Jennifer Fontaine

I first heard the term Letterboxing a few weeks ago on the popular #HikerChat tweetchat on twitter and I was immediately intrigued. As you can imagine, I am always trying to find new and exciting ways to keep my 3 year old’s feet and mind motivated on the trail, so I made a beeline over to John Soltys of moosefish.com with an invitation to explain it to us all! Luckily, he accepted and now we have one more tool in our arsenal!

I have three kids. That means there are nine possible answers to the question, “Who wants to go outside?” Regardless of the destination, it always seemed there was some dissent when I tried to rally the kids for an adventure.

Kids aren’t as motivated by views or nature as adults. They don’t feel the need to disconnect from their screens or push pause on their responsibilities. I want to reestablish my place in the natural world. They want to do something.

So now we letterbox and everyone wants to go almost all the time.

Letterboxing is akin to geocaching in that you’re looking for a hidden container. However, unlike geocaching it doesn’t require a GPS or an understanding of coordinates. Instead, you find letterboxes by following clues like this:

Continue for a few switchbacks and there will be a large group of boulders on the left. Go to the top side of the topmost boulder. In the middle, there is an opening under the rock, reach deep and you will find it!

(More devious letterbox planters will encode the clues requiring some work to figure them out. Plan for an extra few minutes deciphering 19-07-04 18-04-02-17-04-19 12-04-18-18-00-06-04. (Hint: It’s a substitution cipher where A=00, B=01, etc. If you have trouble, try the rumkin.com tool: http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/substitution.php))

Each letterbox holds at least a stamp and a log book. (90% of the stamps you’ll find are hand carved and some are true works of art.) When you search for a letterbox you should bring your own log book, your own stamp, and an ink pad. When you find the letterbox you use the box’s stamp to mark your log book and your stamp to mark the box’s log book. Then you rehide the letterbox for the next person to find.

But wait! Some letterboxes will have a mini letterbox inside the main letterbox. These are hitchhikers. The stamps and log books are tiny and they’re meant to be moved from one letterbox to another. We’ve moved hitchhikers between Oregon, Washington, and Arizona and it’s always nice to think we helped them on their way.

You can find letterboxes near you by using AtlasQuest.com. AQ is the best of the letterboxing sites with over 163,000 active letterboxes listed. There are over 80,000 in the United States alone and even letterboxes in places like Antarctica! (Pro tip for iPhone users: Get the app called Clue Tracker. You can ask it for any letterboxes within a few miles of your current location.)

We have a small bag that holds all our letterboxing gear. In addition to a family log book, each of the kids has their own log book and ink pad. (You wouldn’t expect the kids to all like the same color, would you?) We also carry a pair of gardening gloves, a small flashlight, baby wipes (almost as useful as duct tape), and a backscratcher for reaching letterboxes where there might be creepy crawlies.

In the summer of 2013 we took our first family road trip. It took six hours to drive from our home to Bend, Oregon. I’m not sure we’d have made it without letterboxing. We found boxes at rest stops, in parks, and even at Ikea. We found 13 letterboxes over the course of 10 days. Getting out of the car even for just a few minutes to stretch their legs and minds kept the kids sane and that kept my wife and me mostly sane, too.

In addition to finding letterboxes you can plant them, too. Get a waterproof package, carve a stamp, write the clues, and register it on AQ. Don’t forget to make sure you have the permission of the land owner even if it’s a National Forest or wilderness. (Bonus: When you plant a letterbox you get access to “Restricted” boxes.)

Most importantly, letterboxing allows us to have fun outside together. My kids never move down a trail faster than when they’re looking for a rock that looks like a face or a tree with a beard. I don’t know how long they’ll enjoy letterboxing, but while it lasts you can be sure we’ll be carrying our gear whenever we leave home.

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About the Author

I’m a father, a husband, an adventurer, and a hacker. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and I never consider leaving, even when it rains for 100 days straight. I dream of days when I can turn off my computer and explore our amazing world with my family.

You can find us where the road heads up into the mountains, tucked against the river, at the end of a dirt road. I write at moosefish.com, tubbssnowshoes.com, and wta.org. I’m on twitter as @moosefish and instagram as mrmoosefish.

I had never heard of bulgur until I met my husband 17 years ago, but once I tried it, I was a fan! Bulgur is a really light and fluffy whole wheat grain that is naturally high in fiber and low in fat. It’s the grain that you’ll find in a traditional tabbouleh recipe and it’s a staple in our pantry. Ready in 15 minutes, this dish is definitely a quick, healthy and delicious mid-week family meal that won’t break the bank! Enjoy!

Ingredients

9oz of Bulgur

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 tablespoons of Butter

1 large Shallot

1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence

1 Orange Bell Pepper

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

3oz Herbed Goat Cheese

Salt & Pepper

Start the bulgur to cook in a deep pot, following the directions on the package. Meanwhile, thinly slice the shallots and in a heated pan with the olive oil and butter, saute them on a low heat for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the bell peppers and then add them and the herbs de Provence to the shallots. Once the bulgur is ready, drop the goat cheese into the bulgur in tiny dollops, then pour in the shallot and bell pepper mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the goat cheese is fully melted and incorporated. Serve and enjoy!