What's a letterbox hybrid to you?

[+briansnat]

There is a category of caches called letterbox hybrid. What exactly does this mean to you?

[Dinoprophet]

I voted the first; I've never thought of the second option as a LB hybrid, but it makes sense, too. More specifically, I think of a hybrid as having two completely different ways of finding it -- the coordinates for geocaching and a set of hints for letterboxing.

 

Is it just me, or is there a sense in these forums that letterboxing is an inferior game (not necessarily referring to this poll, btw)? I've seen comments suggesting that boxing is just a list of step-by-step directions to the box. I find that suggestion to be equivalent to people who say about geocaching, "You have the exact location of the cache! What's challenging about that?"

 

"Winter's just the curtain. Spring will take the bow"

-- Richard Shindell, Spring

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I would love for more caches to contain a letterbox stamp. I think having a little passbook that you take to every cahce would be fun. Something that I know I would enjoy.

 

Only see one little problem with that though. I left a disposible camera in a couple of caches and both times someone took the camera. I have a feeling that they'd take the stamp too.

[mudda_UBER]

I've found only found one letterbox since there aren't any close to where I live, but I would like to find more. I made a few of my own stamps to use. I like it because of the artistic side of it. At first I thought it would be better than regular geocaching, but I've changed my mind. Nothing could beat that.

[+Trailwalker2]

I started letterboxing before I Cached, I almost prefer letterboxing because there is often a history lesson involved,

 

-Trailwalker

[+evergreenhiker!]

Got one yesterday at Lake Padden up in Bellingham...lucked out as I didn't know it was letterbox. A local cacher brought that fact to me. I just read the hint and found it anyway. Pretty obvious when I saw the location. Thing is cache description should have mentioned requirement of using letterboxing.org. The cache is:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=40421

[+Renegade Knight]

Both.

 

==============================

Wherever you go there you are.

[+WaldenRun]

I voted for #1 because I helped hide this hybrid. The letterbox is in its own container within the cache, to help prevent "confusion" over the stamp.

 

-WR

 

"Besides physical caches, we have VIRTUal and VIRTUeless."

[+briansnat]

Actually, I found a letterbox by accident last week during a maint visit to one of my caches. It was about 20 yards from my cache. I noticed a few logs from geocachers who found it while looking for my cache. I added a note tom the welcome page telling people that it wasn't the geocache.

 

quote:

---

Is it just me, or is there a sense in these forums that letterboxing is an inferior game...I've seen comments suggesting that boxing is just a list of step-by-step directions to the box.

---

 

Besides the one I found by accident, I've found two letterboxes intentionally. I don't see letterboxing as inferior...in fact it seems to be a lot harder than geocaching. But the gecaching.com website is much better than letterboxing.org. The latter doesn't have a facility for logging your finds and notifying the owner that someone found their letterbox.

[+Team Shredded Bark]

Re Lazyboy/Mitey Mite's post regarding the stamp getting traded out: You could chain it to the logbook, bank-teller-pen style.

 

(For those of you too young to remember, a bank "Teller" was the person who stood in a window and handled bank transactions for you before the advent of ATMs. Often, there was a pen for signing checks and filling out forms, and it was secured with a chain to keep people from walking off with it.)

 

--

"I saw two shooting stars last night,

I wished on them--but they were only satellites!

Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?

I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care."

--Billy Bragg, "A New England"

 

[This message was edited by Team Shredded Bark on April 08, 2003 at 07:57 AM.]

[jackbear]

The Letterbox Hybrids I have found in the Rochester, NY area are listed on geocaching.com, but not on letterboxing.org. The geocacher is told that they are hybrids, and given coordinates, not clues. Also told that no trades are available. There are a dozen or so of these available to geocachers. I have enjoyed them so far, and have gotten into carving my own stamps as a result. It helps me get out of "what to trade" mode (which I enjoy too). So a letterbox hybrid can be all of the things above, at least the way I see it. Variety is a good thing. I also think its o.k. for the cross over of the genres, diversity helps both these activities.

 

Grrrrrrrrr...

jackbear

[+dwmurphy]

I chose both because of GC9A8F "Letterboxing North America II by Flyfisher"

 

You have to find the letterbox first to get the coordinates of the geocache.

 

I'm not Lost, my GPS says I'm right here....no over here......no over here.

[+carleenp]

I chose number one, but I can see why it would apply to both. I've never found a letterbox, but have thought about checking it out.

 

[+Web-ling]

I voted for the second option. To me, a letterbox is more than a stamp in a box; It's a method of finding the box. To me, a "hybrid" needs to incorporate more than just the stamp. A cache with a letterboxingesque offset would be more of a true hybrid.

 

I suppose they could run the whole spectrum from being just a cache with a stamp to a just letterbox with starting coordinates, with just about any mixture in between.

 

[wanda texas]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mudda:

I've found only found one letterbox since there aren't any close to where I live, but I would like to find more. I made a few of my own stamps to use. I like it because of the artistic side of it. At first I thought it would be better than regular geocaching, but I've changed my mind. Nothing could beat that.

---

 

hi mudda

i see you are the one that planted the box in danville.....i have been to that town numerous times over the years....and if my friend doesnt "hate" me again i might be back again..hope to look for your geocache...i dont have a gps so i might need some extra "cheat" hints later.....

 

i have planted one letterbox so far with bookmarks theme...to trade one of my bookmarks for one of your bookmarks..cant make it a true hybrid though since i dont have a gps to do coordinates with....

 

hope to plant another real soon...found another good location

 

happy hunting

wanda

 

[This message was edited by wanda texas on May 11, 2003 at 10:00 PM.]

[Captain Chaoss]

I would have to say both. by the way, tho I haven't found my first letterbox yet, I have a stamp made that I use when I log caches.

 

My personal opinion of letterboxing is that it is in no way inferior to caching. I do agree the site is inferior to geocaching.com, but then again, I have yet to see a site that isn't. If you read the clues for the more difficult letterboxes, they really challenge your researching ability. I love finding caches, but so many ARE just walk along the path, then search around the coordiantes till you find the box.

 

I know the flames are coming, but that is not meant to be an insult to caching. I still enjoy every cache I hunt. They take me to places I would never know of otherwise.

 

I just think the mental challenge of what letterboxing seems to entail is appealing as well. I think a well thought out hybrid would be fantastic; cachings physical side melded with letterboxings mental side.

 

I'm currently working on my own multi-cache which requires the solving of clues and a little History lesson to find the final cache. I'm hoping it provides the challenge some are looking for, and inspires others to hide more challenging caches as well.

 

Two roads diverged in the woods and I,

I took the one less traveled,

and that is how I found the cache.