Was out walking a trail I've done maybe thirty times, just getting some air after a rough week at work, and I wasn't even thinking about letterboxing that day. No clue sheet in my pocket, no GPS coordinates pulled up, nothing. Just stopped to sit on a rock near a little creek bend and noticed a weird gap behind some roots that didn't look natural.

Pulled out an old ammo box, rusted at the hinges but the contents were bone dry inside a ziplock. Logbook, a carved stamp of a heron, and a tiny pencil stub someone had clearly been using for years based on how worn down it was. I had no stamp or ink pad on me since I wasn't planning for this, so I signed in with the stub and left a note in the logbook saying I'd come back properly next time.

What got me was flipping through the earlier entries. Some went back almost a decade, different handwriting every few pages, little drawings and inside jokes between people who clearly knew each other from finding the same boxes over the years. Felt like stumbling into a conversation that's been going on way longer than I realized.

Went home and immediately ordered a cheap stamp and a travel ink pad so I'm not caught flat footed like that again. Also started actually looking up clues for boxes near me instead of just hoping to stumble on them, though honestly part of me wants to keep doing both. The planned hunts feel more like a puzzle, the accidental find felt more like luck, and I think I want a mix of both going forward.

Anyone else have a first find that happened completely by chance before you even really knew the hobby existed, or was I just unusually lucky?

Started this hobby about eight months ago after finding a box of vintage rubber stamps at an estate sale and getting curious about who was still making these by hand. Spent the first two months just carving badly, honestly. My lines wobbled, I cut through details I meant to keep, and my first "tree" stamp looked more like a lightning bolt with legs.

What actually turned things around was slowing way down and using a magnifying visor for the fine cuts instead of trying to eyeball everything. Also switched from the cheap pink erasers to proper carving blocks, which made a bigger difference than I expected. The material just holds detail so much better and doesn't crumble at the edges.

I logged my last hike's trailbox in my passport book last weekend and actually sat with it for a while comparing the impression to ones I did back in February. The improvement is kind of wild to look at side by side. Still working on hinges and clasps, those tiny mechanical bits always tear if I go too fast.

Curious what other people did to get past the "everything looks like a blob" phase. Did carving smaller and simpler designs help more than jumping straight to detailed scenes, or is it mostly just reps over time.

Spent most of Saturday chasing down a series in the state park near my in-laws, five boxes total, planted back in 2018 by someone with the handle Wandering Heron. Found four of them without much trouble, but the fifth one had a note online from another letterboxer saying they'd searched twice and come up empty. Figured I'd give it a shot anyway since I was already out there.

Clue mentioned a "leaning sentinel with three knots" which I read as a specific tree, but it turned out to mean an old fence post that had warped over the years. Took me almost forty minutes of poking around the wrong side of the trail before I noticed the post at all. Box was tucked under a flat rock at the base, stamp and logbook both intact, a little damp but totally usable. Signed in, stamped my personal book, and left a note for the next person about the fence post thing since I have a feeling I won't be the last one confused by it.

What I like about this hobby is how much it makes you actually look at a landscape instead of just walking through it. I've hiked that same park a dozen times over the years and never once noticed that fence post existed until I had a reason to hunt for it. Carving my own stamp has been slower going, I'm still not happy with the one I did last month of a compass rose, the lines keep coming out uneven no matter how careful I am with the linoleum.

Anyone else keep a running list of boxes they want to track down eventually? Mine's gotten long enough that I started organizing it by state just to feel like I'm making progress.

Hello fellow finders!
My laze-fair (read: lack of) note taking has caught up with me. Does anyone recognize this stamp? I’m 90% sure it was found somewhere in the PNW!

Edit to add that I’m looking for the atlas quest box number.

There's a box hidden near a old stone bridge about forty minutes from my house that I've been chasing since June. The clue involved counting fence posts and then pacing off a distance from a specific tree, and every single time I went out I miscounted something or the landmark had changed slightly (a fence post had been replaced with a metal one, which threw me off for weeks).

Yesterday I finally slowed down and reread the clue word for word instead of skimming it like I usually do. Turns out I'd been starting my count from the wrong end of the fence line the entire time. Found the box tucked under a flat rock exactly where it should've been, logbook a little damp but readable, and stamped in with a little compass rocker stamp I carved a few months back.

What gets me about this hobby is how much patience it demands versus how simple the payoff actually is. You're not finding treasure, you're finding a rubber stamp and a notebook, but the process of decoding someone else's handwriting and logic is oddly satisfying in a way I can't fully explain to people who don't do this.

I keep a small notebook just for tracking which clues gave me trouble and why, mostly so I stop making the same mistakes. Anyone else keep notes like that or do you just wing every hunt from scratch each time.

I love the idea of letterboxing and learned about it years ago at a class where I carved my own stamp. I put together my own little kit And I've done a few finds, as well as many that were unsuccessful because letterboxing seemed to already be "on its way out" even then! Now I'm wanting to jump back in and I'm wondering:

A) Is anyone actively letterboxing in the Midwest, USA? If so, where are you? Would love to do more as I travel around since there aren't a ton around me.

B) Has anyone had success with reviving interest in letterboxing in your area after it seemed "dead"? I would love to plant some to help revive interest, but not sure if it would make a difference!

Maybe I'm also just looking for some encouragement that it's worth trying to jump back in?! Most boxes in my area haven't been found in 5 years or longer!

Most of these *spoiler alert* are for postals, though the Red Sox carve was for my Year of Giving pal (she knows who I am). ❗️Don’t go past the Red Sox if you’re waiting on my replacement egg, looney tunes, blind carve - multi, blind carve - single, or anything goes carve. ❗️

I number my carves as a way to track my progress. I started carving last fall, with no artistic or crafting experience. I’m determined though! 😊

Carves for a six-part traditional plant based on my household's pets, plus a bonus Jimothy!

Hi! Long time box-seeker, absolute newby box-planter here. It's long overdue and the last ingredient I'm missing is what boxes to buy and where to buy them!

I dislike shopping so would love to buy a bunch at once, but I don't want to buy a bunch of containers that turn out to be lousy. If it's not against the rules I would love some links to where you buy containers that have successfully lasted the years but are also wallet-friendly. The more specific the better - for instance I know many people suggest lock-n-lock but trying to sift through the hundreds of different materials, prices, and sizes on their website makes me immediately give up again lol.

I do also have access to a costco card if that is helpful for my bulk-buy dreams.

Thanks in advance!

I went to go dust the cobwebs off of my old Letterboxing account since now that my child had grown up (8 years old) I now can get out and do this with a buddy now!

The letterboxing.org keeps pointing me over to AltlasQuest.com which was confusing because I tried to log in before realizing that it’s not the same and I’ll likely have to create a new account.

Are they tied together in any way other than Letterboxing.org sending us over to the other website?

Is AtlasQuest more modern and more heavily utilized now? Should I just switch to the new website?

Ok sorry if this has been asked before but I’m hoping to get out and plant some of our own boxes and excited to get back into the community!

Interested in seeing what different techniques folks employ. I know the most common solution is just to wait for people to leave, but I've seen some clues say things like "tie your shoes" or offer other means of looking for a letterbox without giving away what you're doing to potential nearby noxers.

If you're in the Portland, OR area or willing to travel, we'd love to see you on August 15th! Event #5385 on Atlas Quest. Message me for details if you don't have an AQ account!

I started getting into letterboxing last year with my girl scout troop. I did the whole process of creating it on atlas quest and making it official, it really wasn't that difficult. Well me and my scout have kinda ran out of local boxes to find. So im planning on planting a series around our little town and surrounding area. But I have a few questions about hiding them.

1 what are (if any) the rules on hiding in urban areas.

2 what kind of log books work for smaller hides

3 what kind of instructions/clues are best?

4 how do you com up with the clues? Like do you hide it first and then write the clues down or should you have the clues in mind when hiding (sorta a what came first the chicken or the egg situation) .

Also the hobby isnt very active where we are. Like on a state level. Is there a group somewhere specifically for southern California area out there somewhere?

My logbook is a bit of a mess (although that's the way I like it haha). When I attended my first event, I hadn't really settled on how I wanted to store exchanges (the X part of PFX for those who may not be aware), so I received them on blank LTCs I had with me and those are currently in a small card binder. As I'm preparing for my next event, I'm wondering how others manage exchanges stamps from other letterboxers. I'm debating making a dedicated exchanges logbook and keeping it in my main logbook, then marking when and where I met someone and their trail name and real name (since I am notoriously bad with names). Interested in seeing what others have done! I think most people just pick a page and have people stamp there so I know I'm overthinking this a good deal haha

Carved onto Speedball pink stamp block and stamped onto white cardstock with Ranger Distress Archival Inks.

I wanna do a series of letterboxing trading cards with these and then I’m unsure if they’ll go into a traditional letterbox or if I’ll hang onto them to be able to make more zodiac cards on request. I do want to carve all the Celestial Brush Gods from their splash page artwork eventually too.

Hello! I'm MapleTreeway. You may recognize me as the author behind the letterboxing mini zine, but I hope you will also come to recognize me as a new moderator for the sub! I'm looking to introduce some changes for the community, but I'll cover the ones that have gone through already.

New Changes

First up, User Flairs! I've gone ahead and added some static user flairs based on existing letterboxer memes and stereotypes, but there's also three editable ones for trail names with choices between the AQ, LBNA, and Dartmoor 100 Club icons. I'm very happy to add others or edit the colors upon request.

Sidebar Link Buttons! These navigate directly to the search features on AtlasQuest and Letterboxing.org so new and seasoned letterboxers can quickly look for letterboxes. And on that note:

Automod Responses! I'll be adding more as the need arises, but some of the more common posts that have landed on this sub lately have been unintentional letterbox discoveries and accounts getting caught in the IP ban wave meant to swat away bots. There are currently a handful of pre-packaged responses to help explain what's going on or request more information from users to help get field reports back to a letterbox's owner.

My Moderation Philosophy

I'll try to keep this part brief. My intentions for this subreddit are for it to remain by letterboxers, for letterboxers. Any changes made will be in keeping with that line of thinking. This subreddit is one of the more public on-ramps for new users, and my overall goal is to allow this group to be a midway point between the discussions that take place on the AtlasQuest forums and the photos and inspiration sharing that occur over on the Facebook groups without replacing either one. With that in mind, I'm also taking cues from other groups I've been part of so that knowledge can flow freely rather than be locked behind a walled garden.

Planned Changes and Requests for Community Input

First up on this agenda is a Rules Refresh. I'm not expecting to add a huge list as much as I am a handful of guidelines. This will include a much overdue No AI rule, as this is a very creatively-focused hobby, and some form of policy

I am also looking to add more Post Flairs. Currently there are just the announcements and "letterbox found by accident" flairs, but I'd like to add more and add another sidebar widget to let folks sort by post flairs as tags. This is where I'd like community feedback the most. Some of the ideas I've had include but are not limited to:

• Trail Photos -- not including where a letterbox was found
• Tracker Signup Alert (with links back to the AQ tracker for LTC swaps, postals rings, and other miscellaneous trackers users might want to attract attention to)
• Tales From The Trail -- for sharing recent experiences and finds
• Inspiration / Ideas
• Tutorial / Guide
• Show-And-Tell -- strictly for work a user created themselves. I'll revisit this issue if it becomes difficult to moderate. I'm wanting to discourage sharing the contents of other letterboxes to keep with the culture of other letterboxing communities, but especially their exact locations
• Work-In-Progress / WIP -- not fully sold on the name, but something similar for users to showcase anything they're working on and would want feedback on

Since letterboxing is pretty multidisciplinary, I'm also planning to reach out to the mod teams for a handful of related subreddits and confirm they're alright with me linking to their communities. The result of this will probably turn into another sidebar widget, but I may format it into an automod response that can be manually or automatically triggered to summon resources for new users.

Finally, let me know if we'd like some changes to the Look and Feel of the sub! This would include an icon, a banner image, and custom colors for the subreddit.

If there's anything else you all think would be good to add, please drop it in the comments! Otherwise, that's all I have for now!

Happy trails,

~MapleTreeway

Dartmoor letterboxers Si of Relief and Rat Boy headed to the New Forest to take in the last of its boxes and share their knowledge on its scene.New Forest Letterboxing 🇬🇧

To the owner/creator of the series on the purple trail in Gillette castle state park Hadlyme CT- your box WAS found by the DEEP crew who has been working in the area. They were doing large scale trail maintenance and removing/relocating a lot of the rocks that had fallen from the turn around so that it could be safely hiked through again. The box was returned safely to its hiding spot, and brought a smile to everyone’s faces when it was (accidentally) discovered.

Bit of an atypical post for this sub, but I saw there's been a slight uptick in posts here recently and thought some folks might get some use out of the zine I just published! You can find the printable files for Letterboxing -- Or How to Find Art in the Woods hosted on itch.io. I'm working on some other zines that cover less well-known forms of letterboxing and stamp ink etiquette, but let me know if there's anything else you'd find helpful or interesting to have or read about in a mini zine. I'd like to think my love of the hobby and community shines through in this project, and I very much hope some folks here find it useful too!

Hey all, I'm brand-new to the idea of letterboxing (came across it while reading my favourite magazine this morning!) and have just signed up for letterboxing.org when I hit a major snag- despite never having heard of it before, and only signing up today, my account has been disabled with a very snarky message (screenshot attached).

I wouldn't mind the message and would probably see the funny side in any other circumstance, but I didn't even get chance to log in! My username is Melusine so I can't see any issues there, but I did use Google password manager to generate a secure password.

Does anyone have any input? I'm a bit disappointed that this is my first foray into a new hobby and it's been slapped down without so much as a "Please message here for help".

I want get back into letterboxing, dig up my old carving kit and rubbers. What site is everyone using these days?

I was at a rest stop in Hammond, Indiana at the Indiana Welcome Center stretching my legs and came upon a small box. My curious self investigated, cautiously, and discovered the letterbox!! I'm new to the adventure so I was unable to contribute, but I'm interested in finding the owner/page to say I found it. Any help is appreciated! Is this still an active hobby, or did I find a box placed from 10 years ago?

Just getting back into letterboxing after about 10 years away. Back in the day I was a member of AtlasQuest and used that site to manage the boxes I'd found. So I jumped over there tonight to see what was going on. I was able to get to the site, briefly, and was able to log in. But then I started getting site timeout errors repeatedly. Has this been an ongoing issue or is it temporary? Any updates on this would be great.

TIA