PAL Day 2017

Wednesday was the 12th Annual International Plant A Letterbox Day.  I went out on Saturday and planted a series of 3 boxes at the Eagle's Bluff Overlook and Park in Cannelton, Ind.

There is an old letterbox there.  It was planted in 2007 and I have looked for it at least 3 times before and never found it.  Other people found it but I could not.  I decided that before I planted my boxes I would look for this old one again.

Like the times before, I walk the trail that the clue says to walk.  Just like all the times before I count out 100 steps and I end up at a tall rotten stump on the right.  The clue is vague but says to look in the tree on the right.  I search the stump again and don't find anything.  We go back to a tree with a hole (80 steps?) and find a geocache like the last time we looked.

All the other times we looked we went ahead just a bit looking around a few other trees but turned around a went back.  This time we decided to continue on.  After a while we come to a tree on the left with a big hole.  The kids say I should check it out and there was the box.  We started looking for the box in 2011 and after 4 tries finally found it.

When we were done stamping we counted from the tree to the end of the path and it was about 100 steps.  So it appears that every time we looked for this box we were walking the path in the wrong direction.  You don't start at the trail head with the signs, you go up a grass hill to end of the trail that you can't even see from the paved path.  

We checked out the overlook when we were done with the old box and then headed off to a different trail to plant our new series.  The park is about an hour from where we live and I bet it will take a while for anyone to find our boxes.  But it was a nice day, we finally found the old box, and we had fun exploring the park.

399 :'(

Looking down at Cannelton, In

I have been trying to log my 400th traditional find by the end of 2013.  A few weeks ago I went out looking for boxes that I had already attempted and found a few.  I needed 11 more to get 400.  So the weather today was supposed to be nice and I set off to find some letterboxes.

I printed off 15 clues and headed off to Perry County.  The first box was listed at Cannelton, In but it was actually in Kentucky looking down on Canntelton.  I am glad that I got this box in the winter when there were no leaves on the trees.  The view of the river was beautiful.  You could see barges, bridges, and a lock & dam. The stamp was an image of a steam boat.

High Cross near Celtic Cross

The second box of the day I had stopped and looked for three times before.  But someone said they found it so I was going to look again.  But the gates were locked.  There was a sign with the "Winter Hours" but it was closed.

From there I went to check on a box I had found before.  At our event in October some ladies said that they couldn't find it.  I stopped to check and it was alive and well.  It was at the Celtic Cross.  Here is a pic of the new cross in the area.

Now I  was off to Derby.  This is an area that I have never been to.  My noxer husband is a state highway engineer and he acted like he knew the area well.  I wish he would have been there.  I think I got almost to Derby and had to turn around due to high water.

High water :(

This wasn't a huge deal I just ended up finding my boxes in a different order.  I went to 2 small cemeteries.  One of the boxes had to do with a trapeze artist who was murdered in the area.  The second was tricky to find because they tell you to look for names on stones that can only be seen from the back sides.  Found a geocache and then found the letterbox.

Nice lake I found while looking for a box

Next was a box at a park in the Hoosier National Forest.  The gate was closed and I ended up walking quite away.  But the stamp was nice and like I said the weather was good too :)

From there I went looking for another box that I looked for once before.  It was at a covered bridge in Spencer County.  You were supposed to look thru a pile of rock to find the box.  All the rocks look the same to me but I finally did find it.  The stamp was a great carving of the bridge but the box was in bad shape from being smashed by the rock.  And the log was wet.

Back at Huffington Mill 

From here I went up to the Spencer County Memorial Forest.  I had a found a box here before but another one had been recently planted there.  There were some guys using the shooting range but they didn't seem to pay much attention to me.  So I did my thing and headed back to Warrick County.

Back in Newburgh I found two dumpster boxes that were close together.  One was at the humane society and the other at a park.  It was starting to get dark so I was moving fast to try to reach my goal of 400.  I tried another box in Newburgh (that I thought had a bonus) but I couldn't find it.

I cross the county line back in to Vanderburgh were I belong and grab a box planted near the YMCA and rush to a steak house for a quick drive by.  The steak house had recently closed and I couldn't find the box.  I was at 398 with one clue left.  I knew that I would not reach my goal of 400.  I almost went strait home.

My last box of the day as at a local university.  It was an easy box to find but I went home disappointed.   I printed off 15 clues, looked for 13 (counting the locked fence), and found 10.  I came up with 399, just one short of 400.

Sandstones of Time Event

We had a great time letterboxing at the Sandstones of Time event yesterday in Cannelton, In.  The weather was nice and the changing leaves were beautiful.  Cannelton was celebrating their 175 Anniversary and had a festival on one of its main streets downtown.  There was food, crafts, activities for the kids, bands, etc.  When we were done finding the event boxes we looked for other boxes close by.

This is the Indiana Cotton Mill.  It is the first stop on the LB tour.  It was built in 1849 and was in use until 1954.

Lil Ewok, Daddy's Favorite Princess, and Lego Clone Trooper panning for gold.

This is the old courthouse now a museum.  In the background you can see St Michael's Church.  Both of these locations were on the LB tour of historic Cannelton.

Found a camouflage frog while boxing. 

Celtic Cross in Cannelton.  This is one of the boxes that we got after the  LB event.  Beautiful location and cross.  They are carving another cross just up the road.