Cedar Hills Twins
Author: Ryan Carpenter
Date: October 18, 2002
Way back in July, I went hunting for these two boxes. No big deal, right? Cedar Hills Blvd, where the hunt begins, in a major road with thousands of cars driving by it each day. Not exactly your "wilderness" adventure kind of thing.
I had no problem finding the first box, but I'll be darned where that second box sneaked off to. I finally gave up and called it quits.
Fast forward to today:
I returned to find that second box.
From the street, I took 73 steps (or the best I could manage--it's not exactly easy terrain to step through) like the clue said, and at around step 50 I darned near stepped on a snake. Scared the s*** out of me! I couldn't have been more than two feet away before it decided to show its presence (those things blend in SOOO well) by slithering in the opposite direction. It was a harmless little garter snake, but when things slither around you and you're not expecting it, the reaction was pretty much the same as if a full-grown grizzly bear suddenly jumped out from the trees above and tackeled you (as unlikely as that might be).
After waiting for my heart rate to die down, I continued my hunt. While searching around a tree, I noticed this annoying black string tangled around my feet. Who the hell left this way out here? Dumb asses. I managed to get one foot untangled, but the other one stubbernly stuck to my shoe. Finally I realized why. It was my shoelace. It seems one end of it got caught on something, and as I walked it slowly unraveled the shoelace into a very long, very useless piece of string.
So I cut off the part that had been unraveled (gotta love those handy pocket knives). Took off the rest of my shoelace to see what could be done with it since I didn't carry around an extra pair in my back pocket, nor was I able to figure out how to use duct tape to help the situation. (I thought duct tape was good for anything.) I laced my shoe back up almost to the top, and it seemed to work pretty well. The shreaded part of my shoelaces I put in my pocket to carry back out.
Now back to the hunt. I still couldn't find that darned box, and I KNEW it had to be around somewhere. Maybe by that tree over there? It didn't really seem like the tree described in the clue, but it couldn't hurt to check--so I thought. I poked a stick around in some leaves to see if the rock in the clue was hidden under them. I didn't find a letterbox nor a rock, but apparently I stirred up the perverbal hornet's nest because I got stung by something that HURT! Definitely not the typical mosquito bite! The first sting I thought must have been a thorn I sat on or something--there were plenty in the area--until I saw a whole SWAT team of those bugs attacking me, at which point I quickly dropped the stick I was using and ran back up to the street to regroup and send in reinforcements.
The two places where the bugs managed to sting me were still pretty darn painful, and I had no idea what they were. Still don't for that matter. They weren't bees, and I've never noticed such bugs before. I certainly haven't been attacked by them before. So I headed back down the hill--steering well clear of where the bugs and snake were hiding out--to a remote place where I could pull down my pants to examine the damage. Didn't see anything, but darn it was painful for such little bugs. I've donated blood with these very thick needles over 70 times and it never hurt that badly!
At this point, I'm seriously contemplating to try looking for the box again another day. Perhaps in the dead of winter when those damned bugs would be frozen solid and snakes aren't slithering about.
But I can't give up--not yet. I go back down to hunt some more, and continue to stear clear of the snake and bugs. Like I said before, that tree didn't really seem like the one mentioned in the clue, and perhaps I can find a better one to investigate.
And, at long last, I found the box. Hidden in the croch of two deciduous trees, under a rock, just like the clue described. I logged in, replaced the box, and then headed back to the street wondering if any of the cars driving by had any idea of the dangers that lurked just a few short feet away. =)
This was the 78th box I found. I've hidden 36. They're located in all sorts of areas from fairly public areas to very remote areas, but I'll be darned if any of them were as much trouble as this one smack dab in the middle of civilization a stone's throw from a major road!
So that's my story of the day. Miserable, stinking box, that it was. =)
-- Ryan, nursing wounds and buying shoelaces....
Denny Creek Letterboxes
Author: Ryan Carpenter
Date: October 15, 2002
Today, I decided to drive out and hunt down the Denny Creek letterboxes (those are in Washington, about 50 miles east of Seattle, in case you wanted to know). Now I've done LOTS of hiking in my day, and I've seen lots of strange and amazing things on the trail, but never have a actually seen a naked hiker until today. Completely and totally buck naked except for his socks, shoes (guess barefooted hiking was too much for him) and a backpack.
I would have touched him to make sure I wasn't halucinating, but it was a naked man, so I thought better of it. But I did tell him he must have lost his clothes, since he didn't seem to realize he wasn't wearing any.
What do you Washingtonians put in your coffee anyhow?!
-- Ryan, always fully clothed while on the trails....
Scott's Cove Letterbox
Author: Psycomommy
Date: November 4, 2002
14 Handsome Firemen, Policemen, and Paramedics
This was a horrendous day of letterboxing. I could pretend it didn't happen but I feel the need to tell my story so it never happens to any else.
I went alone to get a box that was newly planted in Howard County, MD. I figured it to be a quick find and not a difficult walk. I looked all over for the box and time was running short. I came to the conclusion the box was missing or I was in the wrong spot. I could see my car across the empty lake and decided to take this short cut. Earlier there had been many people and dogs down in the area that I planned to walk through. So across I went. Mucky started to get muckier. When I tried to turn around to go back my right foot sunk deep - thigh deep! I tried to dig it out but then my left foot went just as far. I didn't have a cell phone with me, but I blew my whistle forever. I started thinking about Rose in the movie Titanic, blowing her whistle. Although I wasn't in ice water, the mucky mud was very cold and stinky. The more I moved the deeper I got. Finally someone called from shore and said he had called 911 and they were on their way.
Fire engines, police cars, ambulances, appeared all at once. All I could think of was "Please Dear God don't have me on the 6 o'clock news." These wonderful men said I wasn't their first "stuck in the mud" that day. It's happening all over the county. So what looks safe isn't.
I felt silly at the time but oh so thankfull for the quick response and care from the men. Even they had the utmost repect for the mud. They placed 8 big yellow boards to get to me. I told them if a helicopter fly over to wave it away. No sir, this girl was embarrassed enough. No reporters for me. I even tried to crawl/roll on the mud but my legs were stuck fast.
I was stuck for an hour, So much for short cuts! Never again, this was just about the most frightening experience I ever had. And about that letterbox - I'll just forget about it!
Psychomommy
P19 F56 X29 V3 E2 C0 L7 1/2 and R1 (rescue)
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