Peace With Nature

Location: Rochester Hills, Oakland County, Mi
Planted By: Trailtroll (adopted)
Find Date: 5/5/2007
Find #: 51

Comments: We divined our way to this box. We found the Knowledge is Pleasant box first which is off the same Rail Trail. A lot of the landmarks for this box have changed, but we were able to figure it out after a while. There was a whole group of people hanging out. Took forever for them to finally leave so we could find the box. Cute little stamp. Nice place! See, this is really close to the place that creeped me out, but now I think it's really cool! It's all a matter of first impressions and how you view it, I guess. If the Knowledge box clues brought us in the back way, rather than in by that building and weird lake, it would have been much better! There was a nesting duck really close to the trail!

Guardians' Point

Location: Rochester Hills, Oakland County, Mi
Planted By: TrailTroll (adopted)
Find Date: 5/5/2007
Find #: 48

Comments: WOW! We had a hard time with this! You really have to be observant and think outside of the box on this one. We skipped ahead in the clues and managed to find our way to the box, though. Nice memorial!

Letterbox of Piglet

Location: Auburn Hills, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: TrailTroll (adopted)
Find Date: 5/5/2007
Find #: 47

Comments: Pretty cool park! Fun clues to follow along with. We got tripped up on a few of the clues here and there, but plodded along and made our way.

Chief Pontiac

Location: Hawthorne Park, Pontiac, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: TrailTroll
Find Date: 5/5/2007
Find #: 46

Comments: (I just realized while writing this blog that we found this box on its 2 year anniversary!) Very cool stamp! We never did see the rocket ship! The trail head is basically invisible from where you park. The place was crowded and we thought we looked like jackasses walking toward the tree line where there appeared to be nothing. Then, all of a sudden you could see the trail! Cool. I saw some really cool plant here. It looked dead, but then there were these flowers or leaves bursting into life off the dead ends. Very bizarre. I posted a picture, anyone know what this is? Had another run in with a garter snake! Getting used to them now. Good clues. Quick find, and still very muddy!

Wandering in the Wetlands (box 3)

Location: West Bloomfield Nature Preserve, West Bloomfield, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: Trail Troll
Find Date: 4/22/2007
Find #: 44

Comments: WOW, Camo tape rocks. We did manage to find this box on our second attempt, but it was HARD! That damn box was right out in the open, in plain sight and it took us forever to find it. There are a bunch of trees that could maybe fit the clues, so we weren't positive of the exact place we should look. But, we searched and searched and searched around and under and near every single possible tree in this area. This was the exact same area we searched and searched and searched back in November on our first attempt. We almost gave up a second time even though TT had confirmed that it was in place. Then, lo and behold, there it was!! I found it! Sweet victory! I swear it wasn't hidden or covered by anything but the tape. It was nearly impossible to see. Very cute stamp, well worth the second attempt. I didn't even fall and hurt myself this time! WooHoo! The woodland creature isn't the one I was expecting to see, but he's cuter!

The Nose Knows - version 2.0

Location: Robert Long Park, Walled Lake, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: TrailTroll
Find Date: 4/22/2007
Find #: 43

Comments: Very cute stamp! Very nice park and fun clues. This is a "revamped" box of the original box that was planted here by Delirium. That box moved out of state with Delirium. TrailTroll liked it so much she resurrected it. I never saw the original box, but I'm sure this does it justice!

Help Me Find My Bloomers

Location: West Bloomfield, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: TrailTroll
Find Date: 11/25/2006
Find #: 32

Comments: Really cute stamp! Had a very hard time with this one. Found the park okay, but had at least 3 false starts by following the clues to the wrong places. We'd misinterpret them, and they'd seem to make sense for a while and then wouldn't anymore. So, we had to start and stop a few times before we finally found the box. In the end, we conquered it!

Wandering in the Wetlands

Location: West Bloomfield Nature Preserve, West Bloomfield, Oakland County, MI
Planted By: TrailTroll
Find Date: 11/25/2006
Find #: 30-31

Comments: Very cool preserve, beautiful. Nice stamps, too. We found the first two boxes, but didn't manage to find the third box. We looked and looked, to no avail. There are so many squirrels or other critters here! We kept hearing them all around us. After while, it really started feeling like we were being followed! Weird. On the way from box 2 to 3, while I was rounding a bend, turning a corner and passing a dude coming from the opposite direction, I lost my balance and fell down with a yell and a thump. I messed up my ankle pretty bad and we were only about at the 1/2 way point on this looooong, hilly trail. I had to suck it up and walk the rest of the way out. What we won't do for letterboxing!

Tuscola County Courthouse

Location: Caro, Tuscola County, Mi
Planted By: Trail Troll
Find Date: 11/11/2006
Find #: 25

Comments: There was a contest of sorts on the Great Lakes message board at the end of 2006 between the states of Wisconsin and Michigan to see which state could get all of the counties "covered", meaning there was at least one actively planted box in each county. As part of this challenge I planted boxes in Jackson, Tuscola and Sanilac Counties. TrailTroll was the box planting queen of Michigan. Shes planted multitudes of boxes all over the state. She also planted a box in the last uncovered county in Michigan and won the challenge for us. I still can't believe the odds of what happened, but on the same day (11/4/2006) I planted a box in Tuscola County, TrailTroll planted this box! Our boxes were literally 20 feet from each other! I can't believe in all the places in this entire county, we both chose the (almost) exact same place, in the exact same park, in the exact same city! My box was intended to be a mystery box, but anyone looking at both sets of clues would immediately know the location of my box. So, the next week I went back up to Tuscola and re-planted my box in a different place in this county. While I was there, I "found" TrailTroll's box. I'm not entirely sure this counts as a find.... but, what can you do! Very nice stamp and great hiding spot.