By Bonnie Forester, Michigan

WE WERE BORED..

That’s how it all started. We needed a hobby that would satisfy our wander-lust, was family-friendly, and inexpensive.

Not long after, we were flipping through Time magazine, and found a short article about a relatively new hobby: Letterboxing.

What!!?? We only needed a few supplies and some gas money?? That sounds like us! We excitedly logged onto the website that was given in the article: www.letterboxing.org and tried to read everything we could find out about this hobby.

This is a relatively new hobby here in the States, with the first general letterboxes being placed in 1997. However, it beganin Dartmoor, England over 150 years ago.

So exactly what is letterboxing? It’s like combining a treasure hunt with a road rally. When you find your letterbox, it is almost always in some type of weather-proof container (Tupperware-type). Nestled inside this container is a logbook and a hand-carved stamp. The first step to letterboxing is finding the clues as to where these letterboxes are hidden. The most popular place to find clues is on the internet, of course, at www.letterboxing.org and www.atlasquest.com.

We went to the first mentioned website, and clicked on our state. How amazing to see there were so many in our area. All under our noses! We chose a box that was very near to our home. Click! There were the clues. We printed them off, and being as anxious as we were to get started, we went right out and bought a stamp, a journal, some ink, and a compass. The compass was for my husband to use. I prefer clues that say “Turn left at Wal-Mart”, but there aren’t very many of those around——just a head’s up.

Off the family went, a bit nervous and excited. Would we find the box? It turned out that this particular box took us to a beautiful place that we would have never seen without these clues. That is another wonderful thing about letterboxing. Most boxes are hidden in a place of significance of either history or scenic beauty, sometimes both, or perhaps just in a fun place. It’s like the person who placed the letterbox is sharing something that is meaningful to them.

Take the forked path to the left, proceed 23 paces, turn 30 degrees.., so the clues told us. Wahooo! There it was! It was hard to contain our enthusiasm when we found the box, since a good letterboxer must be discreet in retrieving and replacing a box. (Our family calls it “going into stealth mode”.)

We opened it to find a lovely stamp. Unwrapping the stamp, we inked it well, and placed its imprint in our personal journal. We then took our trail stamp, inked it, and placed its imprint in the logbook that was in the letterbox. Other fellow boxers had been there before us, and it was fun to see all the personal stamps and read their comments. It was love at first find.

We began this affair about three years ago, and now have found well over 100 boxes. Friends of ours were intrigued by letterboxing, and we were happy to introduce them to this “sport”. Now they have found many more boxes than we have found. Ah, the student becomes the teacher...

Our two boys enjoy the hunt with us, and we like spending time with them. Well, usually. There are days they should have just stayed home.

We went on a letterbox “binge”: a two-day adventure just scooping up any and all boxes we could find. One area had six (SIX!) boxes placed in it, and being as driven as I am, I insisted we were going to get those boxes. Never mind the road we were supposed to drive down was closed for the season. What should have been some very simple finds ended up being a six-mile roundtrip of walking. Had I known it would be six miles, I may have reconsidered.

Personally, I believe my journal will serve as a reminder of great adventures to my kids after I’m gone. This has just been a fantastic venture for our family.

With so little to invest, letterboxing is well worth the try. Who knew there was so much to see and learn with just a stamp and a book?

May your hunt be successful!

Read Bonnie's Letterboxing Clues here...

Any Letterboxing Pen Pals out there? Use the Contact Me (left navigation bar) if you do this hobby too! Wendy