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TRAX AND STAX II LbNA #62817

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 11, 2012
Location:
City:Sandy Hook
County:Fairfield
State:Connecticut
Boxes:4
Planted by:Skip & TJ
Found by: Chrissy (3)
Last found:Apr 19, 2019
Status:FFFFa
Last edited:Apr 13, 2016
TRAX AND STAX II

This series of letterboxes is all about trains and cairns (stacks of rocks that hikers build to mark their trails, and sometimes confused with SPORs, “suspicious piles of rocks.”). You might consider doing this one during the height of “tick season” as very little of the trail brings you into contact with woods or brush. COMMON SENSE AND CAUTION are advised: When you walk along a road, you watch for cars; when you walk along train tracks, you watch for trains. Right? (Please note that the TRAX BOX is in one location, and the STAX BOXES are in another location!)

The boxes and clues will lead you on a hobo journey, marked with authentic hobo signs and ending with an appropriate and well-earned hot meal. Finding the boxes in the recommended sequence should make the trip an enjoyable one. (Out of sequence will give you a challenge.)

TRAX #2

Take Rt111 in Monroe toward the intersection with Rt34. Before you come to the end of the hill or go under the railroad bridge, take a right onto Cottage Street. LOOK FOR THE STEVENSON POST OFFICE SIGN. Pull into the gravel area to the right of the Post Office, alonside of the tracks and park. Facing the tracks and to your left you will see the abandoned railroad tracks, leading left over the bridge. Follow them in this direction, along the vacated Stevenson Lumber Company property. When you come to the end of the fencing on your left, climb up a little hill, cross the gravel path, and climb up a second little hill. At the base of some ledge, you will see a stack of rocks. TRAX #2 LETTERBOX (“Tell A Hard Luck Story Here”), is hidden in the top of the stack.

Inside of the logbook cover, you will see the trax imprint, and the three HOBO SIGNS stamped on top of the trax imprint. Each hobo sign has a letter on its opposite face. Those letters, in the correct sequence, give a clue to the location of the DESTINATION LETTERBOX

STAX #2

Take Rt111 in Monroe back up the steep hill. Take your first right onto Old Zoar Road. When you come to a stop sign, take a right onto Bagburn Hill Road. Follow Bagburn Hill, down the hill, through the stop sign and under another railroad bridge. Trailhead parking is IMMEDIATELY to the right as soon as you come under the bridge.

If you start at the trailhead, and take the trial to the left, you will come to the HALFWAY TO THE MOON LETTERBOXES along the river. If you take the trail to the right, you will come to the tracks. If you follow the tracks to the left, you will come to TRAX #2 LETTERBOX. (There is an easier way to get there!)(box relocated 04.12.16) If you follow the tracks to the right, you will cross the bridge and come to corrals and animal pens on your right. You will also see a pile of rocky debris along the right side of the tracks. Look to the left, across the tracks, and you will see another stack topped by a boomerang-shaped piece of slate. HOBO SIGN #4 (“Man With A Gun”) is hidden in the top of the stack. Be sure to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp. Please replace it as you found it.

Continue along the tracks until you come to jumbles of red rocks, along the right side of the railroad bed. In the second jumble of red rocks, look for a second stack of rocks that do not look quite natural. HOBO SIGN #5 (“Good Chance Of Money”) is hidden in the top of the stack. Be sure to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp.Please replace it as you found it.

Another four minutes along the tracks will bring you to the first time that the tracks start to bend to the left. Up until this time, the tracks have always curved to the right. You will see old rusty brackets and rotting embankments made with railroad ties.(BOX RELOCATED 04.12.16) Before you take that curve to the left, look to your right for jumbles of gray stone, and a few chunks of charcoal or coal. Now back up and look under the little cedar tree. HOBO SIGN #6 (“Good Place For A Handout”) is hidden in the top of the stack of rocks. Be sure to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp. Please replace it as you found it.

Time to retrace your path and return to your vehicle.