Treasure Hunting Outdoor Game Databases

Geocaching databases:
The outdoor sport or game of searching for hidden objects by using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates posted on the Internet.

http://geocaching.com
http://opencaching.us
http://opencaching.org.uk
http://opencaching.de/cz/no/se/pl/lv/jp
http://geocaching.com.au
http://navicache.com
http://geocaching.gpsgames.org
http://freecaching.nl
http://geopeitus.ee
http://geocaching.hu
http://geocaching.ru
http://www.brillig.com/geocaching/

Letterboxing databases:
A treasure hunt in which a box is hidden in a remote rural location and clues are provided as to its whereabouts. A stamp image is collected from the box.

http://www.atlasquest.com/
http://www.letterboxing.org/
http://letterboxing-scotland.co.uk/clues/
http://www.letterboxing-germany.de/
http://www.psychokiwi.org/letterboxing/nzboxing.htm
http://www.letterboxingondartmoor.co.uk/index.html
http://www.spacehijackers.org/letterboxing/
http://www.vitalcommunities.org/valleyquest/questdir.cfm

Other treasure hunting databases:
http://www.munzee.com/
http://www.waymarking.com/

Made a handcarved stamp for Flintstone5611's Restin' in Huttonville letterbox hybrid (spoiler)

Flintstone5611 accepted my offer of a handcarved stamp for his Restin' in Huttonville to replace the commercial swirl stamp that is currently in the box. He was very understanding when I vented a little in my online log, about how important the letterbox stamp is. I wanted to show my appreciation for his understanding by offering to carve a personalized stamp for the box.

Since the landmark in the clue is Rebecca's gravestone with a common design of the time - a hand/finger pointing up, which symbolizes the pathway to heaven or heavenly reward, I suggested that I carve that image. I carved it on a pink dollar store "Big Mistakes" eraser and used Monster glue to attach it to a thick foam backing.

The stamp was put in the Restin' in Huttonville box on Monday January 10 2011

Carve Your Own Stamps

Thanks to a geocacher, I found an old unpublished letterbox

A new cache was planted in a local park just a few days ago.

The coords were fuzzy, about 30 feet off, so a wide circle of searching occurred. Someone posted finding a letterbox in one of the trees, something to do with the Wizard of Oz. Ooooooo, if my hunch was correct it had to be unpublished and planted many years ago by letterboxers who are not active anymore.

I headed out today and there was the tell tale container that these boxers had used when they planted. The box may have been out there for 6 years. The tree had grown some and the hole it was in was tightening around it. Took me about 5 minutes of finagling before I found just the right spot that it would fit through to extricate it.

When I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised to find that the contents were in very good shape. I opened the logbook to find that the very first log was from a tree lover who stumbled upon it when exploring the hollow. See the photos above. He called the discovery an 'unexpected delight'.

....As I'm writing this, I just got an email from the cacher that reported finding the letterbox. He too had a tough time getting the box out and he actually found it in poor shape. Had to pour out water and wipe/dry out the cache. He did a great job. The logbook was damp but not wet. The container is a dollar store container, not water tight. If the owners will let me help out I'll have to see if I can find something small, thin and watertight. Ideally it should be about the size of an altoids tin.

What an interesting find. I hope it can be salvaged and shared with more letterboxers. I emailed the owners and await their reply.