Letterboxing: Treasure Hunts in Nature

We first tried letterboxing a couple years ago and after our first box we were hooked!  What is letterboxing, you ask?  It’s like a treasure hunt!  You follow clues to find a carefully hidden box.  The best parts:  it’s free, easy, a hobby multiple ages can enjoy, and encourages time in nature.    If you want to try letterboxing, just follow these three simple steps:

Get Ready

The supplies are inexpensive and easy to put together:

1. A small notebook or index cards.  I prefer index cards because we can bring extras in case we smudge a stamp.  If you use index cards you’ll also want a box to hold them.
2. A stamp for your “signature” once you find the letterbox.  Right now the kids and I each chose a store bought rubber stamp, but my goal is for us to make custom stamps (more on this later).
3. An ink pad.  Sometimes there is one you can use inside the letterbox, but they’re often dried out so it’s better to come prepared.

As we’ve developed this hobby I’ve added some organization and fun:  I bought small wooden clipboards for $1 each  at AC Moore and we painted them.  Since there often isn’t a flat surface nearby we can put our index card on the clipboard and get a good impression of the letterbox stamp.  We keep our supplies tucked into a little tote bag that is ready to grab and go.

Get Clues

I use Atlas Quest, an online letterboxing community.  You can search for letterboxes by putting in your location and how far you’re willing to travel.  You’ll see the name (which can be simple like “Lamoine State Park” or more creative like “Birds of a Feather”) and general location (the town, park, or closest building).  The handy pictures under “attributes” let you know details, like whether it’s pet friendly or how long a hike it is from a parking area to the box.  Once you click on the name you’ll see more details about that letterbox and then you can click to get the clues.

You follow the clues to the box:  directions like looking for a certain tree, rock formation or other landmark, facing a certain direction, taking X number of steps, etc.  With letterboxing you don’t need a GPS device like you do with geocaching.

Find the Letterbox

At the end of the clues you search a bit, and the moment you see the box is exciting!  Open it and you’ll find a unique stamp, usually hand carved, and a log book.   You stamp your signature stamp in the log book, then stamp that letterbox stamp on your book or index card as a memento.  Often geocaches have trinkets you can exchange, which takes a little more prep-work to bring trinkets to trade.  Then there’s the chance that both kids want a certain trinket and it causes a disagreement.  With letterboxing it’s just a stamped image for everyone.  My kids are very excited to see the stamp because the hand-carved stamps are often very creative.  I won’t include a photo of one because that’s kind of like telling the end of a good book!

Letterboxing has become a wonderful shared hobby for our family.  We spend time together in nature, we don’t have to do a lot of planning or spend a lot of money, and we all enjoy it!  An extra bonus is that although we’ve looked for letterboxes in many of our favorite spots, we’ve also been to new places when following the trail of a letterbox.

We have a goal of learning to hand carve stamps so we can make custom signature stamps.  Atlas Quest has good information, and I love this great photo tutorial from Wee Folk Art on making stamps.  Once we master that we’d like to place our own letterbox for others to find.  Coming up with a location and name, unique stamp and directions, and then checking back to view the log book would be a great challenge.

Have I convinced you yet?  Fall is a great time to try letterboxing!