Announcing the New York Letterbox Hiking Challenge! The NY Letterbox Hiking Challenge is a fun way to encourage hiking for letterboxes to improve health and spend more time in the great outdoors of New York. By logging miles on the trail while letterboxing in NY, we hope you will have fun finding, planting, and maintaining letterboxes and find more of our NY’s natural treasures.

The incentive? A beautiful 100% embroidered patch to commemorate your achievement. Patches will be released in 25, 50, 75, and 100 mile delineations, with 25 being the first launched at the end of April.
See design for 25 Mile patch here: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/jackbear/nychallengepatch4.jpg

The guidelines?
- Each foot mile you hike in NY while letterboxing counts. You keep track, and this patch is on the honor system. We won’t challenge your numbers, but you should challenge yourself. We recommend that you only count miles on the trail to and from letterboxes in NY, NOT miles driven to letterboxes…this is a “hiking/letterboxing” patch. We also encourage participants to make hikes that are at least one mile or more (i.e. 0.5 miles to a letterbox, and back)…yes, this is also a “challenge” patch. Miles can be counting finding, planting, and maintaining letterboxes.
- Challenge Patches will be available for both residents and non-residents completing a challenge.
- Start date for counting begins today, April 2 2009. Hikes while letterboxing before this date should not be included.
- Patches can be ordered by sending an SASE to Jackbear for a $3. Payment can be via paypal, cash, check, or money order. Your SASE can be mailed to John Ballou, 200 Hillside Ave. Rochester, NY 14610. Patches will also be available at gatherings in NY attended by Jackbear, Scout, or Sahalie.

Is this like the Treasure Hikers? Yes, this was inspired by the work the Treasure Hiker groups were doing in other states, and we are very grateful for the great ideas they came up with for such a challenge. Scout, jackbear, and Sahalie decided to go with a patch for New York instead of “pathtags” after a poll indicated that 3 out of 5 letterboxers preferred to earn a patch over a pathtag.

Again, our primary goal is to have fun and encourage hiking and letterboxing together! We hope that you will challenge yourself to get out and hike more this year, and enjoy what our state has to offer.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Jackbear, Scout, or Sahalie and keep and eye out for more challenge patch designs as we release them in the coming months.

Now get out there and get letterboxing!

Thanks Jackbear, Scout and Sahalie for pulling this together! *does happy dance*

Note to self: get new batteries for pedometer :)

dancing pecan

Yes, you can use a pedometer, or you can just use the miles listed on the letterbox (if they are listed), or a GPS, or you can count your steps, or however you want to keep track! We don't care, it's YOUR challenge!

Also, if you want to keep track on AQ, you can use the "Treasure Hiker" widget on your "My Page" to keep a running count if you are like me and will probably lose a small post it not that I thought I wrote my miles down on to keep track. But again, keep track however you like!

jackbear

Will the information and rules for this NY Letterboxing Hiking Challenge Patch be posted on a specific site somewhere? Or will it just remain in this board?

I want to be able to direct people someplace to get details if they are interested.

Bikers n Hikers

Oh, that is a very good question, and I have now listed it in several places...

LBNY Yahoo Group as a .pdf in the files section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LbNY/files/

In the photo album in Atlas Quest:
http://www.atlasquest.com/gallery/viewphoto.html?gPhotoId=67545

and on my blog:
http://jackbearsden.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-york-letterbox-hiking-challenge.html

Spread the word!

jackbear:

We are VERY excited about the new patch challenge! Thanks so much to everyone who had a hand in putting it together. We are looking forward to our first benchmark!

T-N-T (TRH N T on AQ)

You could add it to the
Wiki section if you would like. Pathtags are not a requirement (KY has a homemade fob) to be part of the Treasure Hikers thing. You could also opt to just put a link to your blog on there instead if you think of it more like a spin off program.

That may help to get the word out to other hikers not in NY but still visiting the state. It would also let people in NY know that there are other programs in other states.

Just a suggestion.

Wolf *who has been logging points in NC, starts acquiring points in TN tomorrow, starts acquiring points in SC next weekend, and will be racking up points in GA over the summer*

Great idea! I have 5 letterboxes in the Lake George region that have round trip mileages of 2 to 8 miles and they really don't get a lot of visiors. I have one at a little preserve call pilot knob ridge that is well marked, faily easy, but has a round trip of 4 miles and it has only had two visitors. The geocaches in the area are visited all the time. So maybe this will help generate some interest in hiking and maybe a few more placers will hide deeper in the woods more often.

Thank you
Baker

Great, I hope this happens from this incentive as well. I think it's human nature to want to "water down" everything, make things as easy as possible for everyone. That's just how it is I think, we look for paths of least resistance. I know I do most of the time.

But hopefully we add some extra emphasis to getting out and finding the harder to reach boxes, or put a little more emphasis on the journey, and not just the destination. I hope this also benefits planters like yourself and increases traffic by a few people to your boxes, or encourage others that planting boxes that have a longer walk are OK.

This patch could be earned by doing 25 one mile hikes, or one 25 mile hike. Doesn't matter really. But it would seem against the intent if it was earned by 100 quarter mile hikes (that is an accomplishment though, and may be necessary for those with mobility issues, so we won't question how you got to 25 miles!!!) Each person gets to pick how to challenge themselves.

jackbear

Thanks for all you do Jackbear to make this hobby more enjoyable! I'll be anxious to get on some trails as soon as my life slows down. My noxer hubby will be happy about this new challenge since he only accompanies me for the longer hikes.
Buggylou

Hey I am going to lake george in June and I have your boxes in my cross-hairs!

:o)

Excellent!! Would like to see more visits to my Lb's.

Funny, as soon as I read about the patch I thought of Lake George.
Attempted Pilot Knob last year- didn't make it all the way- got to just past the gazeebo before a storm threatened :-(
maybe this year

Turtle

You were only one mile away. However I have been caught in some of those T-storm on the lake and you made the absolute correct decision. When you hike to the box along the blue trail you will pass a 50' pine that was nailed by a lightning strike last spring during a freak storm, just before you make the last turn to the waterfall. I went up the day after that storm and had to clear that tree from the trail...it was in a hundred pieces.

I've already hiked 10 miles planting and finding boxes since April 1. I'm excited about the 25 mile patch because I love hiking, I love Letterboxing, and I love patches! It's a win win for me and just another excuse to get back out into the woods. Thanks!