Retirement for Pappa Bear's Dutch Oven

I have decided to retire Pappa Bear's Dutch Oven.  I got a note from a finder, 3BOYS4DOGS that yesterday they found the box destroyed and two torn ziploc bags in the vicinity but no logbook or stamp.

It makes me sad to retire such a great box but it seems like the right thing to do under the circumstances.  Pappa Bear's stamps really are neat.  His Woody was my very first find and holds such a special place in my heart.  Many of his are hidden in the beautiful Codorus State Park.  Check 'em out while they're still there!

Snow day

What better to do on a snow day than organize your letterboxing backpack?!  I've been meaning to do this for ages.  Here goes.  Dumped out all leaves, pine needles, and dirt.  Retired clues for boxes I've already found.  Gathered together and logged into all the hitchhikers I've been dragging around.   And since I have so many right now, I planned a hostel to plant in the Spring.  Double checked that Hot Lava's stamp is indeed missing - and it is.  :(  Reorganized the pens in a more accessible pen holder.  Pitched old icky ink pads, put a few new fresh ones in the bag.  Added some baggies.  Ball for the dog.  Hand sanitizer and handi wipes for you-never-know-what. New logbook for Baseball Buddy.  And made an LB to-do list.

The End

On our way to Ptown for some Black Friday finds, we stopped to find the End of Days.  Again, I didn't have much time to search so we ran the clues a couple of times, coming up empty each time.  There has been a lot of clearing in the area.  I have to say that as we draw nearer to that end date of 12/21/12 the adventure seems more and more interesting.  

New Find, Familiar Place

Every stop in Chatham must come with at least a drive by the light house.  Every trip we must look at the way the break in the barrier beach has changed here at the "elbow" of the Cape.

This time we were delighted to have something to find in addition to looking at the beautiful view.

Stage Harbor is also a lovely spot.  We were not in a position to search but I hopped out thinking I knew right where it was but I was wrong.  I'll have to come back next time.

Safe at Sandy Pond

After being unusually hunted we scrambled over to Sandy Pond.  The kids loved it because there was a playground they could romp on and a field they could tackle on while the Rewstah (with his newly carved stamp), Hydeez Mom, and I set out to retrieve by request and a fascinating and amazing namesake.

Hunting in an Unusual Place

I was looking soooo forward to getting out on Thanksgiving day for a wonderful hike with the bonus of discovering the unusual Cape characters. I had been speculating about what some of them might be for days.  We packed up the extended group, dogs and all, while the turkey was roasting.

The large pickups with gun racks and NRA stickers parked by the entrance was our first indication.  We were a big and not quiet group so even when we saw the hunting sign for coyote, small game, and deer archery we thought we were too obvious to be mistaken.  Not to mention that we figured the hunters wouldn't be so close to the trail.

We made it with no problem to the first box and just as we were retrieving it we heard gunshots very loud and very close.

That was it.  We had to call it a day. We did find a nice HH as a consolation prize. ...sigh...  It looked like such a nice trail and what a beautiful day.  Alas, we'll be back.  When hunting season is over.

A long drive to Osterville

We left south-central Pennsylvania at O dark 30 and arrived in Osterville just after lunchtime.  We had a car full of tired travelers including two doggies who were not welcome here.  But I was successful finding the Winged Deaths Head.

The others will have to wait for another day since I had trouble finding the dirt road past Whitehead.  I didn't have time to search too hard and unfortunately, the two possible nearby paths I took quickly ended up in dead (pun intended) ends.

Neat place.  Thanks MM for recommending it.