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Jack Runs Away with Dinner LbNA #51566

Owner:graywolfe
Plant date:Nov 27, 2009
Location:
City:Gloucester
County:Essex
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:3
Found by: Nairon (2)
Last found:Sep 10, 2022
Status:FFFFFFFFFaF
Last edited:Nov 27, 2009
Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 2.5 – 3.5 hours
Directions to Park: From Rt. 128 Exit 14, take Rt. 133 East toward Gloucester for 3 mi. until it ends at Rt. 127. Turn right and follow for 2 mi. to entrance (481 Western Ave, Gloucester, MA).

We (graywolfe, SeaFlea, & N. Carolina Girl) carved and planted these boxes together as a Thanksgiving weekend treat.

Preserved by local merchant Samuel Sawyer in 1889, the 600 acre Ravenswood Park is named after the castle in Sir Walter Scott’s “The Bride of Lammermoor.” The park offers over 10 miles of carriage paths and meandering trails. Its landscape is etched and scoured with the historical forces of a mile-high melting glacier. This letterbox series will lead you through a varied landscape of hemlock groves, kettle ponds, bogs, swamps and remnants of colonial habitation. The movement of the glaciers deposited rocks and soils over the Cape Ann granite, leaving sculptured boulders at irregular intervals and formed a long, low and gentle hill. Contemporary natural disasters have also left their mark, including the 1938 hurricane, a 1947 forest fire, and the 1976 hemlock looper (a gypsy moth relative) infestation.
There are trail maps available at the entrance kiosk, but it might be best to print off your own ahead of time—Ravenswood pdf. (http://www.thetrustees.org/assets/documents/places-to-visit/trailmaps/Ravenswood-Park-Trail-Map.pdf)

Box #1: “Thanksgiving Dinner”
Carved by: N. Carolina Girl

Begin your adventure at the kiosk just beyond the small parking lot and gate. Head N–NEasterly along the main carriage path of Old Salem Road for about 5 minutes and then head west into the Magnolia Swamp Trail. After arriving at the balancing boulder, head SW down the trail through hemlocks, oaks, pine, and laurel. At the + intersection, continue NWerly where bicycles shouldn’t go. The trail you just crossed over is the “old” Old Salem Road that led visitors to and from the outlying neighborhood of Magnolia (once known as Kettle Cove) — the road’s use was diverted in an effort by conservationist J.G. Jack to save the endangered Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana). Gloucester is the northern most native site of the tree. Its creamy, white flowers blossom with their fragrance in late June/Early July. Traverse a boardwalk, and then another, through the Great Magnolia Swamp. Depending on the season, you may find subtle signs of wildlife in these woodlands and wetlands—perhaps tiny pine vole tracks in the snow, undergrowth rummagings of towhees, or the slow, wide circles of a red-tailed hawk. At the end of the 2nd string of boards walk 11 Roman paces* to find two trees forming the shape of a “V.” At the letter’s base will be a rock. Place your heels to it and head up-hill at a 320-degree bearing to the mid-size birch tree. With your back to the birch face 160-degrees to find Box #1 nestled in the stone nook in front of you. Return to the trail and head in the same direction you were going.

Box #2: “Jack Spies Dinner”
Carved by: SeaFlea

Continue along the Magnolia Swamp Trail until you reach its junction with a 3rd wooden walkway at Marker #14. Head now toward the Lake, following the blue-blazed trail. When you arrive at a clearing, make sure to follow the blue-dotted trail to the East. When you arrive at a tree painted with contrary arrows, go to the right rather than the left. Shortly you will spy the smooth, light gray bark of a forked beech tree (Fagus grandifolia)*** on your left. Facing Fernwood Lake, catch site of the 30-foot long fallen snag. From its base spy the axed off tree and go to it. Taking a bearing of 355-degrees you will see a footpath into the midst of the lake. Follow it across the dike, and once on the other side stop on the trail where twin pine trees flank your left and a sole pine flanks your right. From here go 21 Roman paces along the path, bearing left at the fork. The path will have become gravely beneath your feet. Stop. Spy a long, narrow granite block to your left. Go to its center and face 130-degrees. You’ll find Jack spying the dinner, 6 feet ahead, hidden between the arrowhead-shaped boulders. Please re-hide well, as this is a popular teen-party hide-out. Retrace your steps back to the beech tree.

Box #3: “Jack Runs Away with Dinner”
Carved by: graywolfe

Continue E-SE along the trail. Where the trail forks, bear left in a NE-Eerly direction, staying on the blue-dot trail. When you reach the next fork, bear to the right. Eventually you’ll come to a + intersection. Continue straight ahead, following the blue-dot trail back within the boundaries of Ravenswood Park At Old Salem Road, head West. . One of the more famous characters engraved in the history of Ravenswood is Mason A. Walton. He built a cabin here in 1884 and studied the area’s flora and fauna. He wrote several books, including “A Hermit’s Wild Friends.” To your right just a skip down this main path you’ll see a plaqued-boulder marking the spot where his cabin once stood. Continue along the carriage road until you come to Marker #15. Turn to a bearing of 140-degrees and follow a narrow, unmarked trail into the woods. At Marker #16 bear left. You’ll cross Ridge Road at Marker #17 and head uphill, again on a narrow, unmarked trail. At the intersection with Ledge Hill Trail, head downhill to your right. (To your left is a small bench offering a short rest from your quest and an grand overlook of the Gloucester Harbor and Eastern Point Lighthouse.) Follow the trail down to Marker #6. Face 50-degrees and count 21 Roman paces to a snug crevice between two huge boulders left behind by the glacier. Pass through the gap and keeping the lichen covered boulder to your left, walk forward 3 paces to find Jack hiding in the crevice formed between two flat rocks lying at a diagonal atop each other. Go back to the trail and continue following its winding course for a magical walk among fern-covered boulders and vernal ponds**** until you reach Old Salem Road again. At the main carriage path, head left for a short jaunt back to the entrance kiosk.

Notes:
*A mile was the distance it took a Roman soldier to step off 1000 paces—a pace being two steps, where an average pace is approximately 5 feet.

For a link to the songs of the Eastern Towhee and Red-tail Hawk, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology — http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/id and http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id

***For a link to identification of the American Beech tree, visit the Colby-Sawyer College site — http://www.colby-sawyer.edu/environmental/herbarium/angiosperms/fgrandifolia.html

****Ephemeral pools appear when depressions fill with rising groundwater, rain, and snow melt. Because vernal ponds typically dry out for part of the year, fish do not inhabit them. During the spring, these ponds provide crucial breeding habitat for a variety of amphibians, such as wood frogs, spring peepers, and spotted salamanders, as well as fairy shrimp.