If you're pretty sure it's not the original stamp, you could log the box as an attempt

I think we're following clues to hunt down letterboxes. If you can ink up a stamp from within the letterbox at the end of the clues, you should be good for a find for the letterbox. Pressing the image into your logbook and your trail stamp into the box logbook were originally meant to be conformation of a successful hunt. Letterboxing seems to have morphed into a more stamp centric hobby. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a great stamp, whether it's finding one or being fortunate enough to plant one from a fantastic carver, but that is the delicious icing on the cake (though it can take a letterbox to another level of satisfaction).

"Ghost box" if it has no stamp. It's dead, but the essence lingers.
"Zombie box" if it has an unauthorized stamp, making it come back to life, but without a soul.

Funny yet a great idea! Adding these icons in with Drive-by, Dog Friendly, Hand-Carved, etc. would be a good way of allowing letterboxers to make a decision if a box is right for them.

An online comment would have prevented nearby squirrels and chickadees from hearing some really bad words.

Though you have helped yonder camping Girl Scouts to earn their Foul Language merit badges ;)

Not to speak for Kirbert, but I believe he also fits the plastic peanut butter jars with a homemade gasket to make them completely watertight. The few jars that I've found without a gasket have been damp or worse.

I can't even pay people to find mine :) (not entirely true, as some people are trying)

I think after adding up the man/women hours, it'll be third world wages - though for a feather in the cap of the first order.

Hopefully folks will someday have that Carter's reply to Carnarvon moment!

(P.S. I am doing the lightest lifting in our group's efforts)

You have lots of cool clue sets! On this one, the planter could legitimately log it as a find after the right cocktail ;)

Keep the Owl in play!

Got there too late for that one a couple of weeks ago :(

Personally, I'd go with the Jamaica VT clue on LbNA since he has logged on there August 2015 and responded to a find on the box. He hasn't logged on to AQ since 2009.

The current way of doing things is actually a far cry from the early days. Back then, we printed up clues and went hiking (usually not just a drive to the local rest area)... generally we had no idea who had last found the box, when the box had last been found, or if there had been any attempts where the box was not found -- we logged our finds in our logbooks and logbooks were private. Some were there, some were not. Either way, it was all in a day of letterboxing... for me personally, there was always joy in finding a box, but I can't say there was lack of joy in not finding a box... still an enjoyable walk in the woods, and a bit of mind exercise.

I spent a few winters reading every post (and there are a lot) of the first 4-5 years to try and capture the feeling of the early days of boxing and understand and appreciate the development of North American boxing (and not talk out my rear end about boxing so much). It was very interesting and I highly recommend it to all 2nd-5th wave boxers out there. Folks back in the day were literally waiting for a letterbox to be planted in their area( though they'd take a lot of long road trips for a single box) so they'd have a box to find that weekend. Boxers often posted about their weekend with details about the journey and finds. Just amazing personal interactions between the first rag tag bunch of letterboxing pioneers.

Just now I'm thinking that is why I enjoy finding and making mystery boxes. In a way it recreates that atmosphere of the first few years where you are planting boxes for other like-minded letterboxers and can be happy with a handful of finders & finds.

All i ask is you let me follow you around.

Don't know how Alaskans do their slackboxing, but around here we'd be following you!

;)

See ya on the trails!

Campsite 301

One place rules are needed to keep the hobbies from getting a black eye, as "don't be stupid"

It's always difficult to legislate out "stupid"!

By making everything "fool proof", the herd doesn't cull itself enough via Darwin Awards as nature intended.

We'll all be drinking Brawndo soon.

my gathering planning experience can be summarized as "lets meet at this cool bar"

I've experienced a PA Drink & Ink & Drink event where slack boxing turned into slosh boxing.

Whew! Just when I was gettin' worried my kids weren't on their smart phones enough.

Same for phone calls. They can sound so good.

But those guys from the "Windows Technical Departments" seem so nice

For all this, the stamp did come out pretty well

Kirbert, I bet you could manage a great image on a square of Jello

Mostly a presentation piece but there is little more to it than it appears

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?boxId=269461

When I rehid the box and stood up, a light bulb went off as I looked at our surroundings. The "bonus box" we just found was the box we had found only 15 minutes earlier. D'oh!!

“Your Honor, let the record show that the witness made the drinky-drinky motion"

Has there been any thought of automatically putting messages started into a draft file if they are not completed for one reason or another? I was involved in a lengthy AQ mail today and got distracted and pushed the wrong key

Yes! Please reference our trail name.

There are more options other than just L&L's vs. pouches, y'know.

Are we talking Skippy or Jiff?

I don't think they do need a baggie and I often leave them out.

Going commando!

it has become one of my top 2 pet peeves.

When did people forget that "then" doesn't mean the same thing as "than"?

Deer Topcollector!

Owe, aye no its knot Fare!
Sew watt will yew dew?

Hay, if aloud, aisle whey inn. Wear on you're sighed and where hear to prays yew, knot two berry ewe. Eye scents yew sea their is a reel laps inn sum currant righting stiles witch has maid a feint tern four the wurst. Are whee rite? Ore pleas worn us weather weir father aweigh off bass & mist the hole point of yaw lessen.

Weight, eye can here ewe awl grown!

Aye mite bee up schist creak butt aye doe nut want to bee band from cite.


weigh whey two much thyme on my hands . . . . .

Oh I hope not

You could rework the clue so the stamp just had to be like that.

Lemonade!

I don't know, unless the logbook is a key piece to the theme of each box of a series, I'm not really thinking "awesome, another logbook to stamp into. Two down and fourteen to go!".

I do respect the rights and wishes of the planter to want a trail stamp image in every box of a series as well as finders such as yourself not recording any box they find that doesn't contain a logbook out of principle.

Ten years plus BotW this week!

Congrats on both achievements!!!!!!!!

Look at the problem from a different frame of reference, and all the sudden it doesn't seem so "incredibly stupid". Hopefully these words will help others with other problems. We'll see.

We'll see!

So I can't even determine if this interloping box's clues would show that it was meant to be hidden in our spot, or if it was originally elsewhere.

Egypt on the Ipswich. It actually looks like Boston B's series predates your plant by several months, it was an honest mistake . . . .by you (March '09 vs July '09) You both have a good eye for locations it seems.

If they're hidden well these things can happen.

You might not have seen the series listed as there are restrictions on it. Perhaps you have not met the "plants" minimum for the series.

I reviewed the Egypt clues and they reference your box

BONUS - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Essex Explorers is in the same spot. This is a VERY busy area (this is the third placing of WONDER) so please be stealthy.

They have not logged in for a while but they seem to welcome your box as well as including in their note that their box went missing two times. That might be your answer to why the spot was empty at the time of your planting. I say coexist since they had no problem with the double booking!

I actually am one who believes if the owners are not active, the series should be retired.

I understand that this particular series builds a skeleton, however, why would the whole series require retirement if there are 6 other viable letterboxes to be had? There are plenty of great letterbox series out there that have been nicked up by a missing box (or two). More importantly, reading the comments by the boxers show those who have done this series really seemed to have enjoyed themselves regardless of a missing piece. Some even describe individual boxes that were "missing" for them that subsequent boxers later found. I assumed that you didn't mean all letterboxes by retired boxers on principle should be pulled.