Ditto for me. First time being able to get the page to load all day. Hope everything is ok!

Liz

Responding very slow today.  Another DOS attack?

Dang, it's been annoying today, hasn't it? I've been going crazy trying to access AQ myself. =)

Yes, the hosting provider says it was another DOS attack. It appears to be fixed now--let's hope it stays that way!

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

I also geocache (so sue me!) and have heard through their forums that there is a new permit system for caches placed in New York State Parks (you know like Letchworth, Buttermilk Falls, Harriman, etc.), not in the Forest Preserves yet like the Adirondack and Catskills. The parks you have to usually pay to get into. The permit is free, but there are rules about distance from the trail, proximity to other caches, box type, etc. Caches without permits will get pulled. Now, perhaps letterboxes are a bit lower on the radar, but if Mr. Ranger finds a box, and their isn't the state approved sticker on it, it could get pulled I guess. Not sure how this might effect letterboxing in these areas. Just putting the info out there for you to make the call. Risk a stamp and a box, or register it like a cache? I don't know what I would do.

Oh man, I'm going too at the end of June, and I would love to get a few too. I would place a couple, but I am worried about dumping a box I would never be able to maintain. If someone from Nova Scotia would be willing to adopt, I would, but doesn't look like much activity there yet. grrr....jackbear

I just tried the attempted finds feature and discovered that the "last found" date on the box details page changed to reflect my attempt.  This might lead someone to believe that the box has been recently found when it wasn't.  Intentional or not?

Rob

I wasn't able to access the site yesterday  or this morning.  LBNA had the same problem.  Glad it's back up.

Weyrwoman

I probably should give this more thought than I do. I have hiked alone many times with nothing more than my piercing hiking whistle. I let people know where I am headed but I never really thought about the dangers of rape/assault.

Lock Wench ( who will be traveling with someone more often)

I just tried the attempted finds feature and discovered that the "last found" date on the box details page changed to reflect my attempt.  This might lead someone to believe that the box has been recently found when it wasn't.  Intentional or not?

Do'h! No, that wasn't intentional. Just one of those little details that slipped through the cracks. I'll try to get it fixed soon, though! Internally, AQ views attempted finds as a "type" of found box rather than a distinctly different category and unless I specifically tell it to distinguish between the two, it doesn't.

Thanks for pointing it out!

-- Ryan

A quick note to anyone who has printed out but hasn't done the Gambler Series Group 3 yet.  Two of the boxes (The Queen and Ten of Hearts) needed to be moved because of placement problems, the clues now reflect the changes.  Toss the old clues and download a new pdf set here: http://www.catbeadmischief.com/KQJtenfHeartslues.html

More revisions to come as boxes are moved in the Syracuse area.

Cheers,
catbead

One of the forum notes over there mentioned a letterbox that was pulled by a ranger, so at least one ranger (and probably all of them) put letterboxing under the same rules.

Again according to the other guys, the good news is that most of the parks are friendly to the hobbies (exceptions are mostly in the Palisades region). Regretably few letterboxes were ever placed further away from the trail than the 20 feet that the NYSP rules allow anyway, and cachers are reporting that some parks aren't putting the ruler down all that tightly. The rule that might be bothersome is the limit of five objects per hobbiest per park, which eliminates the mega-series (the quarter mile proximity rule does that too if the park is too small).

I'd say make 'em legal and get back to boxing.

I would never make it if all letterboxes were like the ones in Madison County, NC (requires rope and grappling hook!!) and I am glad there are "drive bys", and even those park type boxes that require short hikes, but right now i could never do a 10 mile hike and keep up with a group. 

Are there gonna be any other fluffy boxers at the Stone Mountain gathering???

alysonwonderland

http://www.heritagemint.com

Direct website from the supplier.....go to the shop and you can order a variety of sets....

Wow, thanks Jo!  Expensive little buggers, but a very nice product. I saw my first on a trail and they really are ideal. I would just spray paint mine with some SprayPaint for Plastic to make them perfect.

Which brings up my question..I use a variety of containers...to make it more interesting. A couple of my boxes are not meant to be hidden all year as I am aware they are not fully waterproof or airtight, but I just liked the container and tried to make sure everything was bagged. I expect to pull those few boxes for the winter.Does anyone else do this? Can you relate your experience so I can learn from yours?

Lock Wench

I've planted a couple of 'temporary' boxes over the past couple of years but they were mostly for gatherings and cuckoo clued hitchhikers.  I personally don't plant 'temporary' boxes that must be pulled seasonally.  Too much effort--probably because I often plant boxes long ways from home and don't revisit them on a set schedule each year.  The 'temporary' status would be just too unreliable.  We also live in a quite damp environment (Pacific Northwest)--so the boxes need some basic protection from most elements.

I mostly use boxes that are not watertight--for camouflage purposes (brown/black VHS cassette tape containers).  I do this hoping the box will survive much longer even if it isn't rehidden well (a common problem in letterboxing circles)--as many boxes are hidden in fairly populated areas.  I am often at the total mercy of 'visitors' to close the freezer zippered baggies after they stamp in.  Occasionally, the bags aren't closed.  Hence, the passionate pleas for folks to take the extra time to close the bags.  I always double bag the logbooks and label the bags with "please double bag the logbook".  Often during maintenance trips they aren't double-bagged anymore.  Then, the flame wars ensue about plastic baggy problems and why it isn't all that important. The folks who dismiss the 'plastic baggy' frustration threads are probably ones who haven't planted a lot of letterboxes and have probably never had a logbook with over 2-1/2 years of visitors' comments get destroyed because of one careless visitor.  I figure their 'attitude' would adjust after this happened a couple of times.

I've also used Lock 'n Lock boxes and have had some problems with them being properly closed after visits, too--which is odd. Although the ones with the metal 'locks' and 'O' rings seem to work exceptionally well--they're just WAY TOO expensive for me. I've yet to find the absolutely perfect container.  I do like a particular 'freezer storage' container for its waterproof qualities but then I don't like that I can only find them in 'blazing come and get me' white and cream colors and I only find them used in thrift stores--so they're few and far between.

I attempt to plant boxes that 'take care of themselves' (i.e. the tendency to use camouflaging containers), planting the seasonal boxes is just too much of a hassle to worry about.  After my initial 'enthusiasm' for letterboxing waned, I don't find it all that exciting to go out and maintain the many boxes we planted.  I love to read through the logs and see folks' comments about how the location or clues touched them (I do a lot of historical based clues).  Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm for maintaining boxes is because of all the ones that we have found that were damaged over the years?  We treat them like 'kids' it's hard to see them go.  ;)  I'd rather go out and seek out new ones instead. 

Just some food for thought.

dvn2r ckr

I haven't had much luck with paint for plastic. I've painted a few boxes with it, but it seems to scratch off quite easily. I don't usually pull boxes on a regular basis, but this year I've decided to pull two of mine for our rainy season, just because they're in low areas and one tends to get swamped and the other tends to "float away" out of its hiding spot. There's another one that's behind a place of business, with their permission, but they're only open seasonally. I leave the box there, but I do pull the clues during the time they're closed, to keep people from tramping onto the property when the business is closed. DebBee

Ref 'plastic paint' I've had some success with that 'rubberized' texture paint for outdoor gardening tools.  It comes in assorted colors and is typically used to spraypaint the handles of gardening tools to add some 'grip' and waterproof protection to them.  I used it on Altoids tins for a while but those tins kept 'walking away' instead of lasting long enough to survive the elements so I have no idea what the long term effects on 'tin' would be.  It did scratch off a little from plastic 'rubbermaid' containers but it didn't lessen the camouflage characteristic of the container all that much with a few scratches.  Camouflage is more due to 'breaking up' a color or shape/size/pattern that you're not 'expecting' to see in the woods/outdoor environment more than really changing a color.  Some folks find success in 'wrapping' their hidden boxes in burlap.  In Asia, I've hidden almost all of my letterboxes in small black plastic shopping bags as an extra camouflage attempt--as every park/trail is meticulously maintained and camouflage is absolutely imperative to ensure a box will survive at all.

dvn2r ckr 

I think Camo duct tape rules! 

Often available in the hunting section of your major discount retailer.

DB

I live in Houston.  It's hot, it's humid.  We like to do more of our hiking in the winter.  So I am interested in placing a few mystery boxes, with different types of clues, where the challenge is more mental than physical.

In your opinions, what makes a great mystery box?  Without giving anything away, why was a particular find or plant so satisfying?

Thanks,

Dewberry

Good morning Dewberry,

As far as a mystery box goes, we love knowing we "solved" the mystery. The Rebel Rose box in NC was probably our most fun mystery find because the place we find it in was amazing. We really enjoyed the "walk" so much that we didn't even notice it was 38 degrees outside. It was fun to do the research for the clues and learn about something we probably never would have otherwise. It is always fun to play detective. That is what some of enjoy the most afterall. LOL Good luck with your mystery box. I hope it is very intriguing!

Liz of Penguin Patrol

<< I think Camo duct tape rules! >> I've used this--the cloth kind, which forms easily to the shape of the box. I have found that after awhile it gets brittle and sort of comes away from the box, though. DebBee

I've only found a few mystery boxes, and those were really easy ones. I have solved a few that are in places I'll most likely never get to, but it was still fun to solve the clues. I recently planted one that's not strictly a mystery box, but the clues are the most cryptic I've done, so it's almost in that category. It'll be interesting to see how many folks get to find it. I'm pretty sure I've solved, or at least partially solved, one of the Mapsurfer boxes, but since it's not near where I live, I can't go see if I'm right! And past that, of course, my lips must be sealed. DebBee

Hey, Ryan! When I type in messages and AQ mail, my text doesn't wrap, It goes on in long lines. Even whe I hit "return" to make a paragraph, it doesn't seem to have an effect on the finished message, which appears in one long run-on paragraph. Shows in paragraphs when I type it, but not when I post it. Is this an AQ thing, or a DebBee thing? DebBee

I personally like mystery boxes which rely on someone doing research to find them--historical, geographical information searches, that sort of thing. It's the teacher in me I guess.

I'm not really good at figuring out code (cryptology). My husband on the other hand has looked at something for the first time and had it decoded in fifteen minutes when I've been working on it for weeks. Hate that...

For me the satisfaction is in that "AH HA" moment when you just get it. I've solved a couple that I may never actually get to hunt in the flesh but just knowing that I know where they are gives me some satisfaction.

Knit Wit

I too am a bit of a "fluffy" letterboxer, though I think I'm recovering. I am contemplating putting a box at the end of a 4.8 mile trail; it's the coming back though that would make it difficult. One way to the top of a mountain... Oh, well, coming back would be mostly downhill. ;-)

I'll be at Stone Mtn. too.

Knit Wit

I hid a letterbox in a downtown Syracuse park ( "I Need a Hero") but didn't say which park. The clues should be enough to direct someone. Does this mean my letterbox is a mystery box? Or does it not qualify because I state which city it is in as well as the fact that it is a park?

Lock Wench ( still learning)

Knit Wit: "For me the satisfaction is in that "AH HA" moment when you just get it."

I'd looked at a clue off and on for over a month......this morning it finally clicked, the AH HA moment, and now I can't wait to get out there.

I also like the ones that require research, learning about new things and places. Gotta love google. Should have bought stock.

Scooters Mom

Hey, I ran across one of those 'freezer' containers that I like so much in my LB container stash.  Here's the deal--I've seen them survive long-term sub-freezing temps and still be waterproof/protect its contents.

The box is made by Freezette, Republic Molding Corp, Chicago, IL 60648 and it's No. 332 or 3332  It's about 8"x5"x4"

It just seems to have a great seal on it and it works in very prolonged cold/snowy environments.  Please don't ask me how I know this, just know that I've planted some boxes that have survived these conditions for a long time now.  Too bad Freezette doesn't make camo brown or black containers.  :(

Oh--these are the containers that I find used in thrift stores such as Goodwill/Salvation Army/St Vincent de Paul/Value Village.  I consider it a successful 'treasure hunting' day at the thrift shop whenever I find one of these containers.  :) 

dvn2r ckr

When I type in messages and AQ mail, my text doesn't wrap, It goes on in long lines. Even whe I hit "return" to make a paragraph, it doesn't seem to have an effect on the finished message, which appears in one long run-on paragraph. Shows in paragraphs when I type it, but not when I post it. Is this an AQ thing, or a DebBee thing?

It's probably a Mac thing. What browser were you using when you tried to post? =)

I'll see what I can do to fix the problem, but in the meantime, if you really want to force paragraphs into your posts, add the text <br /> for every line down you want to move the text. (Most of the time, you'll want two of them to put some space between the paragraphs.)

-- Ryan

I hid a letterbox in a downtown Syracuse park ( "I Need a Hero") but didn't say which park. The clues should be enough to direct someone. Does this mean my letterbox is a mystery box? Or does it not qualify because I state which city it is in as well as the fact that it is a park?

Technically speaking, it would be a mystery box since you don't actually say where the box begins. Atlas Quest won't consider it a mystery box unless the starting city isn't defined, however, but that's purely because of how mystery boxes are treated internally in the code. Since boxes are sorted by city, AQ won't consider your box "enough" of a mystery--if that makes any sense--since it knows what city the box is located in. =)

But in a nutshell, it doesn't really matter how you want to count it. Nobody checks up on that sort of thing. =)

-- Ryan