The wonderful thing about boxing, is boxing's a wonderful thing!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Turkey Day Weekend In Connecticut

This past Friday, Cheryl and I went down to Oxford, CT, to spend the weekend with family, and to get some boxes (of course).  We left Friday morning, and got into town around noonish.  As is our normal custom, C drove, and I spent the trip reading over clues and looking at the maps, trying to figure out the best plan of attack.  Not that my plans always work, especially since I have such high hopes for the amount of boxes we're going to find.

First, we stopped in Beacon Falls and found the Putting it all together series by Boxing Bee Bunch.  It was a decent yet slightly muddy hike, but we loved the way that as you went along, you stamped the next stamp on top of the previous one, to make a completed picture.  Plus, all the inks were there, which made it easier on us.  Kudos to the BBB's!!  Then, we left there and went and found Cemetery denizen's Oxford by Shedding Leaves, which my favorite thing about this box was the clues - they weren't too obvious but well written, and because of them we got to explore this cemetery in a cool way.  And the hiding spot was great - the way the rock fit over the spot to conceal the box - it almost looked like it shouldn't stay put or fit, but it was well placed. From there, we met my mom at her work, then headed home to catch up with her and relatives.

Next day, we headed over to Southford Falls State Park in Oxford.  Now at this point, I do hafta say in full disclosure, it seems like boxing is a little different in CT than what we are used to.  To me, understanding what they are saying in the clues was taking some getting used to.  The first box we were looking for, we couldn't find - we looked all over, but no dice.  We found the second one there on our list, but it took us a little bit to get oriented.  I'm not a morning person, so I was getting a touch frazzled at that point, so I didn't try for the third.  And please note - this is in no way implying anything derogatory about that neck of the woods!!!  We just need to spend more time boxing in that part of Connecticut to pick up their ways and manner of speaking, so that we might be able to box along with the natives!  And speaking of the natives, a family was kind enough to take a picture of us at the falls...


From here, drove around a little bit, and then headed over to Shelton.  OMG, the amount of boxes in Shelton are staggering - I printed 47 pages for this town alone!!!  We figured since our time was limited and we weren't all that familiar with the area, we'd find a series and go for a good long hike.  We settled on Shelton in the news, and on the way over there, I realized we could ride the Housatonic River at the same time.  Woo Hoo!!!

Little did we know, Trailhead Tessie was not gonna let these boxes go easy.  No way!  We were gonna have to work for these boxes!  Up hill, over downed trees, crossing streams the hard way, more up hill, rampaging ocelots.  (Ok, I made that last one up.)  This was some serious hiking.  But, there were also some beautiful views...



We could tell TT had been here recently blazing trails like she said she was - that much was evident, and we were very grateful for it...



However, when TT tells you "it gets easier after this",  don't believe her.  We were hiking along, going uphill, climbing over boulder fields and landslides, slipping and sliding, balancing along edges, over more rock fields and boulders, through a section where you almost needed to be a billy goat, when she said in the clues that "After crossing the pipeline and a big boulder field (trying to cross over the tops of the the crazy stacked up boulders reminded me a little of the mass of piled-up cars), the trail gets much easier".  "WHEW!", we thought!  Thank goodness!  We made it to the next box, stamped in, then read the next part of the clues:

"Turn around and head back up the blue trail northbound the way you came until just before you reach the Blue/Yellow trail and stream."

WHAT!?!?  Unless you've done this trail, all I can say is "WTF do you mean, it gets easier after this - I have to go back WHERE?!?"

Long story short, we did make it back, we did enjoy the hike, although it was way more than we expected, and we did get almost all of the series.  We missed one box, but realized at the end that it wasn't there to begin with.  Those crazy Conn artists...

And TT, just for the record, I did get up close and personal with the famous Butt Wart...


PS.  If that was the wart, maybe these are the hemorrhoids...

6 comments:

  1. Yeah, just when I thought "okay this will get easier, the worst is behind us" guess what.....we had to do it all again !!!! Oh well, I needed a good hike since it had been awhile and this definately was a hike! Got a huge bruise on my leg from a stupid tree we had to climb over but what a beautiful weekend!

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  2. BTW, in that first picture, if you look to the right of us, that hollow stump is HUGE!!! All I kept thing was, "Man, the box I could hide in that thing!!!"

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  3. wow, that sounds like a weekend trip for Bubaloo and tigger too!! (and spouses). Shelton, CT here we come!!

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  4. With all the boxes over there, we may have to make it a full week! Plus there are all the surrounding towns...let's just move there! However we can work it, I know we'd be up for it! We want to head up your way sometime too - VTSG planted a series today that now I just HAVE to get!

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  5. If you want a much easier hike with a lot of boxes, do the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path series. Four very easy miles (one way), and you can pick up about 35 boxes. And there are restaurants at the end.

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  6. Are you pickin' on us? Ok, ok, I was pickin' on you a little bit too, but I don't mind the not-easy hikes at all. Really!

    Geez. "Restaurants at the end..." ;)

    I do like alot of boxes though! Thanks for the tip, TT!

    (Please tell me you're smiling...)

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