Picnic at Sandy Beach LbNA #47398

This hike is very popular with the preschoolers at the Cushman Scott Children's Center! Sandy Beach is a great spot for a picnic, so start the walk at the Cushman Café and Market (491 Pine St.), where you can stock up on delicious snacks and drinks. From the front door of the café, cross Pine St. to the little triangle-shaped park. Admire the stone spiral (Cushman kids call it the "Salamander Playground") as you walk to the northern point of the triangle. Cross the main road and follow the sidewalk north (to the right) for a few paces until you see a dirt path on the left leading into the woods. This is the Kevin Flood Trail. Take this trail, following the yellow square trail blazes as they wind through the woods. You'll cross a small wooden plank bridge (don't worry about the troll who lives in the rock cave next to the little bridge because he hasn't ever scared anyone—yet…) When you reach a really big wood and steel bridge over the river, you are very close. Cross the bridge (avoiding the imaginary sharks and crocodiles), and turn left onto the small path immediately after the bridge and stone bench. The path leads down stairs into a rock gully and then back up a little hill before opening up at a sandy beach on the river. This is a great place for a picnic! To find the letterbox, take the path back to the little rock gully. Turn left down the rock gully. Just before you reach the mysterious, rectangular rock basin, there is a stack of boulders on the right. The letterbox is hidden in a crevice in those boulders, behind two bricks and a flat white stone shaped like an arrowhead. You will find just what you needed for the picnic.