SPIRO LETTERBOX CACHE Letterbox Hybrid

Letterboxing is growing hobby that combines elements of hiking, treasure hunting and creative expression into an activity that the whole family can enjoy. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes following cordinates and clues that are listed on internet sites, and then record their discovery in their personal journal with the help of a rubber stamp that's part of the letterbox. In addition, letterboxers have their own personal stamps which they use to stamp into the letterbox's log book.

According to legend, letterboxing began in southwestern England in the mid-1800s when a Victorian gentleman hid his calling card in a bottle. Today, the nearby area is the Dartmoor National Park, and there are several thousand letterboxes hidden there! (As a result, Dartmoor is akin to the Holy Grail for American letterboxers.)

The hobby came to the U.S. in 1998, following the publication of an article in Smithsonian magazine about Dartmoor. Soon, a loose confederation of letterboxers began to plant boxes in the U.S., using the Internet to exchange information and clues.

Letterboxing is intended to be an environmentally friendly activity, with no destruction of nature involved in the hiding or discovery of letterboxes. Boxes are hidden in publicly-accessible areas, yet out of sight of casual visitors. Letterboxers should endeavor to leave any area cleaner when they leave than it was when they arrived.

There are hazards of letterboxing - notably poison ivy (and its cousins, poison oak and poison sumac) and crawling creatures like snakes or spiders who tend to like the same crevices and cavities where letterboxes are often hidden. As a result, you should use caution when reaching into holes and make sure you can identify poison ivy when you see it!

When you find a letterbox, be discreet in opening it so that passers-by can't observe. When you're finished stamping in, make sure to restore the letterbox to its original condition and location.

The stamp in this letterbox is a compass, so hopefully we will always know what direction we need to take. The two stamps in the middle of the picture are mine. The little piggy I have used every since I stamped my first letterbox. The other is a gift that I also stamp them with. The stamp on the bottom is one that I recently found in an old unlisted letterbox.

If you don't have a stamp, just sign the log book just like you would any geocache and log your find.

I will check the log book from time to time and update here with pictures of stamps that have been added.

Have fun, be safe, and thanks to all who hunt my caches.