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Letterboxing Northeast Local Letterboxes IV
Two Boxes plus One! (Not missing after all...here's a note from our wonderful letterboxing friend, Butterfly: "The Story: As October 2002 approached, I realized that I had been letter boxing for one year. An eventful year and one filled with many enjoyable hunts into places I would never dreamed existed had I not been introduced to letterboxing. Looking at my log books and the 500 plus stamps impressed forever on the pages, I thought of putting an anniversary box at Milo Light, my very first find. How sad to learn the box was reported missing. I wrote to the Drew Clan expressing my sorrow for the missing Milo Light box, and telling what I wished to do. That very night, Jay Drew carved a new Milo Light stamp and left it on my door step, complete with box and new log book. Bluebird and I went off to Milo to put the new box in the old place, and OOPS, we found the old box still in its hiding place! Not lost, never missing -just waiting. Humm now we have a new box!! This is what we did: we named it Milo Light II too. Here are the clues to my anniversary box and Milo Light II too"). Three letterboxes in a sweet little Nature Conservancy property. About 3 miles/2 hours (out-and-back). Milo Light Preserve is located in Montville, CT, between Salem and Norwich. From either Rte. 85 in the east or Rte. 395 in the west, take Rte. 82 to Rte. 163 North. Soon turn right onto Hershler Rd. Park in the Kingdom Hall lot or just beyond at the preserve entrance on your right. Begin hiking eastwards on trail #1 past the entrance sign. In about one mile of quiet woods walking, pass the stone foundations of an old farm site on your left. Continuing through the third steel gate, take the next left at a fork to head northeast alongside Trading Cove Brook. Follow downhill, with the brook to your left a short way from the trail. You'll soon see the end of a stone wall about 12 steps off-trail to your right. There is a poorly-maintained sign indicating that you're leaving Nature Conservancy land. Find the original Milo Light Letterbox living in the south side of the stone wall, just a step or two past the butt-end. Opposite the letterbox at the brook is an interesting glacial dam that is worth exploring. You'll know if you've missed this stone wall (one among many) and gone too far as a short way further downhill the path will bring you out onto a dirt road and power line right of way. Now return west crossing again over the seasonal brook by the third gate. Stop at the old foundations on the northern side of the trail. In the 1870’s Daniel Appley homesteaded in this scenic spot. Imagine folks living here as you carefully walk to the north east corner inside the foundation. Facing southwest, now take three giant steps and you will be standing on your Milo Light II treasure. Please tuck it back under out of sight. Continue on in a westerly direction and notice when you pass through an opening in a stone wall which lays in a diagonally east west direction. On the northern side of the trail the Happy Butterfly Anniversary Letterbox is tucked under a fallen log. Smile as you stamp in and think of all the letterbox treasures you have found during this past year. Milo's Delight is an add on to the Happy Butterfly Anniversary History: In October of 2001, Nancy (Butterfly) & I (Lobsta Lady) Follow the direction's to Happy Butterfly, then walk 3 steps at a Keep traveling westerly on the trail back to your car. Hope you enjoyed Milo Light I and II, and Happy Butterfly, too.
Currently missing...
Resolution
(Note: this box is missing...you might try Fab Four or Zoom Zoom Zoom instead) (On the other hand, for some reason this letterbox seems to keep popping up every year or two, never in it's original spot). Meadow Woods is a quietly satisfying park that is ½ Nature Conservancy and ½ Town of Essex. So far, there is one letterbox on an extensive, well marked trail system. Figure a long hour and 2½ miles for this hike. Sorry, no mountain bikes. Directions: On Connecticut Rte. 9, take exit 3 and follow the Essex signs along West Ave. Turn left on Grove St at the library, then left again onto North Main St. After about ½ mile, turn left on Book Hill and after another ½ mile, left on Book Hill Woods Rd. Park at the end in the cul de sac next to the sign for the Meadow Woods Park. Pick up an excellent map in the mailbox at the trail head, and then hike in on the green blazed Long Trail for a counterclockwise south-to-north loop. Walk up a steep slope and over a small bridge to fork left with the green trail. Follow the Long Trail past a silver crossover on the right and the orange Hill Trail on your left. Turn right (west) on a white blazed crossover trail towards Castle Rock, then shortly right again onto the orange blazed Castle Rock Trail. Hike along southwards with a ridge line to your left (east), which is Castle Rock. Just before the trail drops down to a yellow intersection, scramble up the end of the ridge. Bushwack 20 steps east to a chest-high roundish boulder: the Castle Rock Letterbox is against the rock on the ground. Continue south on the orange, and then turn right at the yellow blazed Eagle Rock Trail. Follow it around behind houses and down into a steep valley before regaining the orange Castle Rock Trail. Turn right and cross a small bridge to the blue blazed Canfield Trail. Turn left for a straight shot north, back to the trailhead.
A single letterbox: it's only a one hundred yard walk, but it's breathtaking! Directions: On Connecticut Rte. 9, take exit 3 and follow the Essex signs along West Ave. Passing the Library and Town Hall on your left, come to a stop sign. Bear right and follow Main Street as it curves left downhill to the complicated intersection with North Main Street. There is a lamp in the center of the intersection. Go "straight" through the intersection (you'll have to bear right around the center post) and pass between antique shops and an art gallery. (For a brief and wonderful detour, turn right and drive down-and-back-up the North Main Street historic district). A few blocks after the antiques/gallery and past the Riverside Cemetery, turn right on New City Street. Next, turn left on Riverview Street, and finally right through the gates onto Foxboro (there is nothing "dead" about this end). Park after #2 on the left at the Osage Trails entrance. Walk into the Elizabeth Barnes Callender Preserve (truly falls into the "Oh My God" category!) and walk down toward Falls Brook Pond. There are a pair of evergreen junipers down on the northwest shore: look in the base of the one to the east.
Retired Summer 2008 (Part of the large group of letterboxes that has been vandalized twice now, in 2007 & 2008. Last we checked, the second box was still intact...) Difficulty: two letterboxes on an easy 2-3 miles along very scenic Connecticut River cliffs. Location: Gillette Castle State Park, East Haddam Connecticut, on Rte. 148. Accessible from Routes 9, 2, 156, and I-95. William Gillette, famous for his Broadway portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, built this 24 room fieldstone house in 1919, and surrounded it with a miniature railroad. Some of the old railways are now hiking trails. At the time these letterboxes were placed, the trails and castle itself were undergoing renovation. The trails are open to hikers without a fee, but when renovations to the castle are complete there will be a fee to visit. Sorry, no dogs or bikes, but we highly recommend it! "Mrs Houston? Oh Mrs Houston," called Mr Gillette. It was a quiet evening in our study at the big fieldstone house on the Connecticut River. William had spent the day in New York, getting ready to portray Sherlock Holmes on stage for the first time, and he was tired. He had disagreed with his director over acting styles, and now he wanted a pipe by the fire and a glass of wine from our housekeeper. "Mrs Houston!" 221B Baker Street seemed a million miles away. Gillette kicked off his Persian slippers and pulled on his deerstalker cap, and headed out for a walk. He needed some new elements to bring his Sherlock to life. He went out behind the Castle to walk his railroad tracks, where he did his best thinking. Facing the house, he found that the setting sun was in his eyes, so he turned left and walked downhill on the road "to the river." As the road bent right, William turned left onto one of his favorite trails, and followed it down until it wrapped to the left. A short way before the trail regained the road, William stepped to the left and sat down on a flat waist high boulder, one of his favorite places to think. He lit a pipe, his favorite Calabash, and it came to him! He would give Sherlock Holmes a pipe onstage! Unnoticed, his box of tobacco dropped behind him and wedged under the boulder, for future fans to discover. He ran back uphill with his lanky gait, holding onto his cap. He met me behind the castle, and when I asked if he had any inspiration, he happily cried, "It's elementary, my dear Woodson!" This favorite phrase of his was also to become a part of Sherlockian lore. Desiring to check on the progress of his railroad bridges, we walked to the right of the Castle, under his new archway and onto the tracks. His "Grand Central Station" was still under construction, but we followed the main tracks on a wide trail that curved west and north, hugging cliffs high above a covered footbridge below to the west. Coming to a junction of the tracks, we continued north a short bit before forking northwest, again along ledge with a drop off to the west. William and I passed a huge and gnarly white oak above us to the right, and watched for other champion-sized trees. Forking sharp right onto a hairpin turn heading uphill to the southeast, we came to a crossroads in the trail. Just to the right, William's deerslayer cap got lodged in the rocks behind that huge oak tree. He was so busily pacing that I forgot to mention it to him, and it is probably there to this day. But that calabash pipe and that deerslayer hat were one day to become synonymous with Sherlock Holmes, as William's incorporation of them into Sherlock's persona became well known.
Placed for the Letterbox Gathering 2000. Directions: Three letterboxes on Mamacoke Island at the Connecticut College Land Trust. This hike covers 2 easy miles with significant off-trail bushwacking; walking through light brush without a trail, but little chance of getting lost on this small island. Bring binoculars and a change of shoes in case of damp feet crossing the marsh trail at high tide. Sorry, no mountain bikes. On I-95 in New london, Connecticut, tune your radio to 91.1, WCNI. Take exit 83 if driving northbound on 95, or exit 84N if southbound, and follow Rte. 32 North past Conn College. Turn right on Benham Ave/Harrisons Landing. Follow the road downhill, and just before the railroad tracks park in the small lot on the left. Backtrack up the road to the west a short way and turn right (north) past the steel-bar gate and onto the main trail. There is an info board with a map to help orient you. Walk north on this main path for ¼ mile to the end, passing through another gate, and then bear right with any of the narrower paths that cross over the railroad tracks. Find another info board on the marsh. Head east on the trail across the marsh to Mamacoke Island, where your feet might get a little splash. On dry ground again, follow the left (northeasterly) fork for a clockwise trip around the island. Walking generally north with the cliffs on the right and the cove on your left, watch for a large boulder, precariously perched on the edge of the ridge to the right. At the north end of the island, come to an open area of slickrock with a smooth rock ramp leading down to the water. There are great views north upriver. From down at the water's edge, look back south to find your first reward under a stump above the tide line. Now, continue east and then south along the water to find a southbound trail along the eastern shore. This path climbs steadily some 25 yards inland to finally turn left and drop down steeply. At this turn-dropoff, back track a bit and cut left (west) over brush to find a good spot to hop up onto the ridge. Follow a faint deer trail north, bushwacking as needed, to cross over hte top of the island from southeast to northwest, and find that large perched boulder you spotted earlier, overhanging the inbound trail. A few steps south-southeast is a cracked boulder like a broken egg; the second letterbox is hidden under it behind a trap door of stone. Returning south the way you came, hop down off the ledge and regain your southbound trail. Head down, leaving the ridge behind you. When the trail turns sharply right, west-northwest, again turn off-trail to the left (south) and follow the smooth rock outcroppings down to the water near an old piling and a big steel tiedown ring set into the stone. There are good views south to the Gold Star Bridge. Follow the shore left, easterly until you're around the point and on the main river again with views across to Armageddon. A few steps north along this shore, with protest messages pointing east, find the third letterbox on the left under an overhanging rock just inside the treeline. Finally, follow the shoreline back south and west, and from the piling-ring, pick up a trail to bring you around west and north, skirting cliffs on your right, to the marsh trail intersection. Turn left to cross the marsh and the railroad tracks to evacuate home from Ground Zero. Placed for the Letterbox Gathering 2001. Past the last of the Letterboxing at Ground Zero overlooks you'll find, if you continue your quest, a second pair of letterboxes. Return northwest along the rocky shore, passing the ring bolt and piling, and then another ring bolt. Cross southwest over the inlet onto a gravel beach (this section is oh-so-slippery when wet or icy) and walk down the beach. About 90 steps, halfway down the beach, where the "island" rises a foot or two on your right, look in the clearing for hidden treasure under a driftwood plank. Finally, return to Mamacoke and walk back to the marsh. Cross over to the railroad tracks and turn south (this railroad is rarely used and then only by slow freight trains). Pass a sweet little pond to the right and at the water's southern end, find a shrubby tree to the west, just opposite the first big oak on private property. Look in the shrubby base to complete the memorial. Now a few steps further on the tracks returns you to Bentham Rd, where just to the right you'll return to your treks' beginning.
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