Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Boxing With KATY

OK, I'll admit it. Letterboxing is not my only addiction. Way before letterboxing came on the scene, bicycling was my favorite outdoor activity, and when the KATY Trail opened, I began pedaling there frequently. Since becoming a letterboxer, I've often thought about how much fun it would be to pair up LBs and bikes. Finally last Friday, these two addictions came together. I loaded my bike onto the car, selected a few LB essentials, including the clue for Surlymama's Pride LB, and headed out for the KATY Trail.
Without giving anything away, I'll just tell you that finding this box by bike is great. If your bike has off-road tires, you can continue pedaling along after you leave the KATY. You need a little muscle and a few gears - and you can just dismount to walk now and then, as I did. However, once you've found the Pride box and logged in, you can hop back in the saddle and coast back to the KATY. After finding this LB, I continued my ride, musing about LBs and bicycles. I thought it might be interesting, as well as helpful to nonlocal LB/bicycling enthusiasts, to compile a list of our local bike-friendly letterboxes.
Here's what I came up with. Without revealing any details and in no particular order, here are local letterboxes that are accessible from the KATY Trail, the MKT Fitness Trail and the Columbia Spur. Let me know if I've missed any.

PRIDE
DOG WALK
NARF
GREAT SPIRIT
FALLEN LEAF
ORACLE
PROMENADE
FIVE STAR DRINKS/BIG MUDDY

One last thing - if, like me, you're thinking of hiding bike-accessible LBs, please be aware of where the trail/park property ends, so that you don't hide boxes on private property.

6 comments:

ahistory said...

Jenny great minds must think alike because I was out on the Katy on Sunday doing the exact same thing, biking and LBing. My main goal is to train for an upcoming one-day 120 mile blitz of the Katy trail from Clinton to Rocheport which I am planning with a friend in October. But my secondary goal was to go after Big Muddy, but let me tell you that is quite a timing challenge on a nice Sunday. Too many people sitting where I thought I should start looking. Perhaps on a less busy weekday I will be able to pull it off.
I did manage to bike/hike to your great spirit box and the bonus. Was a a real fun day.

I will accept you challenge and see if I can't put a few LBs along the trail for bikers. I like the idea because using a bike you can place them much further out than if you had to hike the entire way.

Like you say it is very important to pay attention to the private property lines along the Katy. From my past climbing experience, the easements along the Katy trail are very confusing and vary greatly from one parcel to the next, so anyone planning on planting any boxes keep a careful eye out for the "end of area" signs.

in the meantime if anyone wants to ride and LB on the Katy just give me a shout hudsonst@health.missouri.edu
I am always looking for an excuse to ride and/or LB.

Fox-fyr said...

In general, the Katy Trail right-of-way is 50 feet on either side of the center line which means most of the bluffs are on private property.

Lnd-Crzr said...

Here is one you missed JennyJ. I helped plant this one for Sprite and the Highlander.

'Lessons from the Jukebox #18'.

Great idea. A group trail ride with LB in mind might be fun. I've got a burley we could haul the grub in.

Lnd-Crzr said...

Could whip this into a gathering if enough interest was there. We could 'circle the wagons' to hide our stamping in!

mamakopp said...

The pride box and cycling were my full intention. I too love treking the miles on my Surly. Which is a cyclo-cross bike. Hince the name I chose for myself "surlymama". I am totally up for a group ride! I would love to create a box before the ride too.
ahistory you are so ambitious! The most I have ridin in a single day is 70 miles and that took 6 hours and all my energy. Lots of luck to you. I hear that ride is nice and quiet.
surlymama

ahistory said...

You can add one more as of 9-16. Wild Mushroom Series #4: Hen-of-the-Woods is in an area off the Katy. Though to reach it you will have to park your bike somewhere so bring a lock if riding to this one.