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Letterboxing Northeast Local Letterboxes II
Generations Letterboxes
The world didn't come to an end on 9/9/99: we know because we were there. The sites for these two letterboxes were chosen for the longevity they display in contrast to current short-lived millennium madnesses. Difficulty: easy 4 miles, in 2-3 hours at Day Pond State Park. There are a couple of steep parts and a rather long uphill climb near the end. Well marked trails in the Connecticut Blue Trail system, where blazes are a light sea blue, exactly the color of the shutters on Long Island shore summer homes. Directions: from Connecticut Rt. 2 in Colchester, take exit 16 and go right on Rt. 149. Travel 2.7 miles uphill past strangely weathered old farm homes to turn right at a church at a Day Pond State Park sign. Turn again with the signs, but pass the main entrance to the pond and park at the end of the road near a picnic area. Hike north downhill through the picnic area to the dam at Day Pond. Turn left into the woods on the blue blazed trail and head downhill with the stream, watching for a left fork at double blazes. Zig zag left and right across a rocky road and follow the blazes through the woods and under power lines. Travel 1.5 miles up over a small hill, across the top, and then down the north side to head generally west on a sometimes wet carriage road. Coming to the site of an old farm with stone foundations and walls, you'll find a T-intersection. Turn left, south, wondering what 1970s drunkenness left that piece of litter. Turn right at the double blazes (straight up the hill will bring you home). When the trail jogs left, go right (northwest) and down hill on a well traveled but unmarked trail through a truly marvelous stand of hemlock to find a campsite by the stream. Enjoy! Then, from this camp, turn back, but take the left (north) fork. Stop just before passing through a stone wall and follow a faint trail to the right to find a true champion oak. Letterbox 9/9/99 lives in the north face of this wall in the shadow of the ancient oak. We predict the tree will outlive the box. From the oak, bushwack south, leaving another wall to your left to regain the camp trail. Turn left to the east and return to the white pines and our sea-blue trail. Head south to cross over a bridge and under power lines and begin a gradual climb of a mile through the Ewok Forest. Go straight at a small summit when a trail branches right and straight again a few steps later through a cross trail. Travel through the woods to a truly gigantic glacial erratic on your right. Give it a little push, and if it doesn't budge, lean into it with your back and push harder. Looking up into the sky, imagine this monster a mile overhead, higher than the small planes, surfing the crest of the glacial ice sheet. A most boxious location. With your back to the south, flat face of this boulder, sight 3 ground hugging outcrops along 200 degrees. The 5 Eds Letterbox is behind the third rock, named in memory of the Drew men carrying the name Edwin Porter, especially my father EPD IV and my son EPD V. Search carefully, however: I have evidence to show that there must be some knee high poison ivy along that 200 degree bearing....and traveling just a half mile further on your blue trail, cross a stone wall onto a dirt road and turn right to your car. May memories of our own personal forests and families bring us a timeless joy.
Gnomelett the Mini-Elf A classic Fairie tale in Hartman Park. Bring a painted stone or another gift to the fairies to leave in the circles, if you'd like. These boxes, with elegant fairies draped in the classic style, are for the adults in your family. For a children's series featuring Gnomelett, please check out MPf's Gnomelett's Series. From the parking area, please head briefly towards the sunrise on the footpath to an information kiosk. A booklet may sometimes be picked up there, if you're under 12 or over 65, which will lead you to the enchanting Fairie circles. At the kiosk, look to the right for a large tree. Just behind it you'll find Gnomelett's Cottage. With your back to the tree, walk uphill towards Long Island Sound with the stone wall on your right. Since others will follow and an unwanted trail could be made, pick a roundabout way to the top of the little hill. Look in the wall just beyond a many-trunked tree. Now on to the Fairie circles! If the booklets are all gone, simply follow the path down the slope and branch right onto the green trail. Cross a brook over a footbridge and when the green trail forks left after the small hill, continue a few paces straight to a T intersection. Turn left on the yellow trail and climb steadily uphill towards Polaris. Along the way, find a big, split rock on the left that is taller than most letterboxers and all Fairies. Gnomelett's second letterbox is here, around back. Now continue up the yellow trail . Travel to the top of the hill where a stone wall crosses your path. Turn to the sunrise and follow along with the wall at your left hand. You'll find a major wall junction near some beautiful beech trees, and in the butt end of the wall that points away is my third treasure. A few skips farther along the yellow trail brings an intersection. Turn to the sunset and follow the orange marks to the School Room. From this wonderful spot, turn again towards Polaris and follow the pink trail as it loops around the beaver pond. Branch left at the red trail and pass by some amazing rock formations. Soon the trail bends towards Long Island Sound and passes through a stone wall. Look to the junction at sunset and step over to the far side. Find me in the corner. Now to the sea! Branch right at the trail's end and cross straight over the wide trail onto the orange/green footpath. What do we have here? Another stone wall! The path crosses through and then follows alongside briefly. Where the trail veers left, turn off and cross through the wall to the other side. A few steps towards the sunset, complete my series by looking under the black stone. The parking lot is just a bit farther down the trail.
Narragansett Ledges Retired in the Summer of 2008 Green Falls Pond Revised 6/15/01 due to trail closures... This one is a treat! 3½ miles over a captivating section of the Narragansett Trail. Allow 1½ hours for hiking and 2 hours for lingering, for a series of 5 letterboxes. The first stretch involves a spectacular trail that is narrow along cliff edges, loosely rocky, and requires leaping over a stream. Directions: On scenic CT Rte. 49 in Voluntown, CT, midway between Routes 138 and 216 (just north of the striking and historic First Baptist Church at the intersection of Rte. 49 and Wyassup Lake Rd), turn east on Sand Hill Rd. Follow as it winds through a farm and turns to dirt (we've often walked the 0.3 mile-long dirt portion in winter)1.6 miles. You'll see the blue blazed Narragansett Trail enter from the right and will follow a few blazes to the bottom of the hill where the trail cuts left (north) back into the woods. Park just beyond, over the rise, in the excellent pull out. Cross the road and follow the blue blazed Narragansett Trail heading north along the Green Falls River. Follow the forest path to a giant cairn. The Giant Cairn Letterbox is wedged in the cliff at 300° behind it. Now continue up the trail , the beginning of one of the sweetest stretches in Connecticut. Cut through the ledges and cross to the eastern shore of the small river to follow the path up the cool, green ravine to the Green Falls Pond dam. This upland pond is a quiet, unspoiled gem. From the dam, continue briefly with the blue trail to turn right and step uphill. At a rooty trail section, double back south briefly on an unmarked trail above the pond until you are exactly lined up with the wooden footbridge over the dam. There is a rock on the left (east) with veins of quartz, and a little farther up the slope, on a bearing of 070 degrees, is the Green Falls Dam Letterbox, tucked into the southwest side of a balanced rock facing the bridge. Continue with the blue-blazed trail for a two mile, counterclockwise loop around the pond. The loop trail is inconsistently blazed in blue with an orange dot. You'll cross along another distinctive dam to a three-way intersection. Take the footpath at 300° and soon pass a fisherman's campfire site. A short way further, after a waist high boulder on the right, find another, smaller lookout. Check in a crack down on the south-southeast side a few steps off-trail, behind a heavyish rock, for the Fisherman's Point Letterbox. Rehide well! Fork left after the point onto a faint path to hug the shore, then left again when the blue trail rejoins. Swing a bit east past a couple of faint coves: the first cove ends in a nice mound of rock for a look out. At the second cove, cross a small stream and bend northwest, passing by some open rock, before coming to yet another lookout. This one is a jumble of rocks cascading down to the pond just opposite a small island. The first dam at the bottom of the pond bears 210° and you can see a swimming beach through the trees at 320°. There is a large, flaky-barked chestnut with roots entwined in rock a few steps in on your left. To the right and behind it, crawl a half-body length into laurel to find the Northern Pond Letterbox. This one too needs most careful rehiding from prying eyes. It has been hard for lots of people to find: if you pass a standing concrete pipe on the trail, you've gone to far and missed the spot for the cascading jumble. Continue up the trail, passing the concrete pipe on-end, to the dirt road. Turn left (west), and pass the campground before curving southwards past beach and boat launch. Follow the orange-dot trail along the road, passing a wood-gated parking area on the left as road sweeps right, and finally turn left, west again, onto trail. Walk steeply downhill to smooth swimming rocks and turn right at the water to come to the northern tip of a long pretty cove. Make a small stream crossing and scramble a few feet up a steep-to slab of upended stone over the cove. A larger, cascading stream crossing is just ahead. From the rooty path at the upended stone, bushwack about 12 steps northwest along the little ridge to a cleft on the right: the Last Green Falls Pond Letterbox is in rocks to the north-northwest. Now cross that second stream and walk down to the first dam: head south again, back through the gorge to your car. Hope you enjoyed the new letterboxes at Green Falls Pond!
Tribal Nation (Missing) Ledyard, Connecticut (Vandalized in July '00 and then expanded into a four-box series in November '00) A quietly pretty hike on the Narragansett Trail in Ledyard CT, leading to a small scenic dam. Cover 3.5 miles total, up and along Wintechog Hill, with an elevation of about 400 feet, on an out-and-back route. There are steep but short climbs at each end of the hike. This batch is just west of the (now defunct) Tribal Nation letterboxes. The stamps were handcut on-site from images pulled out of the air up there. Directions: On CT Rte. 2, just south of the Mashantucket Pequot's Foxwoods Casino, turn west on Wintechog Hill Rd. Travel 0.8 miles, passing the trail and parking area for Lantern Hill, to the town dump entrance on your right. Flip a u-turn and park in a little pull out spot on the right (south) side of the road. On foot, backtrack 100 feet to the blue blazed trail. Follow the trail on the south side of the road generally southeast. You'll dip and climb gently in hardwood and mountain laurel until you meet a stone wall on your left that abruptly ends. Slip around behind on the east side to find the Abrupt End letterbox hidden in a chink in the wall. The trail turns eastward along the hill. After about 1/4 mile, cross an open area like an old forest road (it's a natural gas pipeline, and is worth a short detour up the hill to the south for a peek if you'd like). After the open area, the trail passes through a north-south running wall. Turn north to a corner in the stone to find the Junkyard View letterbox in the wall under a quartz marker rock. Careful of the barbed wire! Continuing along Wintechog Hill, cross another wall with a similar corner to the left, and then pass through a lower, tumbled wall. The trail suddenly bends right and uphill on a small rocky scramble. Next climb gently to the south before turning west. At a wall, bend to the left again and come to a rocky, steep, short drop-off pointing to 150°, where you might even need to use your hands a little for balance. Before going down, look to the north behind a tree for the Sunny Outcrop letterbox. Now scramble down and continue eastwards on the trail, passing a classic (and beautiful) glacial kettlehole. In about 1/2 mile, the trail descends Wintechog Hill and exits into a pretty field crossed by a power line. In the stone wall just before leaving the woods into the field, take about seven steps to the left to find the Gallup Pond Letterbox low in the south face of the wall. Leaving the hill and the forest behind, emerge into an old field and follow the trail to Gallup Pond, right next to busy Rte. 2. Explore the small dam and spillway, and enjoy the views of the pond with its dark, tannin-rich waters. You could turn north on Rte 2 for two miles to your car, but with the congested casino traffic, we do not recommend it. Far better to enjoy the walk back on the trail, returning the way you came. Thanks for sharing this hike with us!
...updated Wednesday, July 16, 2008 |
