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There's Nothing Like a Maine Vacation LbNA #10073

Owner:Sojourner
Plant date:Aug 20, 2005
Location:
City:Naples
County:Cumberland
State:Maine
Boxes:4
Found by: Sojourner (4)
Last found:Aug 9, 2011
Status:FFFFFFO
Last edited:Aug 20, 2005
For some of you, this may be your first experience with Letterboxing, so before you begin your search today, I’d like to convey to you some aspects of Letterboxing that I personally feel are important.
#1 – STEALTH:
Be discreet while searching for a letterbox if other people are around. You may need to postpone retrieving a box if you can’t do it without being seen. Remember - not everyone is “letterbox-friendly” and you should not jeopardize someone else’s letterbox for the sake of getting a stamp! When you have successfully retrieved it, carry the box away from its hiding place to stamp-in so as not to reveal the hiding place to passers-by or to draw attention to what you are doing. Make sure you are discreet when unpacking the contents of the box and stamping-in. Discretion and stealth are also required when you return the letterbox to its hiding place.
#2 – LETTERBOXING WITH CHILDREN:
Children are often enthusiastic to “do it themselves”, but adults should always oversee their activities and that they close up the box properly and re-hide it well.
#3 – RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT:
Care must be taken in both finding and planting letterboxes. When looking for a letterbox, remember to leave the area just as, or better than you found it. If you look under a rock, replace the rock back where you found it. Don't pull out plants or rip up the ground looking for a letterbox. Avoid trampling vegetation while searching for the letterbox – if the box is off-trail, try not to create a “social trail” by following where previous boxers walked, it’s damaging plus it’s a dead giveaway to the location! Don’t tear apart that stone wall that has withstood hundreds of years of time to find the box.
#4 – RE-HIDE WELL:
After stamping-in and carefully closing up a letterbox, re-hide it as well or better than when you originally found it. Again, discretion at this time is very important. It is a good idea to cover the box with a handful of dead leaves, anchor the box with a flat rock so that an inquisitive animal can’t run off with it, and then sprinkle a few more leaves or twigs on top so it looks natural to passers-by. Look at it from different angles before you leave to make sure no plastic is showing. Never leave a letterbox out in plain sight! A well hidden letterbox helps ensure its longevity!
#5 – HAVE FUN!:
Letterboxing will take you to many new places – places that you may have never known about had it not been for letterboxing! It could be a short walk or a long, strenuous hike – there’s something for everyone’s preference and ability. Be sure to read the clues before you set off to ensure that it’s a suitable one for you.
Some clues are written simply and straightforward, some are more vague and require some thought and interpretation. Others are written in the form of puzzles and ciphers to challenge those who enjoy that sort of approach. Again, there’s something for everyone.
Whichever path letterboxing may take you, please respect it, enjoy it and have fun!
(taken from AQ and Letterboxing.info)

Thank you and now on with the clues! :-)


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That's right, for my family, there's nothing like two weeks of camping at Sgbaeo Lkae State Park to unwind and refresh the body and mind. We have done this for the past ten years or so and look forward to simply doing what we feel like doing, or not doing....
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Location: Sgbaeo Lkae State Park

Difficulty: Easy to moderate

Time: Walking time is about 2.5 hours at a leisurely pace. Allow additional time for stamping-in.

Distance: A round-trip circuit of about 6 miles.

Dogs: not allowed.

N.B. The Park Rangers do not know about these letterboxes, so please don't ask them.

Please follow the route described in the clues, so that you END the hike at the campground registration booth. I'm not sure how strict the rangers are about non-campers hiking the trails, but you will be by-passing the entrance when you begin your quest, and once you finish and pass the registration booth, well... if they say anything, plead innocence....Go ahead, be adventurous!!


From Route 302 in Naples/Casco, turn (west/southwest) onto State Park Road by a little general store. You'll then pass the turn on the left for the "day use/beach" area, continue on to the Songo Lock parking area and leave your car there.

Begin your search by walking west from your car towards the "Sgbaeo Lkae State Park Camping Area Entrance" sign. Turn left up this road and look for the worn blue "blazes" painted on the pavement at about 0.1 miles on the left side of the road. If you see the registration booth around the bend, you've gone too far.

Follow the blue-blazed trail eastwards around the marshy pond, watching for wildlife, then south-easterly up into the woods. After about 10 minutes on the trail, cross Thompson Point Road and continue on blue. Then soon after catching a glimpse of the Sgono River, you will come to a multi-trail intersection. Take the trail on the left at 100* to the deteriorating birch “L” lying trail-side on your right. Here find Letterbox #1, “Canoeing on the Lake”.

Continue on for less than 10 minutes, walking alongside the meandering river, watching for water-birds, and returning to the same multi-trail intersection. Take the blue-blazed trail on the left at 300*. Soon coming to an intersection, go left on blue, still walking alongside the river. Five minutes further, arrive at the top of a hillock. Here, spy a large 2-sister tree on the left. From the back of this tree, site about 40* and walk 6 steps to Letterbox #2, “Hiking in the Woods”, behind 2 mossy rocks.

Back on the blue trail, continue on for about 10 minutes, passing through some baby pine "forests", then turn right at the Y and soon emerge onto Thompson Point Road again.
Turn left and walk along the road just as far as the 2nd telephone pole to rejoin the blue-blazed trail on the other side of the road, greeted by the refreshing scent of Sweet Fern growing alongside the trail. Walk uphill through woods to a T intersection. Turn left, then very soon turn right. At the next T, turn left, then right, to the end of the “Sgono Wilderness Trail”. A brown sign marks this trailhead. You are now in the vicinity of the campground “trailer service area”.
Walk left along the paved road a short way to the T, then go right staying on the pavement to the main campground access road. Turn left onto this paved road and walk a short distance to the “Boat and Trailer Parking” sign on your left, across from which begins another blue-blazed trail.

Walk this zig-zagging blue trail through pines for less than 10 minutes to the intersection in a small glen with the green-blazed Nature Trail. Walk a few paces on green to the “boulder patch”. Skirt around the largest of them in a southerly direction to the large rectangular cul-de-sac on the right just beyond the twin tree. In the back left corner, find Letterbox #3, “Camping Under the Stars”.

Return to the blue-blazed trail, continuing on, cross a plank bridge, pass mossy boulders, and keep an eye open for deer through here. In about 15 minutes arrive at the campground access road at the end of the “Tiwn Borok Trail”.
Turn left (north) and walk a few paces, then re-enter the woods onto the red-blazed “Lkuooot Trail”.
A steady uphill climb takes you to the highest point in the Park at 499 feet (save some energy and water – it’s a bit of a work-out!). You will be welcomed by a picnic table, rock cairns and a refreshing breeze bringing with it the scent of pine trees. Here, tarry a while and after catching your breath at the picnic table, take a reading of about 200*. Walk carefully down the lichen- and moss-covered embankment a short way to a V-shaped cleft pointing eastwards. Find the 4th and final letterbox here, “Relaxing by the Campfire”.

Continue downhill on the red trail for about 10 minutes, cross over a pine valley and a wooden bridge to the end of the trail near the campground’s brown registration booth at NE. Walk past the booth and soon you will be back on State Park Road again at your parked car.

As always, thank you for looking for my letterboxes, enjoy the walk, please stamp-in discreetly and re-hide carefully. And let me know how your search went! You may log your finds into LbNA and AtlasQuest.