The boxes you found inside other boxes are indeed hitchhikers. You could have taken both, and you should replant the one you did take in another traditional letterbox sometime soon. (It's okay not to take the hitchhiker--some people just don't like them, or don't want to deal with it.)

Remember that a hitchhiker's stamp should be stamped into the logbook of the box it's placed in, and the host box's stamp should be stamped into the HH's logbook (at least as much as it will fit).
When you replant the HH in a new traditional letterbox, you should make sure to do both these stampings along with the usual stamping of the host stamp into your own logbook. I feel that this is the planter's job, but when I find a hitchhiker I always check both logbooks to make sure they've been stamped properly before I take the HH with me and leave, because some planters don't do this.

You said you're confused about the difference between hitchhikers and the other non-traditional letterboxes.

Hitchhikers are stamps you find INSIDE other letterboxes on the trail. If you find one, you'll take it with you and plant it inside another letterbox somewhere else. You'll only carry a hitchhiker for a short time.

Personal Travelers and Cooties come into play when you meet another letterboxer (most likely at an event, though you might bump into one on the trail, or arrange to meet up with other letterboxers in your area just for fun).

Personal Traveler: This is a stamp that you, the owner, always carry around with you, IN ADDITION TO your signature stamp. If you meet another letterboxer, the two of you will stamp your signature stamps into one another's logbooks (this is an "exchange"), but the other letterboxer can also ask you for your personal travelers in addition. You can require them to solve a clue or a puzzle, or answer a question, or do whatever you want before you allow them to stamp each PT into their logbook.
For example, I have a personal traveler called "A Mathematician Named Klein". I always keep this stamp in my letterboxing bag. If I meet another letterboxer (say, at an event), I will ask them to tell me a limerick. If they do, they get to stamp the stamp and give it back to me. My PTs never leave my posession, and they don't get stamped into traditional letterbox logbooks.

Cooties play a role similar to hitchhikers, in that they will travel from person to person. But instead of leaving them inside other logbooks, you try to plant them ON another letterboxer, or drop them in their bag. You will most likely encounter them at events, but again, any time you meet another letterboxer in person is fair game. If you find a cootie on you, stamp it into your logbook and try to sneak it onto someone else. The game is to give it to someone quickly without them knowing, so cooties are often attached to clothespins or enclosed in old pill bottles.

A flea is a sort of hybrid hitchhiker/cootie. Since the only difference between those two is the METHOD by which they are passed on (in a box versus given to a person), a flea is just a small letterbox that is allowed to travel by either method. You can sneak it onto a fellow letterboxer, or you can plant it inside a traditional letterbox. The person who created the flea (or HH, or cootie) can decide how they want their stamp to be passed along, and should label it clearly.

Sherlock Miles- Welcome to letterboxing , enjoy! I have nothing to add to the great answers already given.

Intrinsically Knotted - your answer is so complete, I'm bookmarking it for future use to refer others to. :)

Thank you so much. This helps a TON!!!
I will add a log book to the first HH found and move it on - hopefully to another state. Maybe it'll make it to all 50!
I will grab the other one we found when we get back from trip and move it on locally.
Both seemed to have been stamped in/out properly.

I think part of our confusion is that we started off on LbNA, and it seems that "traveller" on that site is equivalent to HH here. (Both HH we found were listed as travelers on LbNA.) I understand about the personal traveler stamps and look forward to meeting another boxer - and asking them to do something special (he he he).

Thank you again for helping me understand better.

After our first find - which was a water filled mess - we made a repair kit we carry (logs, pens, containers, ziplocs).

I will add a log book to the first HH found and move it on

Before you do that (since the logbook is full), you might want to check to see how long it's been since the owner last logged in by clicking on the little blue person icon to the right of their trail name. If they haven't logged in for a year or more, I'd say move it on right away, but if it has been only a month or two, there's no harm in holding on to the HH for a little bit longer, waiting to hear back. Sometimes life gets crazy - I have a boxing friend who had a kid graduate, family come into town, and a parent go into the hospital all in a span of 3 weeks. Yikes!

~J (HH 'mom' who is always wondering how her little guys are doing)

I feel that this is the planter's job, but when I find a hitchhiker I always check both logbooks to make sure they've been stamped properly before I take the HH with me and leave,

Oh, yes! Me, too! I agree the planter should stamp in the HH... but I always look to verify before taking it with me!

I agree the planter should stamp in the HH... but I always look to verify before taking it with me!

Sometimes in the rush of things, I forget to look. But, since I take the HH home with me, I will have the box's image in my log book. I will take a photo of it, print it out, and glue it in the HH's logbook.

I think part of our confusion is that we started off on LbNA, and it seems that "traveller" on that site is equivalent to HH here. (Both HH we found were listed as travelers on LbNA.

I totally forgot about that! I have only used LbNA a little bit, and I started on Atlas Quest, so the distinction has always been clear to me, but I can easily see where the confusion comes in. I have heard from many other letterboxers who are confused about hitchhikers versus personal travelers, so it seems plausible that this is the source of the confusion.

After our first find - which was a water filled mess - we made a repair kit we carry (logs, pens, containers, ziplocs).

Funnily enough, I once met a letterboxer who had a personal traveler called "ELK". (To get it, you had to tell her an interesting fact about elk.) Then she would reveal that ELK stands for "Emergency Letterbox Kit", and show off her repair kit along with the personal traveler stamp.

Thank you J&J....seems Blackberry Patch has been inactive and all boxes are archived for quite a bit.

We have moved on the recent HH we found - we were travelling this weekend. :-)
The first HH we have decided we will move on when we go out away in 2 weeks. :-)