likeable malcontent named Cyclonic who replied, "Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...but I know,...it's my own damn fault". "Oh, and your boxes suck". Since it was obvious that Team USA was not going to participate in the games, the other nations dropped out, following Team England which released a statement saying, "We regret that Team USA has robbed us of the opportunity to take the Olympic Gold from them and to prove our obvious superiority to them and they are all still a bunch of tea bag spilling a-holes." The fallout from the discontinuation of Letterboxing as an Olympic sport was far reaching with people all over the world exclaiming, "We're mad as hell and were not gonna take it anymore!." But the furor was short lived and people soon became sullen and grew lazy and looked for an activity that would not tax their mind or creativity and required nothing more then pressing a few buttons on a little gizmo. As such, this led to an explosion in the amount of people that took up Geocaching and it also led to an expansion of their wastlines, the down fall of the family unit, and dogs and cats sleeping together. There have not been any further attempts to bring about a return of Letterboxing to the Olympic Games."

Where's Zelda?

Spent a good four hours today volunteering at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It's my 3rd year there and it's pretty fun. Since it's my third year, that means I get to volunteer in a specific region of the zoo if I so choose to. I got accepted into the Australia region. What do we get to do there? Clean up poop. Yes, that's right, I get to clean up after the kangaroos and koalas. I also get to clean windows and sweep and pick up trash. Today I got to make fish treats! This meant I took some containers, filled them up with water, and put half frozen fish in the water. Livin' the life!

Well after that Mother Hen and Tyrus picked me up and we were off to the Dublin Cemetery! We parked over by the cupcake shoppe and walked over to the cemetery. After we arrived at the cemetery and pulled out the clues, we discovered we could have ridden in the car to find the boxes. Oh well. Walking wouldn't kill us.
Had a nice long walk through the cemetery in search for these boxes. Ran into a tick or two (eww) and tried our best to stay secretive looking for the boxes. There were a ton of maintenance workers cleaning up the cemetery while we were there. They also took a bush that one of the boxes was hidden in before we arrived. Over all the cemetery was beautiful! So well taken care of, mausoleums built into hills, random "couches" made from stone to sit one, and plenty of trees. The only issue is... since it's well taken care of it can cause some issues for boxes. Boxes can easily go missing because of high maintenance.
The entire letterboxing adventure we were racing to save Princess Zelda. Poor Zelda trapped all alone... Even then while getting supplies and fighting our way to save her, she was no longer there! Zelda and the logbook were missing. After a long hard search for her we came up empty. Princess Zelda is still in need of saving.

While we were stamping one of the stamps into our logbooks, Tyrus stated he had an awful song stuck in his head
Mother Hen: "What song?"
Tyrus: "Catch Fire to the Rain"
Mother Hen: "Every time we go letterboxing Mc Jagger plays on the radio and is gets stuck in my head!"
As Tyrus was returning the letterbox to its hiding location Mother Hen turned to me and said, "I hear it in my sleep!"
Thankfully, I didn't have any songs stuck in my head and both Tyrus and Mother Hen spent the next search for the next box singing different parts from the songs playing through their heads. Tyrus also only knew a few lines from Catch Fire to the Rain so that was interesting.

With or without the last two boxes, this series has earned my "Llama Herd" award! Congrats Ratliff Gang and psycho smiths!

The series was well done. Nicely carved stamps, good hiding spots, neat pouches, and well thought out and written story line.

After that adventure, and on the way back to the car, we stopped by Jenni's Icecream. We got my favorite, Dark Chocolate, and scarfed it down pretty quick! We should have gotten a triple scoop rather than double scoop. Now we know! Jenni's had some really good and unique flavors but it's a bit pricey. $4.50 for double and $5.50 for triple scoop. That's in a bowl. They do have free water though!

~Catchow

The Beginning of My Tail...

Yesterday (8/5/12), Tyrus and I went out and planted a ton of boxes. Well, 8 boxes. It was a lot of work.

Why is this titled "The Beginning of My Tail?" I decided to start wearing my tail whenever I go letterboxing. Weird, right? Well, that's me. A couple years back I got a coyote tail from the Ohio Renaissance for costumes and such. Yesterday I just decided to wear it while out boxing. So if you ever see a girl running around with a coyote tail, sunglasses, and a black Celtic cat bag that's me!

Our second series we have ever planted (Two Souls) had be be removed from it's first location. We relocated them to Alton Cemetery down the road from its original hiding area. It didn't take long to replant them and we were soon off to plant the rest.
We visited some other locations to plant our new boxes. We decided to plant in Oak Grove Cemetery. We looked around and saw many possibilities for hiding spots. After we planted the first box we started looking around and it seemed like there was nowhere to plant! Tree was too thick, tree was too thin, bush would die out and would expose the box during winter. It was quiet upsetting and frustrating. We did eventually find enough hiding spots for all 5 boxes. At one of the hiding spots we ran into a little toad who had made his home under some pine needles.

The new series we just planted is called "Pester Chums." These boxes are based off an online comic called Homestuck. There are 4 boxes based of the 4 main characters; John, Rose, Dave, and Jade. There's also a bonus box too, but you have to find the boxes to find the bonus box that is also based off of Homestuck.  Now Homestuck is not an average comic. It is an interactive comic with moving animation and music. The comic isn't for every one and is kind of hard to get into. It's not a comic I recommend to many people. It is also not a comic for kids. But for those out there who are a fan of Homestuck I created a set of boxes you will love. You don't need to read the comic to understand the boxes. The symbols are simply the images that the characters wear on their shirts.
This series was hard and easy when it came to carving them. One is carved from pink stuff, one from blue stuff, and the rest from gray stuff. Dave's stamp was the hardest to carve. If any of my stamps went missing, I hope it's not his stamp. The rest were much easier than Dave's but still not the easiest thing either.

I hope every one out there that go searching for my boxes enjoy them! Also, the bonus box can be logged on atlasquest if found!

~Catchow

LB How 2s: Letterboxing.org

       Welcome to letterboxing.org!

I like atlasquest but that’s just me. Both have their advantages.

This is what the site will look like:

You can click on the book, stamp, note book, globe and such in the image which will take you to different places on the site. click on the book it takes you here:

Click on the state of which you will be looking for clues. You DO NOT need to be a member on here to look for clues. After you pick your state you’ll have to pick one of the divided regions. It will give you the box name, who planted it, near by city, and county. Now you just have to sort though the boxes and find the ones near you and what you want to do.
Note: Unlike atlasquest it does not tell if you need a compass or how many finds it may have or the boxes’ status.

However, if you do not wish to sort through the boxes listed you”ll have to sign up. It’s easy. Email, trailname, password and done really. Now that you have signed up go to the letterboxes tab and click on “Search Clues.” Then at the top you can enter an address and it will pull up boxes near by that location.

A lot of times people will post their clues on atlasquest then the will post it on LbNA (Letterboxing North America aka letterboxing.org). They will often times just post the link to the clues on atlasquest and the link takes you there. When you click on the clues and none are listed and only the boxes’ name in blue where the clue should be, click on that because it is the link. People also do the same on atlasquest. They link LbNA to their clue.

That’s pretty much the basics for this site. Oh! It was also the first site for North America. Atlasquest came after letterboxing.org.

~Catchow

I Almost Cried....

“Sad to report……we could not find a trace of any of these boxes in any of the defined locations…..they were all completely missing :(“
When I got this message… I thought I was going to cry.
So far I have planted 13 traditional letterboxes. We planted the ♣ Patrick O’Darby’s Map ♣ series at Darby Creek park. This was a 5 box series and our first. We put a lot of work and thoughts into creating this series. You have to find 4 boxes, each of which were a corner to Patrick O’Darby’s map. When you put the 4 pieces together it created, well, a map. You had to actually follow the map in order to the last stamp of wist was O’Darby’s pot of gold. About a month later, after planting these boxes, I stumbled apon the park rules on geocashing. All geocashing rules apply to letterboxing as well. I learned we needed a permit to plant our boxes. Great. Before I learned this we had planted another series in the same park. I thought “Another boxers has boxes hidden there and haven’t been found by the rangers for over a year so our boxes will be fine.” So days went by and I was approached by a good friend that I shouldn’t place boxes in the mettro parks. I finally decided that we’ll go pull the boxes from the park. Between the plant and the pulling of the boxes, two letterboxers found our box. After a couple of weeks of hard thinking and procrastinating, I decided to retire ♣ Patrick O’Darby’s Map ♣ Only out there for a mont and it’s already retired! We were thinking about relocating the map parts and then getting a permit for the last one but we just didn’t do it. Now these stamps have been recycled and await a new home.
When we did go out and pull our boxes from the park all was well… until we came to the last box of our second series. With all the crazy storms that hit Ohio and surrounding areas, it had knocked over a ton of trees. The tree of which the last box was hidden got split and knocked over. We searched the entire tree and came to the conclusion that the rangers probably took the box. This series we can relocate but now we have to recarve the last box. Along with that box was also our K-9 Hitch Hiker that I carved. Two stamps gone in one box. Well, I’ve recareved the stamp (it’s not as good as the original) and this series awaits its relocation.
Then there’s the Franklin County Fair box which is only available during the fair.
So out of 13 boxes we have 5 retired, 3 unavailable, along with the limited time unavailable box. That leaves us with 4 active boxes.
One box is hidden at Packrat Comics and I know that’s not going anywhere so that leaves the three hidden at Greenlawn Cemetery. The Sailor and His Lover series are our most found boxes. When I got the message that they were gone I was on the verge of tears. That would have left us with only 1 active box. So a few days later we were off to Greenlawn to check up on the boxes.
As soon as we parked near the first box we notices two women walking around and they were putting back our second pot! “They’re letterboxers! They are finding OUR boxes!” I screamed. Tyrus opened his door and I nearly pushed him out of the car. We ran over to the two boxers with wide grins on our faces.
“Are you guys looking for these boxes too?” One of the ladies asked.
“No, we are actually the planters!” Tyrus replied.
“So Cat-chow? Is that how you say it?” The same women asked.
“Yep! Cat-chow. We came to check up on our boxes because someone said our boxes were gone.”
“Nope, They’re all here. We found the first two and are on to the third.” The other women said.
we were so relieved to know our boxes were still there. We traded personal travelers and had a quick chat before going our separate ways. We ran into letterboxers only one other time and that was also at Greenlawn. But these were the first two with personal travelers. The two we met were ohiosportsfans and kleppert. They were very nice people.
So after all of that We showed my grandpa P. our boxes and then went on the hunt for a couple of other boxes. We found two of them but the the third box was complicated and we left. My grandpa took us to Tommy’s Diner. They have great food and service and aren’t that far from Greenlawn.
Well after all of that, and while writing this, I realized that the message about my boxes missing was about the 3 boxes I have to relocate, not the boxes at Greenlawn Cemetery. Well… I guess the moral is to check which boxes the letterboxer is talking about before you freak out.
This was interesting.
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Letterboxing in Indiana

From the day I was born to about the age of 6 I grew up in Indiana. We moved to Ohio and left my dad’s side of the family back in Indiana but we’ll go visit them about once a year or more. Out of every time we went there never did I think “Maybe we should go letterboxing!” Well this pass weekend Wile in Indiana we went letterboxing! None of my Indiana family go letterboxing. For Christmas one year we got my aunt and all her kids personalized log books and stamp pads, even the first edition of the Letterboxing Companion. After all of that they never went. Very upsetting. This trip we did get my grandparents to go with us.
The closest box to my grandparents house was only two minuets away! So on the way to my Uncle’s house for pancakes, we stopped at the small church to make sure the box was there. we didn’t want my grandparents first time letterboxing to not have a letterbox there.
When we got back my parents, my grandparents, and I, all jumped into the car and headed out to the church. The clues led us to this row of pine trees, where we had to go to the southern most tree. The trees were right next to two sheds so there was a sorta isle way you could walk through. In this walk way there were dead leaves and sticks, as well as a ladder. My grandma and I started making our way through the walk way when my grandpa suggested that we walk around the sheds to the tree.
“We could, but this way is more adventurous.” was my grandma’s response. Well we found the box and stamped in and then headed to a park that was relatively close by. We were searching for two boxes hidden by different people. We found neither. I think is was an off day for us because every one seemed tense and frustrated. While looking for the second box we found that the box was hidden in a Frisbee golf field. The resent storms blew down these huge trees where we thing the box may have been hidden. While standing there frustrated by the fallen trees, the people playing in the near by field almost took my head off with their Frisbee. They thought it was funny and we left.
It was an interesting adventure letterboxing in Indiana…
~Catchow

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LB How 2s: Atlasquest.com

Beginning on atlasquest.com
You will see this screen. It is the home page for the site. *Note the background chances different days and you can choose your own theme to see.
You DO NOT need to sign up to veiw the boxes and it’s clues, but it’s nice to make an account to log your finds.

For your user name on the site you will use your trail name. Go ahead and fill out the info for your profile, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
If you put your mouse over the bar near the top at each word a bar will drop down with different things to pick from. There are three bars you will use the most.
The “Home” bar will take you to “What is Letterboxing?” “Code of Conduct” “Help” and “Glossary.” The glossary will come very helpful to figure out what things are.
The “Letterboxes” bar will help you find, record, and add letterboxes. This is VERY useful and not too hard to use.
The “My Page” bar lets you see your page, your online logbook (this records your finds and plants that you record on the site), your mail and such.
Now when you are searching for boxes you will see many symbols at the right of the box name under the collumn that says “Attributes.” Now these symbols tell you different things.
Means a compass is needed to find this box.
Park is dog friendly.
Bikes are allowed.
There is a code you need to decipher or there is a mental puzzle.
There is a fee of some sort to get to the box like a donation to a dog shelter, entrance to a fair or payed entry location.
The trail or path to the letterbox should be accessible by wheelchairs or strollers the entire way.
Box is located indoors.
Will drive by location of box.
Will be a mile walk or less to find the box(es).
Will be a mile or two walk to find the box(es).
Means the stamp is hand carved.
Means stamp is store bought.

These are just a handful of the different symbols and their meanings. But these are the basic ones you will see. If you put your mouse over the image on the site it will give you a couple worded description.
Hope this helps on your quest of using atlasquest!
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Worthington and the Park of Roses

Today Catchow, Mother Hen (my mother), I went to the Park of Roses and the Village Green of Worthington in Central Ohio.
Having left at around 1000 hours EST, it started out as a relatively cool day with some intermitant shade from the fluffy white clouds hovering gracefully above us. We did a series of seven letterboxes known as: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, at the Park of Roses that took us on quite the journey.
The first box that we had found was the body for Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. Being as it was located in a park that straddles a creek, I was eaten up by mosquitos for the first time in a month (as the whole of the USA is in a drought and there haven’t been many breeding opportunites for the buggers). I was slightly surprised and terribly irritated that I was being attacked (I absolutely loathe mosquitos). After we stamped the stamps and replaced the box, we began our search for the other boxes.
All the while we counted steps and took measurements I was practicing my Martial Arts. This may seem strange to people (I got this feeling from the looks I got from passers-by) but I really needed to practice. I had forgotten what a move in one of the forms was, but then I remember and I burst out, “That’s it!” This was unintentional, of course. Mother Hen and Catchow just looked at me awkwardly and continued walking. I’m happy there wasn’t a pack of strangers nearby.
Anyway, we had stopped at the pond at the Park of Roses for a moment to catch a breeze in the shade. At this point, the clouds were burned off and the sun was cooking us at a fine 94 degrees. At this pond were Mallord ducks. They were SO cute! I wish we had brought bread to feed them because they were just looking at us expectantly like, “Well… you got something for us, or what?” There were some teenage ducks that we weren’t entirely sure if they were male or female because none of the young ones had any defining colourings. Mother Hen took pictures and I tried to feed the ducks some greens that I had pulled up while Catchow watched me make a fool of myself.
When we moved on, we came to a place that was slightly wooded and was overgrown with poison ivy. Being the only one that is immune to poison ivy and oak, I was drafted into crawling through the brush. After finding the letterbox we sat down in some shade and began stamping. We soon found out that we had sat down in a fire ant hill. We quickly stamped and got out of there.
After finishing this series, we decided to search for a box that was also located in the park. But right off the bat we ran into some problems. The clues were poorly written as if they were written in a hurry. Soon, many more issues began to manifest themselves. Some landmarks were missing and some were changed by the violent storm that we had on the 26th of June. We had, however, reached the location of which the box was to be located. But to our disappointment, we could not find it.
We returned to our car and drove down to Worthington to search for another series. When we reached the Village Green, I noticed a tune in the air. A church that was close by was ringing its bells in a song. We unfortunatly caught the tail end of the song and were then graced by the gross sound of nearby traffic. We tried finding the first box but were disappointed with that one. But the second box was found and we had a mild celebration because this meant that not all of them were missing (plus this one had the logbook). At this point the sun was blocked out by some rather dark clouds and we were able to remove our sunglasses. The next box was another disappointing loss. We conjectured that the grounds keepers had probably found them. We did, however, find the last of the four boxes (albeit with some out of date clues). After stamping this one, we decided to give the first box a second try but came up empty handed. I had to pull Catchow out of the bush for this one. We had thought that we had found it but we had been sadly decieved by a pack of Christmas lights.
All in all I would have to say that today was a rather good day. We ended the day with a disappointing trip to a camera shop, an awesome lunch at Steak ‘n Shake, a disappointing trip to a thrift store, and an amazing drive through a wicked thunderstorm. I would like to thank Mother Hen for making this trip possible, as neither Catchow or I own a powered vehicle of our own.
Have an awesome day!
~Tyrus

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Packrat Comics

“Watch out comic book shops! I’m comin’ for you!” *As I shake my logbook at the building*
Ah, yes. This adventure has started at Packrat Comics in Hillard Ohio. Tyrus takes kungfu in Hillard and there is a comic shop only a yard or two away from his dojo! I was lucky enough one day, after the Franklin County Fair, to go with him to his class. Since I am not a student I got to sit with his mother for an hour (boring…). Well we got there early and had time to kill so we checked out Packrat Comics. What a neat place! I had never been there but Tyrus has many times. I shortly fell in love with this store when I saw all the Doctor Who merchandise. All bubbly and excited of this discovery, a thought popped into my head… “What if we made a letterbox for this place!?” Well that thought soon became reality. July 24th, 2012 we planted a letterbox at their store! They were very excited to receive the box!
Check out the clues here: http://www.atlasquest.com/boxes/clue/?gBoxId=202879
Now that we have done this box we are looking for more comic book shops to continue on this series!
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Letterboxing, Tacos, Batman, Oh My!

On July 22 Tyrus and I went down to Lancaster to see “The Dark Knight Rises” at the drive-in theater. That was a little over an hour away, so if we are going an hour away we might as well go letterboxing!
We hiked around Shallenberger Nature Preserve looking for some boxes. It was a LONG hike! It was a mile long hike but we had to go up a large hill! The stamps were cool but the log books were wet. The boxes were made from large spice containers. Even with duct tape covering the wholes, it is possible that’s how the water got in. Anyways, there were 7 boxes in the series but one was traped under a tree so it wasn’t available. We tried looking for the box but yes, it was definitely trapped. The 6th box was all the way up on the top of Allen’s Knob. That was a painful hike. Up this hill and down, but it was worth it. Mother Hen was really funny while we were letterboxing.
We then went to Forest Rose Cemetery and it was scary! Not because it was a cemetery or anything, but the entire place was nothing but hills. Driving up and around the hills the hills was terrifying. we found only 2 of the 5 boxes we were looking for. We spent too much time looking for these boxes because we kept going the wrong way or pass the place we should be going. When we found the hiding place of one of the boxes we found two toads rather then the box! The toads made up for the lost box.
After the (tiring) letterboxing, we went to this awesome restaurant called Fiesta Tropicana. They had amazing food! I always judge the Hispanic restaurant by their cheese. They had good cheese! I got Pollo a la Crema and it was awesome! If ever in Lancaster, Ohio I recommend this place!
Well after all the letterboxing and the tacos it was time to see Batman. Great movie! Not going to spoil anything!
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Letterboxing at the Franklin County Fair

Tyrus and I planted a box a our local fair in hopes to “save” it. We herd that the fair might not come back next year if there wasn’t a high attendance. So we made the box in hopes to draw in some letterboxers. Well about half a dozen boxers found our box! Our box was a limited time box, meaning the box is only out for a limited amount of time. It was at the fair ground from Saturday-Friday and no one went out to find it till Friday! Well I’m just happy people found it.
Any ways… The last letterboxer to find our box was my friend, who was also new to letterboxing! Tyrus and I helped Spirit Horse in finding our box! Since she was new we had to help her though the finding and the stamping. It was fun but while she was doing all the stamping I was sitting on a door mat in front of the church. Well… it rained earlier… and the mat was wet… Well my pants got all wet. It was awful! So we went over to one of the tents that had a huge fan that we stood in front of for about 30 minuets while my pants dried.
After that fun adventure the three of us decided to see if we could run into some letterboxers. Well no one came so we went over to the petting zoo. They had goats, fawns, lemurs, parrots and stuff. We fed the fawn, which was cool but we spend a lot of our time by the goats. There were a dozen or so of goats and sheep of different breeds. There was one goat (one of the biggest there too) was being a bully to the other goats! It would push over the other goats, trample over the other goats to get fed, ram its head into the side of the other goats, and step in the little goats! It was awful! The first time it trampled one of the small goats Spirit Horse reached out and taped it on the butt and said “Bad goat!” It was funny but the goat just wouldn’t stop! At one point the mean goat and one of the sheep rammed their heads into each other! After that they went their separate ways. Eventually the sheep came over to us and we discovered it was bleeding! We informed the owner and hopefully the sheep was taken care of. Also the sheep that was bleeding was being fed by this little girl. When she ran out of food the sheep snatched the cup and started eating it! We couldn’t stop laughing and the little girl kept on running around telling her parents what happened and which one ate her cup. Her parents walked over to the goat and were quietly giggling as their daughter was freaking out about the sheep eating the cup.
It was an interesting night and hope to go on some more crazy adventures with Tyrus and Spirit Horse!

~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

I was bored. What can I say?

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LB How 2s: Clues

After you have all your gear you will need some clues!
You can find clues on the following sites:

www.leterboxing.org
www.atlasquest.com
When you go to either site you may want to make an account. I like using atlasquest but I have an account on both sites. Having an account on either site allows you to record all the boxes you have found. It also lets you tell the owner how the box is doing and if the box needs any repairs. Finding clues on the sites aren’t that hard. Once you find your area and the list of boxes close by, look through the list and pick the box(es) you want to find. When you have the clue printed, simply go to the location and follow the clues!
On atlasquest.com the owner of the box(es) have the option of saying if the area is dog friendly, bike friendly, urban setting, in need of a compas, how long of a walk it is, and so on. On letterboxing.org there isn’t an option to do so, so the owner may only state whether or not you need a compass and nothing else.
Always look at the “last found” date and the status of the box. Boxes that are active or that have been recently placed have a higher chance of being found. Boxes that have been found only a couple of years of ago and the status is unknown, have a high chance of not being found. If you want to be the person who goes out and tries to find the “lost” boxes go right ahead! If you find he box, awesome! But keep in mind whenever you letterboxing there is always a chance that the box is gone no matter how new or often found. Animals can drag boxes away, storms can blow them away, park rangers could have found it and taken it, cleaning crews could have thrown it way, people could have snatched it, even jealous letterboxers could have stolen it!!
Speaking of boxes being stolen… Some boxes can come with restrictions. This means the owner will only let you see the clues if you have found an X amount of boxes or have an X amount of plants. This is a good reason you should log all you boxes. However, the restrictions only apply on atlasquest. It’s horrible, but there are letterboxers out there (or regular people) who just steal letterboxes. I don’t know why you would want to but people do.

~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/



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LB How 2s: What Do I Need to Go Letterboxing?

To go letterboxing you’ll need your gear.
You will need:
~A personal stamp
~A personal logbook
~An inkpad
~A compass
~A pen or pencil (or both)
And a bag to put it all in!
Your Personal Stamps
“Your personal stamp is what you use to ‘stamp in’ in the logbooks of letterboxes you find. It is a rubber stamp that is your signature in the letterboxing world. Creating a distinctive personal stamp that is ‘you’ in part of the art of letterboxing” (Letterboxing Companion by Randy Hall 6).
Now your stamp can be store bought or hand carved. It’s all right if you have a store bought stamp, no one’s going to judge. My first stamp was a store bought stamp. Now when you pick out your stamp make it personal. You want your trailname, or “username,” to coincide with your stamp. For example, my stamp is of a cat face and my “username” is Catchow. You don’t want to pick “Dog Lover” as your trailname and your stamp to be of a bird. What a lot of people do is stamp their stamp then write in their trailname under the stamp. Some people carve in their trail name with their stamp picture as well. I’ve also seen people who will prestamp their personal stamp and write their trail name onto a label sticker. Do whatever you’d like to do!
Your Personal Logbook
“Your Personal logbook is what you’ll use to collect he images of stamps from the letterboxes you find, and to write notes about your adventures. It is also where you’ll show off all your finds at gatherings” (Letterboxing Companion by Randy Hall 7).
Now when picking your logbook you can buy or make your log book. You will want to have blank pages to stamp on. You can used lined pages but it’s your choice on whether or not you want lines through your stamps. I was given a scrapbook for my birthday so that’s what I use for my logbook. Scrapbooks are good log books. If you buy a scrapbook that allows you to add on pages they will save you the cost of having to buy more books and you can just keep filling it up! Blank journals or sketch book also make good log books as well.
I’ve made logbooks before by taking note cards and wrapping the cover and back in duct tape. Then I whole punched the note cards can put a key chain ring in the wholes. There are lines on the back of the cards but you don’t have to stamp on the back.
There are many different ways to make logbooks and many different ones you can purchase. Just pick what you like and what feels comfortable to you.
The Inkpad
Some boxes might have stamps in it but you’ll always want to bring one. You definitely want to have a stamp pad for your personal stamp. Bring stamp markers or different color stamp pads. You can stick with one color 24/7 but it may it boring looking. Also some stamps are made to have tons of different colors so it’s handy to have different colors.
The Compass
Not all boxes require a compass but it is a good thing to always have one with you. Learn to use a compass. Trust me, you’ll need it!
The Pen and Pencil
Always have a pen or pencil with you. You’ll need it to write down the name of the box you found, the location and date. They are also handy when you need to write down notes while out hiking around.
A Bag
Completely optional, but I don’t know anyone who carries all their letterboxing supplies in their arms the entire time. I use a sling bag that holds all my stuff and within the bag I have a box that holds my stamps, stamp pads, pens, and such. Pick a bag that suits you and is comfortable to carry while letterboxing out in the wilderness.
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Who are You?

Well, I am Catchow. Well that’s my trail name. Well, actually Catchow is my trail name when I’m letterboxing with my family. When my boyfriend is along, our trail name is “Couple’s Creed.”
I started letterboxing in 2006. I was in the fifth grade when I started. My teacher at the time actually introduced me to letterboxing! She so happens to be Mamma Huntin Dog! For my birthday that year my Aunt got me a scrapbook just for letterboxing. For my party, my friends went with me to Michael’s Arts and Crafts store and they picked out little logbooks and stamps. I picked a cat face stamp because I liked cats and we had to get rid of our cats due to my baby brother being allergic to them. Where I came up with the trail name “Catchow,” I have no idea! But “Catchow” stuck and also became usernames for various games and emails and what not. Anyways… I was born in December, so this is when we went letterboxing. If you have lived in Ohio, or at least stayed in Ohio for a decent amount of time, you would know what the weather will be like. One day it is 100*F outside and the next day there will be a high of 80*F. Or One day the alarms are going off because of tornadoes and the next day it is snowing! This is crazy bipolar Ohio weather for you! Well that day it was cold enough for winter coats so we all piled in the car and went out searching for boxes! It was a blast! Sadly I was the only one who continued letterboxing after that day. Since then my family and I have been letterboxing on and off throughout the years. We would mainly just letterbox when we were out of state and on vacation. This summer has been a letterboxing frenzy! All though almost all the letterboxing I have done this summer has been with my boyfriend, I have done a lot with my family.
My family trail name is “Niles Miles” we often put “NilesMiles.com” as the trail name so we don’t have to write the trail name AND the blog site down twice. Our family stamp is of a train, hence “Miles.” Our last name is “Niles” so put the two together and you get “Niles Miles!” My dad likes going letterboxing with us but he doesn’t do too much all the time. He often time has his phone and/or ipad looking at the instruction (which my mom usually reads). He does go out trekking through the woods when none of can find the box or if it is up a hill or something like that to make sure we don’t get hurt. Other than that he doesn’t do too much. My mom is usually the clue reader (I have been doing the clue reading recently but it’s probably a good thing that she does it instead. I tend to mess up a lot!) and she helps (or usually ends up doing) with the stamping of the family log book. My brother Dylan (who is 2 years younger than I am) usually holds the letterboxing bag because my parents don’t want to, Gavin won’t, and I have my camera most of the time. He also complains a lot and goes and finds the boxes. Gavin (who is 9 years younger than I am) finds the boxes and “helps” mom stamp the log book. He often complains and is very impatient. Oh, and Gavin also doesn’t like getting dirty or digging through piles of leaves and sticks. He’s such an odd child!
There are many boxes we have found as a family that have been missing. It is a disappointment when we don’t find boxes but those adventures can be quiet crazy! During Christmas break in 2006 we went down to Florida to visit my grandparents. We went to Myacka State park in search or letterboxes! We went searching for an alligator letterbox. We walked about a mile or so in the Florida heat, along a wide, dirt trail, lined with large power lines. Once we made it to the trail we were looking for, we walked until almost sun down looking for this box! It was very scary because not too far into the trail we found alligator beds! It was going to be dark soon and the gators would come, so we had to high tail it out of there! Keep in mind, we hadn’t gone letterboxing too much at the time!
Over a year ago I became friends with a young man in my neighborhood. Over a month later we started dating and have been together ever since. Well I doubt you want to know the whole story on how we met and bla, bla, bla, and I bet you want to know why this is relevant to letterboxing. Well it is scary how much we are alike. One day, on the way to being dropped off at band practice, I asked him if he knew about letterboxing and what do you know! He had been letterboxing since 2006 as well! Well we decided to make our own stamp so when we go letterboxing we don’t take forever in stamping the log book. So Catchow and Tyrus became Couple’s Creed! We chose “Couple” meaning two, since there are two of us, and “Creed” from our love of the game Assassin’s Creed.
Since this year I am not doing marching band, I have had a pretty free summer. Well other than volunteering at the Columbus Zoo, working on 4-H projects, and doing AP home work I have had a free summer, but all that stuff doesn’t take up too much time. Anyways… This summer I got to plant my first boxes! As of this post I have planted 12 Traditionals, 2 Hitchhikers, and 1 Traveler. All my stamps are drawn and hand carved. I do all the carving, all the packaging, and all the clue writing. Aidan just hides the boxes and help with the ideas.
So yeah. That’s my story so far.
~Catchow

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

Who I Am

Howdy, folks! My name is Aidan Pencek and I am known as Tyrus in the letterboxing world! Catchow and I together, are known as Couple’s Creed!
I have been letterboxing since I was about 11 years old and really enjoy the adventure in walking through thick brush and thorns to add another stamp to my constantly growing collection. I chose my trailname by taking my middle name and changing it according to a different translation. My middle name is Thor and I changed it to the scandanavian translation as Tyrus. Catchow and I did not know that we letterboxed before we started going out and when we found out, we immediately started going on these great adventures together!
If you have any questions about who I am or what I am about, I will be happy to answer any questions. Here I will be blogging about my adventures letterboxing with Catchow as Couple’s Creed. I hope you enjoy!
~Tyrus

http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/

What is Letterboxing?

What is letterboxing? WHAT IS LETTERBOXING!? Well, let me tell you.
“The idea is pretty simple. Letterbox clues lead you to the secret location of a box that contains a stamp and logbook. You carry with you your personal stamp and personal logbook. When you figure out the clues and find the box, you stamp the box’s logbook with your personal stamp, and stamp your personal logbook with the box’s stamp”(The Letterboxer’s Companion by Randy Hall viii).
Letterboxing is verry much like Geocashing (“Clues are given as GPS coordinates, and geocachers use the ‘take an item, leave an item’ system when finding a cache” [atlasquest.com/about/glossary].). It is fun and almost like a treasure hunt.
One can obtain the clues on the following websites:
www.Letterboxing.org
www.atlasquest.com
You simply pick your location, get the clues to where boxes are and then you go find them!


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