Long Beautiful Weekend Boxing, Parte Dos

Sorry this has taken a bit to get here, and I know tigs has something in the works, but here's the second part of our long weekend boxing adventure in December that we sure didn't think we'd be doing!  We headed to Andover on Monday, December 5th, the "Land of Lotsa Letterboxes".  We had only been there once before, searching for the Holy Grail.  We headed to Harold Parker State Forest, parked by gate 6, and started our adventure there.  Even with most of the leaves gone, we still found some beautiful views.

We set off to find Grateful Letterbox - Tune In! The First Set, and soon were well on our way.  After we found our first two boxes, we came across an ancient artifact used by natives millions of years ago - we're still not sure what it was, and it had me puzzled, but it was most assuredly a tool of some kind.  (Stop laughing at me Mighty M!)

We continued on and found boxes 3, 4, and 5, but then came to an unusual sight - there was a bridge in front of us to cross over, to get onto the island.  However, AFTER the bridge the pathway was flooded.  Normally a bridge is put in place to avoid a situation such as this, yet here it was.  I have noticed since that A, M, and SN had trouble in the same place and walked all the way around - that's alota hiking guys!  We braved the great divide, and luck was on our side that day, because we made it across without getting wet.  Perhaps there was more water after went, but even that day it was very tricky crossing.

Crossing the Not-bridge

After the crossing, looking back

We continued on and found the rest of the boxes in this set without any incident, although we almost missed one box if it hadn't been for small yet memorable landmark that caught my eye.  I won't tell you what it was, and I don't think this will give anything away, but here's C coming back down from where this cleverly hidden box was located.

We completed this wonderful set, which brought us back close to where we needed to start for Grateful Letterbox - Tune In! The Second Set, so we did!  We plodded along, got all the great stamps along the way, and saw some more beautiful sights.

Of course, occassionally something will have me puzzled, and I'll have to stop and try to figure it out - things like a landmark, or a direction to take, or how to work my zipper so that I can help irrigate the forest...

Duhhhh, which way did he go, George???

So, we finished this set - notice its December, by the way, and I'm in short sleeves.  In New England.  Yup, it was that warm, and that is just that unusual.  At this point, my hat is off to the Merry Pranksters and everyone that contributed to this series.  Great hike, great plants, great clues, great stamps, great weather and great views - what a way to spend a day, and if it ended here, it would've been a fantastical day.

But it didn't!  We headed back to the car and grabbed our lunch, which consisted of sandwiches and some Gardetto's snack mix, and ate it as we headed back in time to find 1692.  I really liked this set of stamps, due to all the words, so that really made this set a great find for me.  Although, I'll have to pick on you sometime, GBS, for your rock-size judgement.  ;)  We finished this set up just as it was getting dark, and fortunately when this set ended we weren't far from the car.  We got into the car, stretched out our feet, and thus ended a great day.

OR SO YOU WOULD THINK!!

"But, it's dark - how can you possibly keep going?"

Well, thanks to one Mr. Choi, we were able to drive not too far, and go find one of the only permanent night boxing plants that we know of!  WOO HOO!!  The Chinese Animal Symbols set was really fun, and while we have done a few nightboxing sets, this was our first set using reflective tacks, and it made finding the boxes a little different than finding traditional day boxes.  You don't need to read clues as you go along, which would be more difficult to do at night, but you do have to pay attention to where you are going and look harder using your flashlight to make sure that you don't miss a mark or a turn in the path.  And watch where you're walking too!  If you get the chance to box this set, do it, if for nothing else, for the experience of boxing in the woods - at night!!  It was a blast, and the cherry on top of our boxing sundae for the day!

So thank you, to everyone who helped to make this such a great day for us!!!  Oh, and one more thing, although I'm going to have to post the pic tomorrow since its on my phone and I can't get it off the card and on to this comp tonight - but, in the 1692 series, we were able to stamp right along side of someone special in each of the logbooks, since this person was the last one to log in - this was really cool, and might even become our mascot pic!  ;)

Ok, here's the pic, as promised!!!