I think we've all realized by now that the Giant is going to be very, very different once it's cleaned up. For those of us that have boxes planted there, what should we do with their listings? They may never be found again, but I hate to retire them without attempting to retrieve them... but the likelihood of locating them is pretty small, even when it re-opens.

What say yea, many many other boxers who have stamps planted on Sleeping Giant?

Recently, in checking on one of my plants, I discovered that the trees and woods had been cut down. Where there once was a red trail, there is now large stumps, brush, downed trees left and many ticks. The first day, I gave it an attempt....the second day was the true attempt. I feel because I located one old trail marker on a small tree left standing is how I found the box. Also, thank heavens for those animals that push things out onto the ground! Other than the stamp, the only true beauty I saw that day was two lady Slippers!

So, yes it may be possible. Is there any hope of the park opening this summer?

Maybe we can have a mini meetup of a bunch of us one day. break the park into sections, assign search parties to each section, rescue/checkon what we can, console on those lost, and make grand plans to replant.......followed of course by food and drink.......

I would absolutely be there for this!

The latest news is still the fall.

I always refer to these and old box searches as "Looking for Bones in Ice Cream"....but I love every second of it! 😎💜

That sounds like a pretty fabulous idea. Maybe we could each bring just one new box to plant while looking for those that are / might be lost.

As for the listings, I think I'm going to make mine "unavailable" for now. I don't want someone from far away to think there's 100+ boxes in a place that's inaccessible for the time being.

Thanks for the reminder, Honeychyck, to mark them as "unavailable", I need to do that. I did write a blurb alongside the titles that the park is closed, but overlooked changing them to unavailable. l'm planning to wait until the park reopens and then go in search of my boxes, hoping that the areas are even recognizable at that point..... :-( Then decide to relocate or retire them.

I hope the cleanup crews know about letterboxes and harvest boxes they come across and don’t toss them in the wood chippers with everything else.

I think that highly unlikely, especially considering how many boxes go missing there even without the current damage :(

Any idea if we'd be "safe" to declare a mini-meet date, say, in October?

I don't have any boxes in Sleeping Giant, but I would help with the rescue efforts. If you plan an event, I will try to be there. I'll bring snacks. I have a box I can plant after they reopen.

ME TOO!!

I think the idea of an event and organized, group effort to check on and retire/relocate/do maintenance on.....whichever is a really constructive idea. Otherwise I think a lot of missing boxes will remain listed as active the way they are now. There are SO many boxes.

Someone, somewhere....here or another site?.....can't remember......said that the entire park is not actually affected by the storm? But it had to be closed to work on the areas that *were* affected. So maybe all the boxes there are not missing/destroyed/etc.

I think an organized maintenance event is the responsible way to find out what is going on with such a large number of boxes in a specific place.

Someone, somewhere....here or another site?.....can't remember......said that the entire park is not actually affected by the storm? But it had to be closed to work on the areas that *were* affected.

Right, we know that the entrance and picnic area was decimated, but it was a microburst that may have affected a small area. By definition, a microburst is less than 2.5 miles in diameter. I haven't heard anything about the damage level on the "quiet side." And previously, when state parks were closed for budget reasons, they would close the main entrance but everyone could still walk in from the hiker lots. No idea how this will work out.

This was part of the post from the SGPA from June 8th:
**Work will soon begin on clearing emergency access roads: the Quarry Road, the Dickerman Carriage Road (merges with the Red Circle Trail from Mt. Carmel, and the Green Trail off Chestnut Lane. This will allow police, fire, and first aid individuals ability to get into the Park in the event of an emergency.

To me, that said that just about everything got smooshed... except for the butterfly garden. They keep posting photos of how that is doing well :)

To me, that said that just about everything got smooshed.

I don't think so. Imagine that 1% of the trees fall. That's a lot of blowdowns that would need to be cleared from the trails, because there are a lot of trees. But once those blowdowns are cleared, then much of the park may be OK. Even looking at drone footage of the picnic area, I was struck at how the pines all fell, while other nearby species seemed to be still standing. It was one of the dangers of maintaining a mono-culture of white pines that were too close together. They didn't get enough sun, so they got taller in an effort to get more sunlight, which made them weaker when the microburst came through. The rest of the park doesn't have that issue.

Why not schedule it and postpone it later if we have to?

lets call it Sleeping Giant: The Awakening

Me three!!

YES!!!

Shall I put something on the Event Calendar for October 13th? Would love some other "Admins" to work with.

I can be an admin-ish person if you want, but let me double-check when I get home that I don't have something horse related planned for that date, first.

I can do that.

I think I'm free that weekend--looks like they bumped my daughter's family weekend to the week before. Would be happy to be part of a committee...

≥KitKat≤
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I'm in!

I saw a news report that said there were 13 acres of downed trees at the Giant. The state park is 1500 acres. I'm sure there are downed trees throughout the park, but it sounds like the really flattened area is the 13 acres.

I do believe I am free that day, but I don't mind stepping back since it seems like you have a lot of help that is far more local than me to Sleeping Giant :) . I will likely be there.