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Coleoptera Series LbNA #19161 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 7, 2005
Location:
City:Salem
County:Essex
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:4
Planted by:Team Randalstik
Found by: JoeCocker
Last found:Nov 8, 2015
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFr
Last edited:Nov 9, 2015
This is a series of four boxes. There is only ONE journal, and it is at the end (and well hidden).

DIFFICULTY: 3. You will most likely get lost in these woods. You will make it out, but you may get lost. . . but maybe my overdescriptive clues will help.
TERRAIN: 3 out of 5. Not wheelchair or stroller friendly. There are rocks and steep hills, and some very narrow paths, which can be overgrown in the summer.
TIME: 1 to 2 hrs plus stamping.
EQUIPMENT: Flashlight, gloves, and maybe a long stick if you are nervous about sticking hands into deep holes in the woods.

THANKS TO OLDPATTERNS for being First Finder, verifying the 2 hr hunt time (with two kids), and helping with making the clues more clear.


WHERE IS IT: Forest River CONSERVATION AREA (NOT Forest River Park)

HOW TO GET THERE: Take route 1A through Salem and towards Swampscott. After turning on to Loring Avenue (which is a portion of 1A), go to the second set of lights and turn right onto Harrison Road. You will enter the parking lot of the South Campus of Salem State College. The trailhead is at the back of the parking lot. See the big wooden sign near the dumpsters?

The Forest River Conservation Area is a 99-acre preserve which includes a meandering estuary and Eagle Hill.

Paralleling the Forest River Salt Marsh, this 1.5 mile trail leads through a second-growth hardwood forest. The trail crosses the Forest River via a boardwalk and leads to a loop trail over Eagle Hill, with scenic views over Salem.


THE CLUES

STAG BEETLE
Entering the trailhead, take a GOOD look at the trail map. Got a digital camera? Take a picture -- you'll need it.

Soon after entering, you will come to a fork in the path. The low road will take you along the marsh (muddy after a rain), and the high road will take you to a less muddy path with no marsh view. They join up ahead. After two Forest River Conservation Area signs, you will come to a very small wooden bridge. Kids love this little bridge, but keep going. At the third Conservation sign, you will come to a fork marked with a wooden post. Take the path to the left.

When you come to the boardwalk, cross over it, and you will see that on the other side, the path forks again. In the crook of this fork is a rock. Like many beetles, this letterbox likes dark damp places. Look behind and under this rock. Be brave and root around the very back of the hole behind a small rock.

HERCULES BEETLE
From here on, it gets ugly. People have cut paths everywhere in these woods. What may seem like the main trail leads to dead ends. What doesn't seem to be the path, is. So good luck.

Continue on, taking the path on the left side of the rock. A little ways up, the path forks. Take the right fork. Again it forks. Take the left fork. Take the path that leads to the cliff face (big hill). If you have found the correct path, you will actually cross over a stone wall. The correct path leads to a path that goes up the cliff. So do it.

Immediately climbing this cliff face/big-hill the path passes an odd stick structure against a tree on your left (very witchesque).

Keep going on the path up the hill. The edge of the cliff is on your right. Keep going to the top. At one point you will reach a semi-clearing and the path leads back down. Standing at the "top" of the clearing, to the West is another higher rock face.

Climb down the West face of this clearing so as to continue up the larger rock face. You may climb down past a large, flat rock. Standing in this "valley", to your right (a bit farther off) are two large eggs sitting by themselves (hopefully not beetle eggs). I am afraid of those eggs so we won't go there.

Instead, turn around and face the boulder/mound you came off of. A large oak will be standing between you and the mound. On the right side is a large, flat boulder with two very young, thin tress in front of it. To the right of that boulder you will see a mini cave between the flat rock and another boulder. Not just a shelter of rocks which is to the right of it, but an actual mini cave.

BE BRAVE! Move the leaves and rocks out of the opening, and reach WAY in the back towards the right. Got a flashlight? Use it. Got gloves? Use them. When I placed this box, there was no animal living in this cave, but please be careful anyway (hey, it's a creepy beetle letterbox!).

Place the rock back onto the box when you leave so that an animal doesn't decide to push the box out and use the cave as its home.

SAMURAI HELMET BEETLE
This was a GREAT STAMP! Too bad someone stole it. There is a stamp in its place though, although has nothing to do with coleopteras. Sorry

Continue up the next rockface. Go up and up until you get to the clearing. Stand on the boulder to the left that gives you a slightly higher elevation than the clearing. To the North and Northeast is Salem. 170 degrees (true North) is a fir, juniper or some sort of evergreen (this is a beetle letterbox, not a tree letterbox). It has a big, flat rock under it. Go behind the rock and look underneath, behind a smaller rock covering a hole. This beetle is also called a Rhinoceros Beetle.

GOLIATH BEETLE and JOURNAL
Take the path that is 330 degrees off the vista, and head downward. At 41 steps into the path, you will come to a fork. Take the right path that leads you below and in front of the vista. You will come to a Forest River Conservation Area sign at the bottom of the hill. Notice the "small bridge" on the map. With your back flat against the sign, take the path straight ahead. A little farther, you will come to the "small bridge." Cross it.

Continue straight up the hill. At the fork, take the right path that continues up the hill. You will reach the "summit" of this hill. Taking the path at 90 degrees, go down the hill, which will bring you to another hill. Go to the "summit." To the left is a small rock/mound that looks like a giant bonsai rock garden. Also on the left on the ground, near the path, is a 1-foot by 1.5-foot rectangular rock. Take 9 steps from this rock on the path and look to your right. You will see a solitary, big boulder in the woods about 9 steps from the path. Stand in front of the rock with the oak tree behind the rock. On the bottom right side is a hole covered with leaves and rocks. Those beetles sure do like dark, damp, deep holes.

The Goliath Beetle can grow to be 6 inches long. The white, maggot-like pupua is larger than an adult's hand. Man is that cool or what?

GETTING OUT
Go back onto the path and off the "summit," about 110 to 120 degrees. The path gets very narrow sometimes and during the summer it can be so overgrown you may not even think you are on a path. Try to keep heading 100 to 120 degrees. Then the path loops back, up and down hills.

At a fork, take the right path. The left path leads you to a wooden bridge and out to an exit that you don't want.

At another fork take a left -- it should be 180 degrees. The right will take you to the first wooden boardwalk. Going left will bring you back down to the fork with the wooden post that we started at. Take the path to the left to get out.

Were my clues helpful? Completely wrong? Overly helpful?

Tell us what you think: esjunk@comcast.net