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Blue Job LbNA #24942

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 22, 2006
Location:
City:Strafford
County:Strafford
State:New Hampshire
Boxes:1
Found by: Nairon
Last found:Aug 14, 2017
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFaF
Last edited:Aug 22, 2006
Location: Blue Job State Forest. Parking lot on E side of First Crown Point Road about 4.8 miles from US Route 202A, marked by sign for Blue Job State Forest.
From I-93 exit 15 in Concord, go E on I-393 to its end and continue on US Routes 4/202 until they split about 21 miles from I-93. Go L on US Route 202 and in .4 miles turn L again on NH Route 202A. Follow NH Route 202A for 9.8 miles and turn L on First Crown Point Road. Go L at stop sign at 1.2 miles and continue to parking area on R about 4.7 miles from NH Route 202A.
(Note that there is also a Second Crown Point Road which is a shorter approach from the W and a Crown Point Road which is a shorter approach from the E)


Information: Blue Job Mountain is a small fire tower peak in Farmington although it is usually approached from Strafford. There are a number of blueberry bushes on the mountain and the upper part of the mountain is state forest where you are allowed to pick berries. The state has built a new parking lot which hikers should use, and a new loop hiking trail to replace the private jeep road through the blueberry fields which is now closed to hiking. There are also a number of paths used by berry pickers and others that may cause temporary confusion. Hikers should look for and obey signs in the area. The hiking trail is shown in orange on the posted maps and seems to fade in the sun, while another path not starting at the lot is shown in black dashes and much more visible.

Check out the other two letterboxes in the area when you're there.

Bring: A compass

Clues:
Beary, the shy polar bear at the zoo, woke up one day and realized he was tired of people staring at him, tired of kids throwing potato chips at him, and tired of pacing back and forth all day long and never getting anywhere except back to where he started from. Beary decided to stay in his cave that morning. As he was waking up from his afternoon nap he noticed a small mirror at the back wall of the cave that he had never seen before. He went over to investigate. He sat looking at his reflection and said with a loud sigh “Oh, how I wish I weren’t here anymore. I wish I could go somewhere in the wild where no one would ever find me.” Suddenly Beary felt dizzy, the world spun around him and when it stopped he peeked out of his cave to see if everyone else felt the spinning, too. But when he looked outside he didn’t see his cage and the zoo, instead he saw a large gravel parking lot in front of him. Cautiously he walked across the parking lot up to a sign with a map on it.
Incredible! The sign said he was at Blue Job Mountain State Forest and that he would be walking through a blueberry fields to the top of a mountain. Blueberries were his absolute favorite food in the world. He had to find them. From the sign Beary turned to his right and proceeded down the trail that ran parallel to the parking lot following orange blazes. Shortly after he came to his first intersection. “Which way?”, thought Beary. He looked right and saw a red house and a gate. “No, I don’t want to see people again, that’s for sure!” He looked left and saw small rocks over the road and thought “Those look like they might hurt my paws.” He kept going straight, following the orange blazes all the way.
Next Beary came to a flat boulder in the trail and a small path leading off to the right. “Better stay straight” he thought again. He moved on and again passed over some flat boulders and came to another path on his right. "Nope. Straight and I'm going to keep following those orange blazes."
He went by a rock cluster in the trail and up some rocks that reminded him of stairs. In a little while he came to a break in the trees on his right and took a moment to rest and look at the view. He sensed, though, that better views were up ahead, so he kept on going straight. He came to another rock pile and from there he could see off to his left a fire tower. “That’s where I’m going!” Beary thought excitedly.
Soon, he came to the tower and eagerly climbed up the stairs for a look around. When he came down he saw that there were two more trails (besides the one he had just come up on) leading away from the tower. He was having fun exploring and decide to see what more the mountain had to offer. Looking at the trail to the northwest he said "Hmmmm, I’m getting a little tired of following the orange blazes and besides that looks too much like a real road for me. I think I'll try this other path." Beary went down the path that lead more to the northeast. Off to the left he could see an interesting, very small old shack in the woods
Beary kept going down this new path and went by two more large piles of rocks. He took a very brief detour over some rocks to see a view on his right and then went back to the path he was on. He went down the hill and past another rock pile.
He came to an intersection with another path and he went right. He passed another rock pile and then went through a stone wall. On his left was a wire going across a trail. He went straight and through a second stone wall and passed yet another rock pile. Beary was starting to get excited because everything looked so beautiful and strange to him.
He crossed though a boulder field and by one rock pile on his right and one on his left. He came to a pond and decided to go counter-clockwise around the east side of the pond to his right. He went all the way around the pond, stopping every now and then to snack on blackberries. Then Beary went up, up, passed two more rock piles and up some more until he came to the very top of the mountain. He saw a squirrel who told him this peak was called Little Blue. What a view! Beary thought he could stay here forever. He looked back over his shoulder toward the southwest, the way he had just come up, and saw two boulders, one of which looked just like a frog. He went back down to investigate. From the two boulders he walked west along the stonewall 15 paces and there he sat down to eat a snack of blueberries that he had been saving up. He reached into the stonewall and there he found a wonderful treasure. Beary thought to himself “I could stay here forever! And just to think, it all happened because I looked in a mirror......”

Beary stayed happily on the top of Little Blue mountain, but if you would like to get down to the parking lot, follow the stone piles back the way you came, toward the pond that lies in-between Little Blue and Blue Job mountain. The trails in here might get confusing, but keep heading down toward the pond you passed on your way up. Keep going south-ward but this time when you get to the pond go right and to the west side of it. Soon you should come to a small orange sign on your right at an intersection that will point the way to the parking lot. Follow this trail and at a Y in the road go to your left. In a little way you should see a tree with a U-shaped hook in it. Keep going straight and follow the oranges blazes when you see them to get you back to the parking lot.