Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Mid Missouri Letterboxers

I will be teaching a map and compass course at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park on Oct. 7 from 1-4 p.m. The course title is "Lost in the Woods."

During the course, I will provide instruction on how to read a map, how to use a compass, and tips for bushwacking off-trail with map and compass. Then the group will go on a (somewhat) guided 2-mile hike mostly OFF-TRAIL. Along the way we will search for items including several hand-carved STAMPS and inkpads I will have hidden along the way.

Due to the fact that previous advertising about letterboxing has resulted in negative responses (i.e. boxes going missing), I am NOT advertising this event as letterboxing and ask that any of you who sign up do not mention or discuss the concept of letterboxing as well (or keep it to a low key discussion if someone from the general public inquires about it).

The course is free but registration is required. Call 573-449-7402 to register. If you wish to participate I recommend you collect the stamps the same way everyone else does and then paste them into your own logbook later to avoid discussion of letterboxing.

Fox-fyr

5 comments:

Fox-fyr said...

I forgot to mention:
Compasses will be provided if needed. If you have any other questions, the best thing to do will be to call the park at 449-7402 as i will be unavailable to get to a computer in the next few days (have lots of prep work still to do)--Fox-fyr

mamakopp said...

Isn't there a good chance that boxes go missing from animals dragging them through the woods? I fail to see new found interest in letterboxing to be a connection to missing boxes.

ahistory said...

I don't think people intentionally seek out boxes generally, but increasing knowledge of the activity increases the chances of someone being seen LBing by a miscreant youth.

More novice users also increases the chances that a box may be rehid improperly and dragged off by an animal.

I hope to sign up, if anyone else goes, bring your logbook and perhaps we can do an exchange before or after. Is there a secret password or greeting the Lbers use to identify others on their secret activity? If not, there should be.

Jenny said...

Nice article on Foxfyr's class on the front page of today's Columbia Tribune. Good to see people getting out in the woods and learning to really see the things around them.

Fox-fyr said...

Because of the front page article on the Tribune, the class is currently full (although I may get a cancellation or two). It filled up Monday morning.

As far as boxes going missing, I can understand boxes being dragged off by animals, but the fact that I tend to find some containers chewed on but still closed and the contents missing, suggest that at least some boxes go missing due to human vandalism. Touchtrek found one such box this weekend.

It is not necessarily new letterboxes that can be guilty of improper re-hideation or of indiscreet letterboxing. Any one of us can caught unawares in a suspicious location by a passerby when we thought we were relatively alone. Sheer mathematics says that the more people who are out letterboxing, the greater the chance that a non-letterboxer will spot them.