Letterboxing-Stamping Meets Geocaching

A recent pin about ways to get your teen and tween-aged kids off the couch caught my eye. I am always looking for ways to engage my 13-year-old in non-electronic activities, especially during these long school-free summer days. He swims at least two hours six days a week, so I'm not concerned about a lack of exercise. I just want him to DO SOMETHING ELSE! It thrilled me to stumble upon this fun looking activity...letterboxing.

A creative precursor to geocaching, letterboxing is similar in that you seek treasures hidden in places far and wide, often times using clues and fun puzzles to find your way. Instead of a little trinket, a letterbox will contain a stamp, usually handcarved, and a log book. Everyone who finds the letterbox will then use the stamp to stamp in their own record book, and then stamp a "signature" stamp in the logbook of the letterbox. How fun! Everything is then furtively put back in place for the next seeker to discover.

What really excites me is the creative aspects of letterboxing. I can't WAIT to try my hand at stamp carving, and have sketched out a simple image to use as my signature stamp:

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Already a little modification will be needed, as I found out there is another letterboxer with the "MadFox" moniker. I might just have to go with "Foxy" for my trail name! Tee-hee! Oh yes, it's a whole other language!  If you're interested, here are two places with information on this family friendly, outdoors activity:

Letterboxing North America

Atlas Quest: A Letterboxing Community