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Yellow Brick Road 3: The Tin Man LbNA #51833

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Dec 3, 2009
Location:
City:Waimea
County:Hawaii
State:Hawaii
Boxes:1
Planted by:Old2AK
Found by: MickeyMouse
Last found:Jul 2, 2012
Status:FFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Dec 3, 2009
We're a couple of old geezers who enjoy letterboxing, but who tend to limit our hiding and seeking activity to drive-bys and places that involve easy walks. If we're a long way from home, in a place we might not visit again, we think it's more fun to seek and find easy boxes in several different locations, rather than pursue one hard one. We think our "low impact" letterbox style works work well for families with young children, too.

The Yellow Brick Road series relies on a collection of old, commercially-made rubber stamps that feature characters from The Wizard of Oz. If you get a fairly early start (9 a.m.? 10 a.m.?) you should be able to find all five letterboxes in the series in a pleasant one-day outing that will take you to interesting places you might otherwise not go.

3. THE TIN MAN

From the Scarecrow letterbox location on Highway 190, proceed to Waimea. Waimea is the headquarters of the 150-year-old Parker Ranch, the largest private ranch in the United States. In this area, more than 50,000 head of cattle and 500 horses graze on grassy hills where forests of sandalwood once stood. Waimea is home to cowboys (paniolos), doctors and nurses at the new North Hawaii Community Hospital, astronomers for the Keck and Canada-France-Hawaii Observatories, and the faculty, staff and students of the prestigious Hawaii Preparatory Academy. There are good places to eat lunch here, too!

As you enter Waimea, head toward Hilo on Highway 19. Watch for an Ace Hardware/Ben Franklin Crafts store on the right-hand side of the road. Shortly after you pass the hardware store, take a left into the parking lot of the W. M. Keck Observatory Headquarters (65-1120 Mamalahoa Highway). The observatory itself is a two-telescope astronomical observatory near the summit of Mauna Kea, but according to the observatory's website, volunteers are available at the Waimea headquarters from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays to greet guests and educate them about Keck and the other Mauna Kea observatories.

The parking lot is to the left of the Hualalai Lecture Theater, and is bounded on the back and left sides by a loose stone wall. At the left rear corner of the parking lot you'll see a small metal shed. Beyond the shed is a hollow that sports a drainage grate; behind that you'll see a break in the wall that's bridged by the root of a large tree.

Stand with your back against the root, facing the parking lot. The letterbox is a camouflaged pill bottle that's tucked under a large rock to your right, about waist-high. The large rock has several splotches of lichen on its under side. A smaller reddish rock, sitting on top of a grayish rock, must be moved to reveal the box.