Lucky in Dublin - Riverboxes Geotrail

The Dublin Arts Council really know how to treat a Cacher!

Dublin, Ohio is now known for more than Cornhenge!

ShelleyJean and I headed to Dublin (a suburb of Columbus) for their Riverboxes geotour!  Located along the Scioto River, this series included 18 Letterbox stops (5 not listed on the app) plus a 5-stop Adventure Lab to earn a prized Chris Mackey geocoin + 2 path tags! 

Download their passport and pack your stamp & stamp pad (or Bingo dauber - cheap & portable ink!). 

Now, I don't normally post spoiler pictures, but so many of these Letterboxes are so special and widely photographed. If you wish to see them yourself and stay surprised, just scroll to the bottom of this post to see the really cool geocoins!

**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**

First stop (for us) was the Big Turtle, but be prepared to wait. This was a very popular park, and there were a lot of mini-muggles who stopped by to pet the turtle and his friends. This was a great start to our adventure!

Big Turtle Riverbox GC8KT24

While visiting the Big Turtle, make sure you stop for a visit with old "Leatherlips"! Last time I was here a pandemic sprung up - hoping this visit will reverse the curse!

Sha-Te-Yah-Ron-Ya Virtual GC7B8FP

After Leatherlips, we headed letterbox-to-letterbox, running along one side of the Scioto River and up the other side. This was a good plan because, after the last letterbox, we were in a great place to start the sequential Dublin Limerick Adventure Lab.

House of Spirits Riverbox GC9R8AC

Here is one of the new Riverboxes. They had a big roll-out event in August, and it's situated on such a lovely riverwalk - packed with pedestrians! Completed both Equal East and Equal West for a special path tag.

Equal East Riverbox GC9RFVN

Geocoin embedded in the base!

Next up was this beauty following a lovely boardwalk, where we spied blue herons perched in trees. Fitting, isn't it?

Vigilant Vegetation II Riverbox GC8KM4X

Don't get so fixated on the hide that you don't look around!

Didn't they always say that Ohio is flat?!? Climbing down under the road to this new beauty - I could really feel it in my calves at this point! There was a lot of ups-and-downs -- at another letterbox, it was 230 footfalls from the top of the stairs down to the river and then back up!

Equal West Riverbox GC9NAYM

Another coin in the base!

This big guy is 6 years old! He's looking pretty good, isn't he? Imagine our thrill when we spied him amongst the pine trees!

Sentinel Riverbox GC6TB7M

Caementum Charta II Riverbox GC8KM5B

I will admit I have one regret about this tour... we can only give 1 Favorite Point to a geocache! Finnian is my favorite (and final) find this year! Isn't he amazing? Well worth the trek to his hiding spot!

The Forest Witch and the Witless Fellow, Finnian GC6QAJH

It was a relaxing drive down, an enjoyable day of caching, and we ended it walking and dining downtown. Perfect adventure in such a pretty community!

Thank you to the Dublin Arts Council! We will be back!

Brummelbear's Letterbox - the Big Day!

It's finally here!

Sunny skies greeted us on Saturday as we gathered in Royal Oak to celebrate Brummelbear! It's like he was smiling down on us as 70+ friends gathered at First Presbyterian. 

First we setup his Letterbox containers - 23 cachers went home with a complete kit including stamp, ink, logbook, golf pencils, trademark Brummelbear pencil sharpeners and swag. Will they take the 1-year Brummelbear challenge? We already heard that 1 has been hidden/submitted and two are in the works!

The other side of the awesome fireplace (why didn't I take pictures of the fireplace?!?!) were the raffle prizes! Stamp journal & ink pads, rubber stamp-making kit, Tiger goods, rooster steampunk geocoin, and...

Michigan State Park guides and stickers! We have the geotour coming this summer!

So much fun! We had lines of people even before the event began - LINES OF FRIENDS joining us for fun, and TaGeez checked them all in!

Look at our cool logbook! It's a letterboxing event so, anyone who checked in with a stamp received an extra raffle ticket! Quite a few of them are home made! And we had an event stamp for their books, too!

And for the first 48 through the door (we had over 70!), we gave out these cool packets! I wrote this newsletter about hiding & finding letterboxes, items to carry in your letterboxing pack, and the top 10 letterboxes in Michigan. After the event, there were groups who went out and found some of the local ones! I LOVED reading those logs.

Packets had the newsletter, a stamp journal, packet of Wet Ones plus a raffle ticket.

And much love from the family! My brother & sister-in-law secured the room for us, set out coffee & water, and were just awesome in their support. Little sister, WikidKriket, came to share the love, too!

TaGeez, WikidKriket and Scrapcat

And they came! We counted over 70 friends joined us for the celebration!

Including his wife (Diana), sister (Harriet) and one of our speakers (Bruce of Bapman Crew)! Bruce kicked off the presentations with a great history of letterboxing wherein warship would notify the supply ships of battle victories and destinations by leaving messages behind in rock piles. As with the other presenters, Bruce also shared some of his favorite letterbox stories, too.

Looks like a lot of happy faces! 

After Bruce, Tim (Rattrak) spoke of his favorite letterboxes and tips for hiding letterboxes, too.

In between the presenters, I energized the crowds with a little audience participation (rewarding raffle tickets) and letterboxing tales, too.

Roger (South Lyon Trekkers) rounded off the presentations with letterbox stamps. As he started his presentation, Roger said, "Everything I need for this presentation is in my clothes." And the rest was just as fun! It was a good 20 minutes of pre-made stamps, custom stamps and (woo hoo!) handmade stamps. 

Success! Victory dance with Caching Fire afterwards!

Speaking of which, I put together a letterbox journal with a trackable attached, and its already made its way to Alaska!

The Triangle Stamp is our event stamp!

It was a beautiful event, and I really think we would've made Brummelbear proud.  Tired, happy... TaGeez and I relaxed afterwards in Atwood at the Park while our friends enjoyed the Letterboxes nearby. We're keeping our eyes open to see how many new letterboxes appear in the next year.

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Creation Celebration: Brummelbear’s Letterboxes

FIVE DAYS TO GO!

Join us in Royal Oak for Brummelbear's Letterbox - hiding or finding Letterbox Hybrid geocaches and all-about-stamps! Learn how-to from Rattrak, Bapman Crew and South Lyon Trekkers!

Swag bags for the first 48 attendees, dozens of giveaways from Brummelbear's private stash, five larger raffle prizes, plus the Creation Celebration souvenir! Sign the log with your Letterbox stamp to receive an extra ticket in the raffles!

Saturday, April 13th from 12:30 to 2:30.

https://coord.info/GC84TG7

Brummelbear's Letterboxes

The Spring before he passed, Brummelbear took me aside during the Belle Isle event. He made me promise that I would host a Letterboxing hybrid geocache event. Then he proceeded to unload boxes of letterboxing supplies into my car. 

This year the Belle Isle event is dedicated to dear Brummelbear, and, with the advent of Geocaching.com's Creation Celebration, it seemed like the perfect time to host this event.

Don't forget the Creation Celebration souvenir!

Located at the First Presbyterian Church in Royal Oak, this event will feature three presenters

Starmps are a part of the celebration so, for fun, I ordered this nifty trackable stamp from Cache-Corner.de (Germany). We will use this stamp at the Brummelbear Letterboxes event and when we visit special caches on our travels.

I can't wait for the event - it's going to be such fun! I hope everyone can attend!

Geocaching and Scouting - An Unbeatable Pair

Congratulations to 3inaTree (Jeremy, Robyn and Andrew) on your 1,000th find and your 1st cache!

To help Andrew and other Scouts earn their Geocaching merit badges, 3inaTree hosted the Taco Tuesday - Geocaching Merit Badge event GC5JP95 this past Tuesday.

With the awesome help of Merit Badge Counselor srstuart, one Scout completed his merit badge requirements and several more are closer to completing theirs.

A special thank you to TaGeez for hiding a nearby Letterbox (On My Honor GC5KN37) as a first-to-find reward for all attendees.

Sand Spiders, Horse Hawks, and Forgotten Fish

I thought I'd share some more silly pictures from the expedition after theGrundalow's 7 Souvenirs of August Kickoff Event GC54D98.

TaGeez, WikidKriket, DarrylW4, AFishOutOfWater and I hit the new letterbox at Hartsig Park!

Collecting Stamps in the Land of Hartsig (Park) GC58WM0 was a fun adventure involving dwarves, Swallowing Sands, Sand Spiders, Horse Hawks, Hydra Trees and a Forgotten Fish!

Art Exhibition GC51VWN

Had fun playing in a Rogue River Viaduct today - STF!