By Renee Worthing
Register Reporter
    Across the United States, people are sleuthing their way through forests and field.
    You’ll find them poking around under tree roots, lifting rocks, and consulting a compass and a set of clues.
    They are letterboxers and their hobby is letterboxing – a discreet outdoor treasure hunt using clues and navigational skills to locate hidden weatherproof boxes containing a logbook and a hand-carved rubber stamp. Letterboxing combines the fun of treasure hunting with the popular hobby of rubber stamping.
    The letterboxer also carries a logbook and their own hand carved “signature stamp.” Unlike the popular hobby of geo-caching in which seekers use waypoints and GPS coordinates to locate the “hidden treasure,” the clues used to locate letterboxes range from straightforward to cryptic prose.
    Clues for the location of one letterbox reads in part:
    “Onto a woodsy dirt trail that twists and turns-
    Full of boulders and wildlife and mushrooms and ferns.
    Soon the trail dips down, then up it goes.
    Here the trail veers to the left and then sharply right.
    A tree entwines the rocks with all its might.”
    Many clues are posted on the Internet, but hints for the most sought-after letterbox caches are only passed around by word of mouth. While letterboxing is relatively new in the United States, it is said to have begun in England more than 150 years ago.
    According to an article which appeared in an April 1898 issue of Smithsonian magazine, Dartmoor National Park guide James Perrott of Chagford, left a bottle near Cranmere Pool. Inside the bottle was his calling card along with an invitation to those who found the bottle to add their own cards. Eventually, visitors began leaving a self-addressed post card or note in the jar, hoping the next visitor would return their card by mail, thus the term “letterboxing,” which is a variation of the British term “letterbox,” meaning mailbox. The notecard custom faded, and was replaced by the current trend of using rubber stamps to “sign” log books secreted away in the weatherproof containers.
    About two years ago, Heather English of Sanford began letterboxing. She said the the appeal was in finding something that would get her young children outdoors and exercising.
    “There is something for them at the end,” she said.
She said she has located over 100 letterboxes, some of them in other states.
    “The thing about hiding letterboxes is people put them in places that they think are beautiful.  So, when we look for a letterbox, we find some really beautiful places we wouldn’t have otherwise found.”
    Sanford resident Denise Beck said she began letterboxing about three years ago when she was looking for things to do with her 11-year-old son.
    She said she was participating in the “Where’s George?” hobby of tracing $1 bills around the country when someone on the “Where’s George?” Web site mentioned letterboxing.
    Beck and her son ventured out to the woods following clues left on the letterboxing.org Web site.
    “He was bitten by the (letterboxing) bug and we’ve been doing it ever since,” she said.
    The locations of some letterboxes can be difficult to figure out or the path may be difficult to access. Information about the difficulty in accessing a letterbox is included on the Web site.
    “That’s what’s great about letterboxing. You can pick and chose the level of difficulty,” she said. “I’ll do a little work to find one, but I’m not willing to stress myself out looking for a letterbox.”
    Beck said there has only been one letterbox she was unable to find.
    “Come to find out it had been stolen. After I find a letterbox, I usually email the owner and let them know the condition of the box,” she said.
    Sometimes clues lead to historical places, making the hunt educational as well as fun.
    Beck recently returned from a vacation to Illinois where she spent some time looking for letterboxes.
    “If I go somewhere, I’ll look for them. I’ve looked for them in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and now, Illinois,” she said.
    When a cache is located, the seeker stamps the cache’s logbook with their personalized signature stamp, which they often carve themselves. They use the stamp enclosed in the letterbox to stamp their own logbook. Some people, like Beck, include notes in the letterbox logbook about their hunt, “Thanks for the walk” or “Great clues.” In their personal logbook, they make notes next to the stamp they just collected. The notes can include everything from weather conditions to the scenery.
    It’s collecting impressions of the various stamps that draw some people to the hobby.
    “Some stamps are very intricate, very beautiful,” said Beck, adding she enjoys carving her own stamps because it’s a good artistic outlet. “There is a couple in town who carve the most gorgeous stamps.”
    When searching for a letterbox, Beck said it’s a good idea to take a compass and bug spray. The letterboxing Web site also advises letting someone know where you are going and taking a cell phone.
    Letterboxers encourage others to respect the land. Letterboxers adhere to the “leave no trace” principal. They make every effort not to damage plants or animal habitats. Many letterboxers, including Beck, pick up trash they find along the way to finding a letterbox.
    Because water is the biggest threat to letterboxes, the logbook, stamp and inkpad are usually placed in Ziploc bags within the container. Some letterboxers carry Ziploc bags with them to replace bags that are no longer waterproof.
    Beck said the thrill is in looking for letterboxes, but she said it’s just as much fun to hide them for other people to find. She said when she drives around she often sees places that make her think, “I could hide a letterbox there.”
     She said she has about five letterbox containers ready to be hidden.  
     “It’s a relatively cheap hobby. It’s a lot of fun to make a day of it, go on a picnic and look for letterboxes,” she said.
     For more information about letterboxing, visit the letterboxing Web site www.letterboxing.org