Letterboxing

[gotta run]

As some of you may know, we do both geocaching and letterboxing. Now, we really like both activities. But, letterboxers are a bit…how shall we say it…holier than thou. Go to the letterboxing forums and you’ll find lots of disparaging comments about geocachers who can’t find their way out of a woods without a GPS and how there are just too darn many geocachers. In contrast, letterboxers like to think of themselves as a small community of purists.

Well, check out http://www.atlasquest.com — at first I thought this was a joke yesterday, but it’s still there. And, look at http://www.mcletterboxing.com/ .

Boy, that’s all we need…a bunch of people who come into the game not because they learned about it on their own and thought it was interesting, but because it was promoted to them on a Happy Meal box. Let the muggles descend.

If this expands, we’ll definitely reconsider placing any more dual-published letterbox hybrids…

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Frizz]

I looked at the letterbox site you referenced, and searched for nearby letterboxes. It is interesting that I found a number of letterboxes placed on and around the UWGB Coffrin trails, the same area where “dangerous and destructive” geocaches were forced out by University officials. One of the letterboxes actually referenced a geocache that has since been archived.

[gotta run]

@Frizz wrote:

is interesting that I found a number of letterboxes placed on and around the UWGB Coffrin trails, the same area where “dangerous and destructive” geocaches were forced out by University officials. One of the letterboxes actually referenced a geocache that has since been archived.

Yup…one of the advantages of LB’ing being more under the radar than geocaching…until McDonald’s!

What makes the UWGB boxes even more interesting is that these LBs were originally placed in the late 1990s by UWGB students as part of a class project, if I recall. Perhaps boxes were not as dangerous and destructive in the past.

Then again…one is hidden right in the rocks of the “unique” escarpment near where one of the now-archived geocaches was. Two are smack dab in the middle of arboretum fauna, requiring you to cut a geo-trail (or is it a letterboxing trail) to them…

On the Left Side of the Road...

[CinemaBoxers]

The main issue IMO between Letterboxing and Geocaching – and yes, we do both… is that from my OWN experience – more Geocachers do things ‘by the book’ and ask for permission before planting. Caches must be APPROVED.

With letterboxing – you just list your box, and I KNOW many LB’rs just place them – some boxes even state ‘the property owners don’t know the box is here’ or ‘be discreet when finding’.

If the complaint is Geocachers bushwhacking, which it often is – we are no more guilty. I hear the same complaints from the LB’rs, and IMO its kind of a silly blame-game. At least many MANY cachers get permission, fill out the paperwork, and are responsible for their hides.

~P

[Team Deejay]

I just wish these guys would not place their letterboxes right on top of geocaches. There is a cache out near Johnson Creek (Two Ponds) which has a letterbox so close that they are literally touching. I did check and the geocache was there first, and is a 4″ x 12″ PVC pipe container. There is no way the LBer didn’t see it. When I looked at the LB, there were no stamps, but a couple geocachers signed it instead of the real cache.

Oh, and they are probably right that some of us couldn’t find our way out of the woods without a GPS. 😀

[zuma]

@Team Deejay wrote:

I just wish these guys would not place their letterboxes right on top of geocaches. There is a cache out near Johnson Creek (Two Ponds) which has a letterbox so close that they are literally touching. I did check and the geocache was there first, and is a 4″ x 12″ PVC pipe container. There is no way the LBer didn’t see it. When I looked at the LB, there were no stamps, but a couple geocachers signed it instead of the real cache.

Oh, and they are probably right that some of us couldn’t find our way out of the woods without a GPS. 😀

I agree. I have found 4 letterboxes, that I recall right off the top of my head, that were within a few feet of a cache. All of them had been signed by geocachers who had thought they had found the cache. One of them was even put out by the same folks, under a bridge, on opposite sides (not even opposite ends).

z

[gotta run]

@Team Deejay wrote:

When I looked at the LB, there were no stamps, but a couple geocachers signed it instead of the real cache.

If there were no stamps, it is not a proper letterbox. Then again, a cacher may have taken the stamp assuming it was swag.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[labrat_wr]

Hey, folks, settle down. This was just an April Fools joke. There is no deal with McDonalds. There never has been one. Seems a little far-fetched, don’t you think? — Ryan

McDonalds Announcement
Okay, some people aren’t going to like this, but I have bills to pay too! I’ve inked out a deal with McDonalds where they’ll promote letterboxing (and Atlas Quest!) in their stores and pay me a LOT of money for three months. My part…. well, I created a theme for them, officially approved by the North American President of Marketing, Steve Greenley. I’d be a fool not to take (six digits) for a McDonald’s inspired theme.

Not to take away from the real concerns here but this is from the altasquest.com site regarding the McDonalds thing – It was an April Fool’s Day joke.

Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.

[gotta run]

@labrat_wr wrote:

Not to take away from the real concerns here but this is from the altasquest.com site regarding the McDonalds thing – It was an April Fool’s Day joke.

Ok, this is what I naturally assumed…YESTERDAY…when it was actually April 1…because it was so obviously far fetched.

It was still up today when I made the initial post…which makes it a bad joke.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[benny7210]

For all of you who have not tried letterboxing, give it a try. It is as fun and rewarding to me as caching. Some one said me “You know they don’t count as a find on GC.com” and my reply was “Who cares I’m still in the outdoors having fun. And thats what its is ALL ABOUT.

[Team Deejay]

@gotta run wrote:

@Team Deejay wrote:

When I looked at the LB, there were no stamps, but a couple geocachers signed it instead of the real cache.

If there were no stamps, it is not a proper letterbox. Then again, a cacher may have taken the stamp assuming it was swag.

Unclear communications on my part. No stampings in the book. There was a stamp in the container.

[Author]

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