Caching, Maggie Smith, And The Loch Ness Monster: The Conclusion

If you've been reading this past week, you should now know all about Geocaching, Letterboxing, Maggie Smith's bench, and my Loch Ness Monster sighting. And with this information, my post from November 12th should now make perfect sense. (If you haven't read all those, feel free to go read them now. I'll wait.)

Ok, every one caught up? So, now that you know what I'm talking about, I'll finish the story.

As I said, I'd seen what I thought were cachers in the park a few days earlier. But I hadn't approached them because they looked like they were trying to be discrete. Plus, I wasn't completely sure that's what they were doing, though I was pretty sure. They were even carrying a Ziploc bag ;) But I didn't see them carrying a GPS. When I later discovered that they'd been searching for a Letterbox and not a Geocache, the lack of a GPS made sense -and also explained why there'd been no listing for it on the Geocaching website!

I returned a few days later with my stamp, book, and ink pad in hand; retrieved the Letterbox, stamped my book with its stamp and stamped the Letterbox's pad with my own stamp. The Letterbox's pad was so small that a gentleman walking his dog thought I was writing directly onto the palm of my hand and stopped to ask if I was writing crib notes ;)

This was actually my first Letterbox that wasn't a Geocache/Letterbox hybrid. I've never hunted for a pure Letterbox using only clues and a compass without any GPS info, but now that I've discovered that many are hidden close to my home, I may have to give some a try. I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by this thought. The last time I looked at a set of Letterbox clues they were hard!

If you're in New York and would like to search for this Letterbox, I tracked down the corresponding clues for it online and they're quite easy. Nothing cryptic, and no puzzle solving or compass required! Just go to this page at letterboxing.org and click on the Letterbox called "Stumped."

I can't show you pictures of the Letterbox's exact location or its contents because that would be against the rules of the game, but this guy might tell you...

When I returned to stamp the Letterbox, I also came prepared for him this time.

And yes, I "paid his toll."