Green Hour- Letterboxing at Langton Lake

I think we have found a new family hobby. I've been wanting to try letterboxing for a while and Mother's Day weekend seemed like a good time to give it a go.

Letterboxing is a lot like geocaching, but without the GPS device. People hide a letterbox equipped with a log and stamp in a hidden location and post clues about it on letterboxing websites like Letterboxing North America or Atlas Quest. You print off or copy the clues and head to the specified location with a logbook and stamp of your own. We used a three ring binder for our logbook. In the front half we stuck the printed directions to several letterboxes we want to visit soon and in the back half, we put some blank pages for recording our finds. I cut a stamp out of a new sponge so we could stamp the logbook.

Finally we packed up our "treasure hunting bag" and headed for Langton Lake, which is apparently not far from our house at all. The thrill of discovery hit immediately as we turned in the drive to the lake. I've lived in this area for approximately 23 of my 30 years and, although I have driven past the turn to this park a thousand times I never even knew it was there.



We followed the path to the South side of the lake, to the ruins of an old stone smokehouse, a very interesting discovery in itself.


From there we found the hollow tree, and inside it, the treasure. I think Zach and I were as excited as the girls.

We stamped our book and theirs, stopping to play a while near the ruins. Daddy even showed us how to make a whistle out of an acorn shell. It was a great little adventure, all for the cost of a clean sponge and the gas it took to get to the lake. I think we are hooked!