Letterboxing began in England in 1854. Over the years it has evolved into the hide and seeks game of today. Each Letterbox container has a rubber stamp within and a logbook. The seeker also has a personal rubber stamp and a diary/logbook of his own. Once he finds the container, he uses his personal stamp in the containers logbook, and uses the containers stamp on his personal diary/logbook.
A true letterbox does not use GPS. Instead, clues are given to help the searcher find the container. This Letterbox Hybrid Geocache uses both.
The above coordinates will get you to Fireman's Park in McAllen. For those of you who are not GPS equipped, from Expressway 83, exit at Business 83 and follow it west one mile to the intersection of S 2nd St. The Park is in the NE quadrant of the intersection. The GPS coordinates will NOT get you to the container. To find the container, you can put your GPS away and follow the clues or instructions below:
Within this park is a small lake. I’m sure you can find it without any other clues. Every lake has a discharge point where excess water can run out of the lake during the rainy season. Walk around the lake until you find this discharge point where the water leaves the lake.
From this discharge point, walk 46 paces north. There is some disagreement as to what a “Pace” is. Some say it’s one step of the foot during normal walking, from where the right foot hits the ground to where the left foot hits the ground. Others say it’s two steps, from where the right foot hits the ground to where it hits the ground again. Either way, the “Pace” is different for each person. To make it easy, let’s set this “Pace” as one step or about 30 inches.
As you pace off the distance, you will pass through a small cluster of trees. You will also pass a piece of machinery left by man from years ago. You still have a few paces to go from the machine before you get to the container.
GOOD LUCK.