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Looks like the NPS confiscated my box in Harper's Ferry. Be warned--they're out and watching for you!

They e-mailed me this:

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A few months ago I located "The Halfway Letterbox" which you had placed in a tree hollow on the Appalachian Trail located within the boundaries of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. This letterbox, "green turtle", along with the sign in notebook and tupperware container was removed and
destroyed. This type of activity is not allowed within any National Park as it is considered abandoning property. The entire Appalachian Trail is also a National Park.

You will be issued a Written Warning for this offense,36 CFR 2.22 (a)(1), and I will be mailing it to the address indicated by your California driver's license.

Neat trick seeing as I haven't had a California driver's license since 1999. They probably just walked to the ATC center and looked up my mugshot in their photo album. (Who knew THAT would come back to haunt me?!)

Anyways, needless to say, this box has been retired.

I'm also pretty sure the NPS doesn't control the WHOLE Appalachian Trail, although they definitely do have control over large sections of it.

Anyhow, just so you know.... If you want boxes will will live long and happy lives, Harper's Ferry is not the place to do it. (Unless it's indoors somewhere.) I wonder if the NPS would complain about a microbox hidden under a mailbox or something.

I'm itching to find out exactly how anal they are about this. For good grief--is a letterbox really that bad when you're choking on exhaust fumes from the road next to it? *rolling eyes*

The NPS is not endearing themselves to me. *grumbling*

-- Ryan

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The NPS is not endearing themselves to me. *grumbling*

Ryan,
You have to remember that the NPS is protecting your property from you. Now what is your "C" count? What is really wierd , there was an article in the local Kern Valley weekly about how the Forest DisService should be replaced by NPS. Some folks like Big Brotherism. You know all those great rivers in the National Parks no one can raft on! Snow mobiles are ok, but put a kayak, or raft on the water you get sited and your boat confiscated.

Don

There are hard heads in the NPS just like there are hard heads in any large organization. This person probably gives jay walking tickets on streets with no traffic. We are just lucky that they are not all like that.

When you think of how many boxes and caches there are on nps property, in no ones way, harming no one, there must be a lot of good people in the nps too. The less said the better.

Scarab

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Now what is your "C" count?

Not sure. At least three that I can think of off the top of my head, though only two of them are due to NPS personel. Back in my younger reckless days, I hid a number of boxes on NPS territory, but deciding that I'd rather have boxes that live long and happy lives have tried to avoid that for the last couple of years. I *thought* this box was okay since it was not in the downtown "historic" area of Harper's Ferry that is clearly NPS territory, but alas, it is not so. =(

The guy does seem a bit on the exaggeration side of things claiming they have jurisdiction over the whole AT. What about the zoo it went through near Bear Mountain? Or the town of Hot Springs and all those other trail towns? Somehow, I don't think the mayor of Hot Springs is going to let the NPS set down their local laws.

And I'm half inclined to think where they confiscated this box may *NOT* actually be NPS territory. I'm not really sure the extent of their authority, though.

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When you think of how many boxes and caches there are on nps property, in no ones way, harming no one, there must be a lot of good people in the nps too.

Oh, it's not the individual people of the NPS that bother me--it's their decisions made at the top I generally disagree with. Most NPS people I've worked with in the past are good people that want to help the environment and keep people safe. The one guy who pulled my box at Arches NP was so kind and considerate I almost felt guilty for hiding it. This guy just makes me want to hide another box just to spite him, but alas, who knows when I'll ever get to Harper's Ferry again. *shrug*

Which, I might add, is one of the reasons I'm annoyed at the written warning. Why are they wasting their time doing that? Trying to track me down and mail warnings to me when I live thousands of miles away? *rolling eyes* Well, I used to think the NPS was underfunded. Perhaps it's true as a whole, but the rangers at Harper's Ferry clearly have plenty of time and money on their hands.

I'm still upset about having a lunch in Shenendoah NP ruined with their stupid loud, smelly, and obnoxious leaf blowers. Seems criminal that our NPS would even consider using those things.

The NPS just gets under my skin sometimes. Needed to vent. =)

-- Ryan

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I'm still upset about having a lunch in Shenendoah NP ruined with their stupid loud, smelly, and obnoxious leaf blowers

Maybe you should send them a written warning!

DebBee

Mapsurfer #7 met the same fate in the same park. Some places are just too unfriendly for their own good.

I certainly think Harper's Ferry is a place to avoid. Not only in terms of letterboxes staying viable for a long time, but when you only have so much travel time and travel funds, I certainly would save it for places where I'm welcome.

I'm glad to find out what happened to this box. I had contacted you last fall to say that I couldn't find it. I couldn't help thinking that I was looking in the wrong place. It's a real shame. It's not like it was visible from the trail, or a new path was being formed.

I had also wondered about MapSurfer's boxes in HF. I had noticed that the clues had been taken off of letterboxing.org. I had planned to look for them.

Moonkyst

>>>I had also wondered about MapSurfer's boxes in HF. I had noticed that the clues had been taken off of letterboxing.org. I had planned to look for them.<<<

The Mapsurfer got a note from the park rangers similar to what Ryan recieved for his Harper Ferry box. It pertained to his #7 box (you aren't spoiling a mystery with the plural boxES, are you<G>?). That happened quite a while ago, and he posted the note he got to the letterbox-usa maillist, so if you subscribe there, you can search the archives for it. It'll be a long search, since this happened way back once upon a time.

He took his links down from letterboxing.org, but his clues are still available on his own site of mapsurfer.com. I don't recall him announcing this, we just noticed the links were gone. Most of his boxes should still be in place. He probably still has a few that haven't been solved yet at all.

We have placed some boxes in Fayette County and will have 2, maybe 3, new boxes planted here in about 2 weeks. There are lots of boxes in the northern part of the state, over near Huntington, and the eastern panhandle, but we do not often get that way. We hope some letterboxers will soon be planting new boxes in the southern part of the state.

Thanks!
Zandra and WVBigBeard

We're in North Central. Not too many boxes up our way, either.

We are on our way there soon to letterbox in the Mount Airy area.

WVBigBeard

Yes the entire state needs more boxes. The I-79 corridor is devoid of boxes. That is why I planted one in Lewis County and have another coming. There is only 1 in Kanawha. The only way to increase this is by getting the word out on letterboxing in the local papers.

How about someone in North Central WV holding an event?

We just planted three new boxes in Fayette County today. That makes 8 boxes waiting for you here. There should be 2 more new ones in place by the weekend.

Enjoy!
WVBigBeard and Zandra

Just planted a new box in Weston called "Handblown, Old & Forgotten". I also saw that there were two boxes planted in Hillsboro today!

We planted a new letterbox in Fayette County this afternnon. We now have planted eight boxes here and there is one from another letterboxer. Come visit Fayette County and you can get nine stamps, all of which are hand-carved. (We replaced all our purchased stamps with hand carved ones just today.)

Enjoy!
WVBigBeard

We're heading down this weekend and we'll visit Thurmond again for your new stamp. That was such a cool location. Loved the history. The bridge was very scary to drive over. I wasn't sure it was even made for vehicles but there was a letterbox at the other end so, by gosh, we went for it!

New box planted today! Check out Fighting Falcon in Fairmont!

I just planted a new letterbox in the eastern panhandle today! Princess5 has one coming very soon that will include at least one hitchhiker for the first customer!

Well I finally trudged up the hill at Poor House Farm! That concludes all of the boxes in Berkeley County! Only two left in the eastern panhandle and both require massive hikes!

You have been one busy letterboxer lately. You go guy!

Look for a new box in Lewis County the last week of September. It is carved and just waiting for my next trip down I-79.

I have started on a rather large series of microboxes. There were lots of little carving pieces laying around just begging for a useful purpose. The series are logos of the 8 Big East Football schools plus the Big East logo. Three done so far.

I just need a good location for such a large series. Any suggestions?

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....you know, Kanawha County has very few boxes. What about planting the series somewhere in the Charleston area ... perhaps on the Capitol grounds, or along the riverfront park? Perhaps a state park in the area would work. Zandra and I have thought of placing some boxes over that way just to get boxers into that area.

Lewis County is a good trip for us. Plant away!

Yes I have also thought about Charleston. Mainly because I spend so much time their in meetings. The Capitol grounds are off-limits for me! Hate to be arrested by homeland security for leaving a package on government property! River front only worries me because of flooding. A park may work. Looking for a trail that would be 1 mile or less in a loop.

Only problem with southern part of the state would be those pesky Marshall fans!

Try Coonskin or Daniel Boone Parks.

Zandra

Well the 8 school logos are completed. Just need to finish the conference stamp and actually plant the things. I am now looking at Morgantown or Preston County. Hopefully they will be available by Wednesday.

Plan to plant a new box Monday/Tuesday at Stonewall Jackson Resort in Lewis County.

I like Stonewall Lake. Good choice!