Tree of Life Letterbox Hybrid

This cache has been archived.

ThirstyMick: It's gone, checked up on it while I was in town. No longer replacing my missing caches. I moved awhile back, and couldn't find anyone to adopt the last few.

More
Hidden : 10/18/2007
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

The Cache is NOT at the posted coordinates The posted coordinates bring you to a monument in the park where the cache is located.

I placed this Letterbox Hybrid to educate Geocachers and Letterboxers on each others respective activites. Both activites involve a hidden stash that is hunted for. Sometimes we accidentally find each others stashes while on a hunt. A good location is, after all, a good location.... Not recognizing that we've found the wrong box can complicate things. For instance, I've found "muggled" Travel Bugs in Letterboxes.

A Letterbox is like a geocache in that it's a box in the woods, but there are some important differences. Letterboxers do not use a GPS, though a GPS can be helpful. Written instructions lead the hunter to the box. The box itself is different because it doesnt (usually) contain any swag. There is a rubber stamp, usually hand carved and a logbook. Each letterboxer has his or her own personal rubber stamp that they use to log into the log book. The letterboxer uses the stamp in the letterbox to stamp his or her own personal logbook. The stamp is an integral part of the letterbox. Without the stamp it is not a letterbox. If you come across a box in the woods that looks like a geocache with a nifty hand carved stamp but no swag, and most of the finders used a stamp to log in, odds are you found a letterbox! Sign the logbook, consider it a bonus and continue your hunt for the geocache. NEVER TRADE THE STAMP. Without a stamp it's just a box in the woods.


The Following Description will get you to the cache:
The posted coordinates will bring you to a monument in a park
If the monument was erected before 1980 walk North along the pathway you are on. If the monument was erected after 1980 cross the bridge behind you and walk North along the pathway on the other side of the river.

After 270 feet you will cross a tiny bridge and pass a small waterfall. Mark a Point of Interest here. There is now a river on either side of you.

Continue walking along the pathway. The pathway curves to the east. Use your GPS to measure 450 feet from the Point of Interest that you marked earlier. The distance you walk will be more than 450 feet. Once you are 450 feet from the Point of Interest you will be between two bridges. Cross the smaller of the two.

Turn left (East). You are no longer on a paved walkway. Mark a second Point of Interest here.

As you continue East the river will widen until it is a lake. Small shrubs grow along the lakes edge.

After walking 230 feet (as the crow flies) from your last Point of Interest you will come upon the Tree of Life. It will be the largest tree you have seen so far. There is a large hole in the tree on the side away from the lake. This is not where the cache is.

The cache is in a crevice of the tree filled with sticks and pine needles. it is on the right side of the tree when you're facing the lake. Please be careful to replace it as found and watch for muggles on the other side of the lake!


The Cache is a Lock-n-Lock. It contains some small trade items; pins and patches, and a Letterboxing Geocoin for the First to Find (be the FTF a Geocacher or a Letterboxer; the race is ON!). It contains a single unlined logbook that both geocachers and letterboxers can sign and stamp to maintain the single shared history of the box as well as a hand carved stamp PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE STAMP Since Geocachers are not likely to go geocaching with an inkpad and personal logbook, I have also included a baggie with plastic chips. The chips have a miniaturized image of the "Tree of Life" image that is on the stamp. Feel free to take one of the plastic chips as a keepsake if you like.

If you find a container in the cache labeled "Hitchhiker" that doesn't appear to have a tracking number and has a stamp and logbook inside of it, please leave this behind. Unless, of course, you are also a letterboxer. It is a letterboxers Travel Bug. Although, it is not Trackable, letterboxers will send email logs to the owners to let them know where it is, and what they think of it. Just like Travel Bugs, it is disappointing to owners when they go missing.

The Park is Memorial Park. It's a well maintained and lovely little park along a section of the Memorial Parkway. Enjoy the stroll along the Third River, one of many small rivers that flow into The Passaic, and continue along the Parkway to Memorial Park II and Kingsland Park; the parks and their respective caches ;)

The Tree of Life was sacred to the Celtic people. Trees were an important part of Celtic Life. The tree provided shelter, fuel for cooking, warmth, wood to make weapons and food. In Celtic creation stories the ancestors of man were the trees. Trees represented the gateway to realm of the gods uniting the heavens, the earth, and the underworld; with roots reaching deep into the ground and it branches extending high into the sky.



If you letterbox as well, please feel free to log the find on both sites. And just to note: PK and I usually have a hand in each others hides, but aside from accompanying me to HomeDepot for plexiglass (and cutting it for me) PK played no role in the placement of this cache and has my full permission to go find it. I told him, however that he can't be FTF since I give him enough geocoins as it is :)

I hope you enjoy the cache and your letterboxing experience!


Additional Hints (No hints available.)



Advertising with Us

Inventory

There are no Trackables in this cache.

View past Trackables

What are Trackable Items?

Bookmark Lists

View all bookmark lists...