Sign Up  /  Login

Middlesex Canal Letterbox One LbNA #18023 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Sep 11, 2005
Location:
City:Billerica, North
County:Middlesex
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:3
Planted by:Tiny Turtle
Found by: Busters Pirates (3)
Last found:Oct 13, 2006
Status:FFFFFOFFr
Last edited:Sep 11, 2005
This rather long Morgun hike will be retired, replanted, reissued, to be hard, but with a shorter hike.

Clue Difficulty May be difficult for some
Trail Difficulty Class I & Class II (Easy, with a bit off-trail)
Completion Time: Walking time is 1 hour, but more time is required for clues, Lb stamp etc. Times over 90 min. are possible.
Celtic Swamps Letterbox, new 5/24/06, is temporary, will be removed 10/15 or 12/15/06.


You will need a compass (with degrees), deet repellant, stamp pad, paper, & pencil. This trip could be combined with a trip to the Middlesex Canal museum, which is less than a mile up Lowell Road from the start point (Closed for the season as of 10/17/2005).



Letterbox Clues

1. Park at the N. Billerica Post Office (Rt. 3A, near the Lowell line). Walk across the front of the strip Mall to McLennon Way. Walk West on McLennon Way. You are walking on the site of the old towpath, with the remains of the canal on your right, wetlands on the left. Just past the first intersection you will find a rotted log (watch out for poison ivy here), count your paces to the point where you have Water on either side, record your Pace count number, and convert it to meters. Continue down the towpath (it is not maintained).

2. The remains of the canal are on your right, with wetlands on the left. When you see high ground on your left, walk up to an old foundation (carefully avoiding the poison ivy). If you see a prominent house on the right, you have gone too far. Low in the SW corner find a clue (optional). Continue on the path, to Brick Kiln Road, jog right to the power cut on Brick Kiln Road. Follow the power cut west (downhill) back to the canal and continue west.

3. Ignore a side road on the right. Continue to a small building, there is an optional side path on the right, it rejoins the road after it crosses a (dry?) streambed, at about 100 meters (obscure trail practice, recommended side trip, 4 minutes). To find the new temporary box, Celtic Swamps, take the side path. Just as you rejoin the dirt road, check out the hole in the end of the 3 foot diameter rotten log.

4. Watch for a gate on your right. Walk around the gate & go up onto a grassy track near a pond. Continue clockwise, on the track, around the pond, until you are between a bare rock summit and five impressive boulders (over 2 m. (7 feet) high).

5. Now go counterclockwise around the summit, to the back of the summit & climb it on the easy trail. Enjoy the view from the summit with the fire ring.

6. Now, staying on the high ground, toward the west (or a bit SW), edge of the high area, until you see some concrete man-made objects. They are about 1.5 m. long x 2 m. diameter, and it is odd to find them this deep in the woods. If you climb down there (not required), you will find at least 10 of these objects.

8. Find the southern most of these objects, position yourself on a bearing of 160 from that object. (refer to compass bearing notes below). Now take the number of meters you got in step 1 and subtract 48. At that distance, from this object, you will find a boulder. Check the S face of this boulder for your goal! .

9. Inside the letterbox you should find: Some facts about the Middlesex Canal and at least one clue.

End of Clues


Notes a) on the compass bearing problem: If you have problems “positioning” yourself on the bearing, then find a safe way to the object & take the bearing from there.
b) Or use the optional clue (step 2 above) & skip the bearings.
c) To collect the three finds, first collect the Siamese Cat stamp in 2005, then collect Celtic Swamps box; finally, locate the main box a second time and collect the Canal Boat stamp (one of my best, carved by Tiny Turtle). The third find is for the clue station, which was not a find in the past. (OK, you worked hard enough to earn more than 3 finds, I agree.)