Box ON! 2016

Battlefield Park, Stoney Creek, Ontario

Hello and welcome to my long neglected blog!  If you're just joining me, you'll find that you want to bash me in the head sometimes because I forget to post somewhat important things... One of those important letterboxing things is Ontario's premiere letterboxing event: Box ON!


Last year was the ninth year of Box ON! and was hosted by a brave letterboxer and his family who have not themselves been to one of these events.  I think the established letterboxing community would agree that he hosted a wonderful event that was enjoyed by all!  So many thanks and much kudos to Bon Echo for hosting an amazing event!

For this edition of Box ON!, we all headed to Stoney Creek, Ontario to Battlefield Park, which was (is) located helpfully off of the highway and has direct access to the Bruce Trail.

As per usual for these events, it was lovely to reconnect with Ontario boxers and meet some folks who drove in from out of the Province - the carvings were spectacular as usual, and Mother Nature held out for us and only gave us a sprinkle at the end of the day.

Which way is north? An important question in Hamilton where the lake is north, unlike most of Southern Ontario.

 Myself, I loved the venue because I am growing every increasingly appreciative of historic buildings and places...  I haven't had a chance to visit during the war reenactments, but it's something I may look into.

 In fact, this place is a bit of a historic letterboxing location for myself.  One of Gwynlais' purple-diamond-worthy letterboxes, which has been planted since 2010, is still alive and well.  Although I have already found this box, because the folks I was boxing with wanted to claim the find for themselves, I got to see my old log from spring 2011 (now six years ago, what?!) and one of my original signature stamp impressions.

A letterboxing find from 2011.

Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well this day, so I didn't find as many boxes as I would have liked, but it was a lovely visit and a wonderful day to be boxing.

Thems some boxes in them thar rocks.

 So many thanks once again to Bon Echo who did a fantastic job.  Fiddleheads has once again taken the chair for Box ON! 2017 - Time Warp.  This will be the 10th year of the Ontario event and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again - hope everyone will sign up!

Happy (Bruce) trails!

Bruce Trail marker, Stony Creek, Ontario

Carving, carving, carving... {SPOILERS}

Ahoy!  I've been having a great, but busy, summer so far and I'm really looking forward to the end of August because I've got some time off and am doing a staycation.  Need to get out there and do some letterboxing during that time,  methinks ;)

One of the things I've been working on is helping Bon Echo with some stamps for Box ON! Stoney Creek. {You should come!  For anyone reading this who doesn't know where Stoney Creek is, it's just a short drive from the US border if anyone wanted to make the trek}  And one of the stamps I just finished is the event stamp...  Read on if you don't mind being spoiled ;)

Throwing a stamp in the mail...

Does anyone else have a moment of panic that you wrote the address right on an envelope after it leaves your hands at the post office?

On Monday, I finished a fun carve that I've sent off to GreenSpirit who was kind enough to host this year's Box ON! event.  I remember writing something on the front of the envelope.  I sorta remember writing my return address.

Don't worry.  I'm sure my stamp will reach GreenSpirit.  I think it's sort of like driving; you suddenly arrive at a location but have no recollection of the actual drive itself.

I hope.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to Box ON!, not just because of the letterboxing, but because it will be really nice to catch up with everyone.

Hope everyone is having a great summer :)