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Letterboxing Northeast Local Letterboxes Happiness at Hartman Lyme, Connecticut Your search today begins at Hartman Park, on Gungy Rd in Lyme, CT. Trail maps are available on the trail and in the latest edition of "50 Hikes in Connecticut." This jewel of a park belongs to the town of Lyme and the trails were created by a lovely pair of women with an amazing eye for contour, MPf and Jeanne. Hartman Park is maintained by volunteers in the hiking, birding, and cycling communities. There is also a terrific children's letterbox hidden here. The trails are extremely well laid out and marked, providing some of the finest small-park hiking and mountain biking in the East. This search will take two to three hours covering 4 miles of hilly terrain: the box was placed by the Drew family, Ned, Ariel, Maya, Caitlin, Margaret, and Jay. Enjoy! (Note: this is one of our earliest letterboxing attempts and by our standards today the clues are quite vague. We recommend you start early and be sure to get and follow the trail map as you go. Still, it's well hidden and we maintain it regularly, so it is likely to be there for you. And the stamp is one of our favorites.)   After parking and taking a look at the map located at the trailhead, begin your travels on the trail at 095°. At the fork, head north and cross the Park Road to regain the trail. Bear right to find The Schoolhouse. Collect a map and sign in to the visitor's log (be sure to mention letterboxing!).   Find a trail to the east of The Schoolhouse and hike to a fork, choosing the trail at 195°. Work uphill using the switchbacks and through a stone wall, continuing up and straight through an intersection until you discover an old farm site with walls and foundations. Branch south and climb again.   Turn onto a heading of 140° and enjoy a smooth section known for songbirds. Follow the fork at 120°, crossing a small bridge and then a Big Scramble. Catch a breath at the top, and then twist through a laurel tunnel to a beautifully gradual ridge traveling generally north.   Fork onto 055° and cross an open area with the chance of a buzz and a buzzard. A small rock on the right gives a wonderful view. At the farther edge, regain the forest on a trail heading north and follow it to a short steep descent. Take either of the more northerly trails to pass an almost-champion maple on your left.   Then go left, westerly, through beech and fern and glacial wash to skirt a ledge, staying at 030°, climbing and folding back and then choosing again the more northerly path. Step, trying not to stumble, along another ridge looking for the blood of happy mountain bikers and the wisdom of forgotten farmers with their inexplicable wall. Cover a gentler stretch to the opposite ridge, and without seeing a fork, find yourself curving southward.   At a T, turn to 300° and again move northwards, shouldering your ridge to the right, with roots, moss, fern, and laurel. Then cross to yet another ledge, and choose either course: they meet at the top to head at 300° and pass over (or around - your choice) a small escarpment.   Meander towards the west and emerge in a half-acre of Connecticut slickrock, smooth granite and schist, and find a natural seat to rest near a small cairn. You are so close!   At the cairn, with a baby one-ton erratic bearing 145°, follow the slickrock along a bearing of 055° through strangely stunted oak and past another baby erratic, bushwacking just a little and trending lightly to the right, where a stone wall waits in the forest.   Here you'll find a hidden secret in the woods, with stamps, and with delighted notes from friends who share a quiet satisfaction in accomplishing a small and unimportant feat. Join them, and stay a moment, and then regain your trail with its distinctive markers, following them closely over a pleasantly direct and surprisingly level twenty minutes to the place where your adventure begins again. Devil's Hopyard East Haddam, Connecticut (These very old boxes are way overdue for maintenance. The Vista Box was graciously replaced by Clueless and Silent Doug in the Summer of 2005) Devil's Hopyard State Park in East Haddam CT is located just off Rt. 82 between Rt. 11 and Rt. 156. It reminds me of one of my favorite places back home in California's Sonoma County, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. The Hopyard has a wonderful waterfall and some rugged hiking. About 3½ miles, 2 hours. Park at the Chapman Falls Campground lot and find the trail southwards across the street by the waterfall. Continue downstream past the picnic area and onto a gated jeep road. Cross a small foot bridge onto single track, and at a fork go right to cross the road and pick up the Witch Hazel Trail (yellow blazes). Our hike here will go counterclockwise around this 2 mile long trail, so please head straight, and before crossing the second small bridge turn with the yellow blazes left and up the hill. It's steep, but only about a third of the hike is up! Leave a large glacial erratic to your left and cross a gorgeous, generally level upland open area. Pass through a section of laurel, and then out into another open area. Follow an unblazed fork to the right over a small mica-rich knoll to a rocky overlook. Just 10-15 steps due north from the overlook will lead you to a small oak tree with a letterbox under a mossy rock behind it. Stamp in and return to the Witch Hazel Trail, turning right (southeast), and travel down and around to emerge just by the road again. Cross over and return to the picnic area and a lovely covered pedestrian bridge. Cross over the bridge and immediately turn left onto the orange blazed Vista Trail, where we'll go clock wise around an almost-3 mile loop. Several side trails lead up to the Falls and the Flume, and are worth a detour to explore. Follow the orange blazes upstream with a small seasonal brook heading generally easterly. There will be a connector path to the (blue blazed) Loop Trail on the right: save it for later. Half a mile from the bridge, find a small side trail to the left leading to a large old first-growth oak tree. Another half mile of reasonably easy uphill slope brings you to a leftwards cut off (also blazed in orange) and down to the Vista. From these outcroppings, find a small trail leading southeast along the ridge line, and find your second letterbox just 25 to 30 steps away, stashed under the southeast edge of a flat 6x4 foot rock. Regain the main Vista Trail and continue left, down a steep hill, along the river with fine views, plenty of stumbling, and maybe some wet feet. Now is the time to consider the blue blazed Loop Trail on your right for an easy half-mile extension. Find the covered bridge soon after and explore the legendary potholes under Chapman Falls. Burnham Brook Hadlyme, Connecticut This very old box was kindly refreshed by our dear letterboxing friend in the Winter of 06-07. Enjoy. A 491 acre Nature Conservancy preserve, Burnham Brook in East Haddam Connecticut is primarily used as a field research site. Please stay to the single, blue-blazed trail. About 2 miles of mostly gentle trail, 1½ hours. Directions: From the north, take CT Rt. 11 to the end at exit 4, and turn right on Rt. 82 West. Turn right again after 1.5 miles on Wood Bridge Rd. From the south, take Rt. 85 North to turn left on Rt. 82 West. Then travel 2.3 miles to turn right on Wood Bridge Rd. Once on Wood Bridge travel 1 mile before turning left on Dolcia Hill Rd, and find the preserve entrance on your right after 0.5 mile. Cross through the gate and head north between stone walls: sign in at the registry. Our hike today will stay exclusively with the blue-blazed trail. Continue northerly and downhill as the trail bends to the west and leads down to Burnham Brook, a lovely small stream that cascades through an ancient glacial gneiss furrow. Staying with the trail on the eastern side of the brook, cross a small stream and begin a gentle climb leaving the brook to your right. Pass a memorial plaque and climb to a large stone wall, watching for a sharp right (westerly) turn. Swing southerly, then westerly again, and cross another small brook to climb at 220° diagonally across a rocky slope. Squeeze between the ledge and a small tree at the crest, and then head easterly with the trail along the ridge line. Watch for a right-left zig zag, and then head generally northeasterly for a quarter mile with the edge of the ridge to your right. Just before the trail turns sharply right and drops off the ridge, standing between two bordering trees, sight your cache 15 paces away at 300°. After a break to stamp in, continue with the trail 0.5 miles, past a glacial erratic and back to the road, turning left to your parking place. Enjoy! Nayantaquit Trail Lyme, Connecticut (Revised December 22, 2002) These two letterboxes were first hidden on September 1, 1999, on the compact western portion of the Nehantic Forest in Lyme, CT. This is a strenuous 4 mile hike with steep climbing. Figure two or three hours. Directions: From the south, on I-95, take the Lyme exit (#70) and head north on Rt. 156 for about 3 miles to the well-marked Nehantic State Forest road on your right. From the north, take CT Rt. 11 to the end at exit 4 and turn west on Rt. 82. Turn south on Rt. 156 and watch for the Nehantic State Forest road on your left. Follow this road for about 2 miles to the second Uncas Lake turnoff: turn right into the parking lot. There is a trail map at the south end of the parking lot on the path down to the lake: you might find it helpful to sketch it out to bring along. Bring a picnic basket to leave in your car and enjoy after your hike. Returning to the road, go right a short distance and then left (north) into the woods on the well-marked footpath. This spur trail is blazed with a green dot inside a blue rectangle. Climb steeply with the trail and pass over a 50 foot section of level ground, then climb again. Pass a big, flaking glacial erratic on the left and then a smaller, shoulder high boulder to the right. You'll next pass alongside a cliff on your left. The trail soon cuts right. Here, go left off trail and scramble up onto a smaller little ledge at 340 degrees. Up there you'll find two flat knee-high rocks with the first letterbox stashed on top. You've found your first box within a half mile of the car! Regain the trail and climb up and down again, passing through several stone walls to the main, blue blazed Nayantaquit Trail at intersection #4. There are extensive stone walls here from an old farm. Go left for a clockwise circuit of the park. Following the blazes, zig zag right-left towards Nickerson Hill (the sign for Nickerson Hill was down on our last visit), then walk down a pleasant woods road heading 325 degrees. Follow the blazes down the hill and then to the right, into the woods. A short steep downhill will bring you back to another forest road: follow the blazes right to another intersection. Go right again up a dirt road before forking left onto the trail heading 030 degrees. Climb again, passing through a stone wall. Make the steepest climb yet to pass by a little cave and then through another wall. A few feet further, finally crest Nickerson Hill just past a third stone wall that is larger to the left than to the right. Before passing through, find your second letterbox five steps to the right in a chick of the wall. Through the wall at the top, the trail breaks right at a cedar tree. To return to your car, hike easterly on the Nayantaquit Trail, passing a neat knoll with scattered shoulder-high erratics, over a steep rocky downhill to intersection #7. Go right (south). You'll hike for a stretch, crossing a couple of forest roads and a brook until you find intersection #8, the Brown Hill Cutoff, on the right. This is a pleasant little shortcut back to the loop's beginning, but we prefer to continue left, easterly, with the loop trail, into cooler country with black loamy soil and plenty of ferns. At intersection #2 go right (there is a map here) for about a mile to return to intersection #4. A leftwards, southeasterly turn will bring you back down the hill to Uncas Pond. Gay City (Superceded) ...last updated Monday, February 05, 2007