Susquehanna Valleys

After a brief 3 hours of sleep, RGBisMe and I woke up to go hiking with Janila and Sepia Slipper. We were tired but had good memories of the evening before. They say that Hallowe'en is the time that the veil between the spirit world and our own is the thinnest. The new solar lights had were dotted through the cemeteries we drove past that night and the next early morning had me convinced of that. They were spooky like they never had been before.

This was the last day before Daylight Savings Time took effect and we hoped to find a good handful of letterboxes while visiting on the trail. The drive to our destination near Halifax had us discussing geocaches and letterboxes. We wondered how the owners of either felt when the clues or write up mentions the other is nearby. I have always found that as a geocacher, if I mention in my online log that a letterbox is nearby (without naming it) it will give a heads up to other geocachers who might either want to be aware, avoid or check out the box. Awareness is a good thing so that the stamp isn't swapped out of the letterbox as a trade item by accident. When a letterbox mentions the location of a nearby geocache in it's clues it can encourage the same kind of interest or awareness but can be a spoiler if the geocache is a multi-stage cache.

With a delay getting our breakfast, we were almost late meeting Janila and Sepia Slipper. We all got to the same location as the sun was high enough to light the way but not enough to warm the mountain chill. We hiked and were successful in finding the first two letterboxes in the golden morning light.

A bit of a drive to the next location allowed me to enjoy the scenic valley. With planning for Scotia's Scary Secrets, I hadn't been too far south for a while and forgot that the trees there might still hold some color.

We drove into the parking area to seek a letterbox series called JEI Conservation Area by teachers' pet. We could hear gunshots in the distance and it reminded us all to keep on our blaze orange for our gentle hike along the many trails of the area. A few ticks started making appearances as odd moving freckles here and there. By the end of the day we knew a full body tick check would be needed.

The well paced loop took us searching for six letterboxes. We had success for all boxes we sought in this park and all were in fine shape. The trails were friendly enough that we could walk at a good pace and still freely catch up with what had been going on in each other's lives. Finally, the last box brought us near our cars and we drove on to find a snack and some gas before heading on to another park and then into Harrisburg.

We were royal slack boxers in town. We had only planned on having time to hike the trails but the speedy and efficient Janila and Sepia Slipper shared their clues with us so that we could prolong our visit and check out some boxes of the Booshmen we had been wanting to see. Speaking of the Booshmen, who did we meet right after stamping into a couple of their new boxes? The mighty Booshmen themselves! They were up for a nice visit right there on the lawn and made time to exchange with Janila & Sepia Slipper. We had been talking about them earlier on the trail as to how we felt they were such conscientious letterboxers. This showed in the way they cared for each stamp they took impressions of and didn't get discouraged if letterbox or personal traveler clues weren't quite coming together. They were careful and patient and we were glad to see them again on their own turf.

As the sun finally started to fade, we tried to find a location we were a little vague on it's starting place. My feet were tired and we had 10 more boxes than I had ever thought we would have that day, but Janila's positive, "What do we have to lose?" made us game to try. A wrong turn was fortuitous in that it dumped us right into the parking lot we were looking for but the final box was not to be found.

We parted ways with Sepia Slipper and Janila. I look forward to the next time we can get together because they are not driven by number of miles or boxes but by the good times we are having during the time spent.

We ran into the Booshmen in three parks that afternoon and we waved farewell to Janila as we stood and talk to them for a good spell. The younger Booshman was interested in taking advantage of one of my PTs and I was glad to comply. It gave us a chance to get to know each other better and share letterboxing styles. I was getting hungry and asked how to get back to a nice Mexican restaurant I had seen by an earlier park. The elder Booshmen was glad to tell us that the same folks owned another restaurant just blocks away. Our initial take on them has been reinforced, they are thoughtful Booshmen indeed.

Our evening ended with a very good meal. Not even the tick I spied on RGBisMe's arm could spoil the good memories of the day. He took it outside, put it on the curb and returned to finish his warm meal as we looked through the stamp images we collected. Each one holds a different memory of a day spent in the valleys near the Susquehanna River.