I’m working on a new one right now, and it’s a challenge one, so I asked the reviewers to be sure it would be okay, as my “steps” for finding it are more figurative. All it needs is a stamp. Period.

That said….you can put coordinates for a starting point, then give your orienteering directions to reach the final. You can craft a story, or just list it with the coordinates to the final. I just put one log book in the cache, figuring that geocachers will enjoy seeing the letterbox stamps, too. I’m getting smarter and making my own logbook with my scrapbooking supplies, so that ink doesn’t bleed through to the other side of a page so easily. You don’t have to list it on the letterboxing site. The one I’m getting ready will be the only one I don’t list on the letterboxing site, the reasons being obvious once it’s published.

I’m thrilled to see you’re considering some letterbox placements. We really enjoy your caches anyway, so this would just be an extra little bit of fun! You can read the suggestions for letterbox placements on letterboxing.org, even if you don’t plan to list it there.

Gary,

If it has a stamp and coordinates, it qualifies as a letterbox hybrid. GPSr use plus a stamp for letterboxers is the basic requirement. Most of ours have the option of looking at the letterboxing site to get the orienteering clues. It’s not a requirement. In fact, they don’t have to be listed at letterboxing.org at all.

So if you have a stamp ready, just go find a new place and put it out. You don’t have to bother with the stamp pad. They don’t hold up to our weather, anyway. Letterboxers just bring their own pads or markers in order to do the stamping. Our new one should be in the field later this morning (if I ever walk away from the computer!) and hopefully will show up in the next day or so on gc.com.

The thread above seems to be spot on. A quick summary is that:

1. You have to somehow have the GPSr be “integral” to the hunt, and that’s supposed to be more than just “here’s where you park,” although I’ve seen it done that way.

2. Clues are not needed. Most of our hybrids work like a regular cache, just go to the coordinates.

3. A stamp is needed in addition to regular cache stuff. I have seen some caches include separate logs for cachers and boxers, but it seems like overkill to me.

4. No dual-listing is required.

We enjoy letterboxes but truthfully have been a bit dissapointed in the response to them on both sides of the aisle. It seems (?) geocachers avoid them becuase they are “something different.” We had a new LB sit for over a week w/o a FTF while other nearby caches were found.

On the letterboxing side, there is a GREAT deal of snobbery about geocachers. I can say that here without being flamed mercilessly (I think!!!). But boxers seem to think geocachers can’t find their way out of a woods without a little arrow and have a monopoly on bad eco-behavior in the woods. This seems to carry over into a general disdain for hunting hybrids.

So, to date, we have three hybrids out there that have NEVER been found by letterboxers, despite some of them being out for over half a year. Other “letterboxing.org”-only sites have been found often.

That’s just an aside, but something to consider as you consider placement and/or dual publication.

Not to completely hijack the thread, but I raised the question of “why don’t boxers find our hybrids” on the atlasquest.com forums, to which the respondents generally sniffed, “perhaps it’s because your clues are bad.”

To which I replied, well, we have hybrids such as this one– GC1FPWT –that use the same clues for both games, but only geocachers have found it. So maybe geocachers are just better at orienteering…

Our first stamps were basically made with a pink eraser and an exacto knife and were…well, not that complicated, but no one really seems to mind.

Now we work with the regular sheets of stamping media and a carving kit. You can obviously get more complicated. But both the blocks and kits are available at most hobby-type stores. Michaels carries them if there is a store near you.

For our clue letterboxes, we usually give the letterboxing.org link in the page so that cachers can use either. Like the “salmon run” series.

Some of the other letterboxes are more like puzzles, (“Time Travels,” “WSQ The Rose”), so the clues are same for both sites!

Ralph, We had fun with those, too. Of course, that’s how the letterbox purists do all of them. It is a useful exercise to depend on your sense of direction sometimes instead of relying on the electronics and satellites.

As an aside, except for a group who found it during an event, one of our hybrids has been found ONLY by letterboxers. Many of them have never logged their find on the letterboxing site, either, but when I went to check on it a couple weeks ago, there were many stamps in the logbook. It’s a Lonely Cache at the moment, but not a lonely letterbox.