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TRAX AND STAX III LbNA #62828

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 12, 2012
Location:
City:Botsford
County:Fairfield
State:Connecticut
Boxes:4
Planted by:Skip & TJ
Found by: mattyfungos (4)
Last found:Mar 24, 2016
Status:FFFFF
Last edited:Dec 21, 2015
TRAX AND STAX III

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 located in one direction, and the STAX BOXES are located in the other direction.)

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 #3

You are heading North on RT25, passing from Monroe briefly through Stepney. As you climb the hill, you should be looking to the right for Botsford Lane. At the next traffic light, take a right onto Botsford Hill Road. Follow this under the railroad bridge which has been graffitied with the slogan “Free Yourself from The Madness.”As the road curves to the left and up, you will see the tiny Botsford Cemetery on your left. You can respectfully park here.

Enter the woods to the left, alongside the fenced-in Bradley monuments.
Walk toward the towering two-headed oak, and you will see the railroad trax at the bottom of the bank. REMEMBER WHERE YOU EXITED THE WOODS!

Cautiously cross the trax and walk to the left. You will come upon a long pile of discarded railroad ties. And then you will see a medium size stone with a stack of smaller stones built up behind it. The TRAX#3 LETTERBOX (“Good Road To Follow”) is hidden in the stack. You can walk a little farther and investigate the bridge. But don’t cross it.

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 #3

Walk back in the direction of the cemetery., staying on the same side of the trax as the letterbox you just found. Count the telephone poles as you walk. Between the third and fourth pole, you should come upon another stack of rocks. HOBO SIGN #9 (“Can Sleep in the Barn”) is hidden in the stack. Be sure to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp, and replace it as you found it.


Continue on the same side of the trax. You will see in the distance, a road crossing over the trax. Before the overpass, you will see a section of ledge on the right. Somewhere very close to you, on your side of the trax, is another stack of rocks. HOBO SIGN #8 (“Kind-hearted Woman”) is hidden in this stack. Remember to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp, and replace it as you found it. If you pass the metal 91 marker, you have gone too far.

In the distance, you will see that the trax come to a developed area. This is actually the Newtown Canine Control Center. Before you come to this, you will walk over a concrete culvert which passes under the trax.
Stop, and look in front of you about shoulder high, for a large rock with a stack of smaller rocks alongside of it. HOBO SIGN #7 (“Get Out Quickly”) is hidden here. Remember to print BOTH SIDES of the stamp, and replace it as you found it.

Time to walk back to your vehicle.