I've noticed in my area after being out of letterboxing for years I see most letterbox haven't been found or maintained in 2 to 6 years or more. Has everyone stopped letterboxing or something?

No.
I call it 'the usual suspect' attribute......once all of the normal, usual suspects in an area get a box, it may go quiet for a while until a new boxer comes around or boxers from a different area take a trip.

I see some never maintained either. I just started back into it and years have gone by. I just wondered . I know geocaching is booming and people are now putting stamps in geocaches and calling them letterboxes yet nobody is stamping log books lol. They just sign the log lol. I suppose I been out if it too long lol. Thanks for the reply

Oh so very sad to hear this. She was so wonderful. Boots my heart goes out to you and your family.

NLW

Exactly the type of response one would expect from AI, well done :)

Here is what my favorite AI says:

The Letters: "REKSS"
R: The first letter on the far left. You can see the "kickout" leg at the bottom left and the "eye" (the white asterisk) representing the hole in the top of the R.

E: The second letter. It follows a classic lowercase "e" structure with a horizontal bar in the middle, though it's very rounded.

K: The third letter. The two humps on the right side represent the two "arms" of the K meeting the vertical stem.

S: The fourth letter. It has a distinct "hook" at the top and bottom, curving in a snake-like motion.

S: The fifth letter on the far right. This is a near-duplicate of the fourth letter, completing the tag.

I confess I usually do not check on old letterboxes. When they are found I am thrilled. And the comments they post are helpful to the next seeker.
Also, landmarks change.
Trees disappear. Vegetation grows. Clues???
So hats off to letterboxers who look
even if the box/ boxes haven't been found in years.

My heart is broken. She was an amazing lady, and I will always cherish the memories I have of her and the boxes she planted, especially the Weeping Angel ones. She will be missed, and my thoughts and prayers are with Boots Tex and the family.
Thanks for the memories LSQ!
Blue Butterfly

I’m a geocacher who got into letterboxing. All of my boxes are cache-letterbox hybrids, posted on both sites, except I list them with coordinates as a cache, and with clues as a box.

The first ones I planted have large stamps I bought on Etsy. Then I started carving, and now all my cache hybrids have hand-carved stamps.

My caching friends are fascinated and thrilled that I’ve introduced letterboxes in our area, because they are scarce in my county and the adjacent ones. I now have fellow cachers asking me about the best paper for logbooks and how to use Atlas Quest.

My least favorite cache-box hybrids have only a tiny stamp that’s maybe left over from their kid’s crafts. Hope that changes in my area.

It’s very common in my area, but then again, letterboxing tends to have ppl planting boxes on road trips. No real maintenance possible. I suppose some boxes are fostered or adopted by local boxers, but still aren’t checked regularly.

I like the dual use boxes and caches too geocache. I don't see anyone stamping log books tho I guess it's new to geocachers or something having a stamp. I like that tho. There are several doing that in my area.

Most geocachers don't have their own stamp. However, in this area there is a geocacher (not me) who has a laser engraver who will make them a stamp. He also buys the self-inking stampers for 50¢ each from China. (I'll have to ask him exactly where because I cannot find them.) So personal stamps are more prominent around here.

When I stated boxing, I used a self-inking stamper I bought on Etsy that just said joyindenison found it, with a tiny X-marks-the-spot map. Used that until I carved my giraffe.

Someone does the same in sc in my area I suppose others haven't caught onto stamping the stamp in their log or stamping the cache log. They are mostly found here by coordinates very little clues. A lot or are off the beaten path in the woods but very cool to find. I made this thread because most letterboxes around here nobody has checked in years I wondered if people have quit but I see they haven't and that's cool too. I'm about to place many geoca he letterboxes here dual use. Maybe a traveler or two.

I started years ago letterboxing making my own stamps then started geocaching got back in to letterboxing after running across geocaches with stamps in them making them dual use I like those but geocache uses coordinates more than clues..lol. Amazon is loaded with stamps or hobby lobby I think still has some.

Yanny? or maybe Laurel?

B E S U R E T O D R I N K Y O U R O V A L T I N E

This is the winner, right here. Brilliant.

Username checks out. 😉

I guess it's a good thing I didn't ask what color it was.
_{blue/black - white/gold?}

I think ZDZ nailed it.

Here's what my AI says:

"It's stylized bubble graffiti, but it looks like it says "Gixxie" — the exact letters are hard to read because of the artistic style.
The first character is a G (with a star inside), followed by rounded letters that resemble I/X/X/I/E shapes.
Graffiti tags are often artist names rather than real words, so it may just be a tag name."

Gixxie, if Snow Shoveler doesn't work...

Edited to add: For what it's worth, I post that pic on the Reddit Graffiti board and the consensus over there was that it says "ANKE".

“A crummy commercial!?”

lol

It's been added at https://www.atlasquest.com/people/tributes/obit.php?memberId=2872.

I don't think I ever had the honor of meeting her in person (at least not long enough to do an exchange), but find myself saddened by her loss anyhow. =(

-- Ryan

Thank you!

Or to find your Malty McGuffin.

Thanks GT. She would have been at the TALE you attended, but was so quiet you probably didn't meet. I should have introduced you but it was during COVID so was extra cautious with them.

I am saddened as well. A sad day indeed.

Thank you so much for reminding me of Jacob Two-two ! I always enjoyed watching him whenever I managed to catch the show. What a hoot Jacob Two-two was to watch! Of course, I was over 50 when I first saw it. Maybe I shouldn't admit that, but I do like the cartoons. :^)

Thanks for the smile !

Don’t assume they are all gone.

Oh im not assuming they all gone however the ones that haven't been found since 2020 9mor 2023 area I've had several not be there any longer. In this area it's almost like they gave up letterboxing or mixed it with grocaching. Geocaching is there and periodically repaired or updated. Not local letterboxes it seems. I guess it been so long since I letterboxed I didn't realize so many were not m as interned I guess. If I can't find then this Dat I'll return and try again

Welcome back!
So glad you’re here! 😊
Sadly, there are some letterboxers who have left the hobby, due to various life changes. But, there are a lot of us who are still here. 👍
We recently moved to an area that has a bunch of old letterboxes that haven’t been found in over 16 years! Some of these boxes are now listed as retired, but we search for them anyhow to check out the area.
Most of these really old letterboxes are long gone, but sometimes we are successful at actually finding a box still there! It’s rare to find a box that old, which makes it extra exciting to find one of these oldies! We repair them and give them new life. Searching for old letterboxes can often bring us to historical points of interest we never knew were there.
So even if a letterboxer has left the hobby, they have left behind an amazing little gem of history, whether the box is still there or not. ❤️

Yes it is fun find old or lost ones seems since I came back that's all that is around me ones not touched I'm at least 3 to 6 years anyways. Some not there. I love it. I'm having better success with geocache hybrids..lol. if the boxes are still there I will find them if I have to go multiple times. I love the adventure with the grandkids. We are working on making some new ones for them to plant they will be really excited to see people logging their finds on their boxes. Wish them luck