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The Crockpot 2 LbNA #52710

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Mar 27, 2010
Location:
City:Indiana township
County:Allegheny
State:Pennsylvania
Boxes:1
Planted by:The crocks
Found by: Beth & Brett
Last found:Aug 3, 2010
Status:F
Last edited:Mar 27, 2010
This is the second letterbox for our family! What a great project to do with kids! We love to hike at the Beechwood Farms Nature preserve so placing this one was such fun! This area has many trails to hike so explore at your leisure. The Audubon society runs classes and a great nature gift shop there too. The directions given here are about a 25 minute hike to the box. Slight upgrades throughout, but our 7 and 11 year olds do it with ease. Take a water bottle with you.

Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, home to the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, is located in Fox Chapel, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. The address is 614 Dorseyville Road, Pittsburgh, PA.
http://www.aswp.org/beechwoodDirections.html

Take Pennsylvania Turnpike exit 48 (New Kensington/Pittsburgh): Bear right at the exit to go south on Freeport Road.
*Proceed 1.0 miles and turn right at a traffic light onto Guys Run Road and proceed 4.1 miles. (During this stretch, Guys Run Road will become Fox Chapel Road/Green Belt at a Y; bear slight right at the Y.) Fox Chapel Road ends at a T into Dorseyville Road. Take a left onto Dorseyville Road and proceed 7/10 of a mile to Beechwood, which is on the right.

From Route 28: Take the Harmar exit, at the end of the ramp merge right onto Route 910 and stay in the right lane. Turn Right on to Freeport road and continue with the directions above*.

From the parking lot head toward the main building.(there are trail maps right outside the door if you want one) On the right of the building at the parking lot is a wooden marker that says trails. Follow the mulched path behind the building until you see a marker for Spring Hollow, follow that to the RIGHT. You will see the pond as you follow the trail. Follow the path down to the pond. Check out the dock and look for tadpoles or frogs if the time is right. You will see ducks, geese and fish! Follow the path around the pond until you see a marker for Violet. Follow that to the RIGHT. Meet up with Spring Hollow trail and follow that to the LEFT. Near the top of this path on the right side is a lookout deck. It overlooks the forest below and the path you came up. The kids love this. Then continue up Spring Hollow a little farther. Go RIGHT onto Meadow View(marked MDVWVW on the marker. Be careful, farther up you will cross over a driveway. Continue on the other side still on Meadowview. You will eventually see a green pumphouse of an old well. Right after the pumphouse turn RIGHT at the marker onto Pinehollow. This trail is a great place to spot deer. After a while on a twisty trail you will head downhill and if not too dry you will hear water rushing. At the bottom of this hill you will cross a small wooden bridge. Go across the bridge and at the next marker go off the path to your RIGHT. Go 12 steps and turn around to see the waterfall(hopefully it will not be too dry since it is very pretty!) Go 10 steps more and turn LEFT, climb the small hill. Step over the fallen tree. Take 12 steps ending in a circle of 3 trees with a fallen log right along side. Search this area for our box! Please keep all the contents dry and sealed so there won't be any water damage! Thanks!
Now you can either turn around and go back the way you came in, or continue along the path which hooks back up with a trail on you came in on anyway! It will add another 5-10 minutes to the trip but we think it is worth it. It is so quiet with pine needles underfoot.
If you decide to continue,follow Pine Hollow, eventually you will meet up with Bridle Trail which horses sometimes use, cross over the trail to the other side and continue on the trail. At the Meadowview marker go RIGHT( kind of straight ahead really) At the next marker continue RIGHT on Meadowview You will reach the driveway again,if you look right you may see a small windmill. Cross over the drive, there will be a bench there. At the marker turn RIGHT onto Springhollow which leads back to the Beechwood center!
Enjoy you hike in one of our favorite places!

THANKS to BETH & BRET for the corrections and update on our box! 8/3/2010