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French Creek Letterboxes |
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| Terrain: Easy Difficulty: Easy Placed: July 2013 By: The Dragon Location: French Creek, ID (East of Riggins) At the intersection of French Creek and the Salmon River - approximately 45.42424N 116.02989W |
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In the summer of 2013 I came back to Idaho driving all the way from Wisconsin and back in my Honda Insight hybrid. Not only was it the "trip of a lifetime", but I also was able to knock off a few items on the ol' bucket list. One advantage of taking my own car to Idaho was that I could take it anywhere I wanted. Having rented a car in Boise the last time I was in Idaho, I was plainly told that I was not allowed to go onto dirt roads. Since this limited the boxes I could hunt for, I was determined to bring my own car this time around.
Things were going great with me and my little hybrid hatchback. Although the return trip meant my trip was coming to an end, I was enjoying finding many of the boxes in Idaho that were way off the main roads. I was also using an IPad I borrowed from my school to try out the Clue Tracker app.e Tracker app.
I left Boise heading north to find the boxes near McCall and then into Payette NF. The journey to the Mining for Gold Series was long, but lots of fun - at least until I got there. After finding the first box of the series using the clues on the IPad, the IPad decided to die! It was fully charged, but would not work no matter what I would do. Having come all that way I didn't want to leave without finding the second box! Since there was no cell or Wi-fi service in such a remote location, I had to draw upon my letterboxing experience to determine where someone would hide a box. Believe it or not, I was able to find the location without any clues within 30 minutes! I was elated that I found both boxes, but sad that I wouldn't be able to access the clues on my IPad until I got it to the Apple Store in Spokane. As such, I decided to make a bee-line straight over to Hwy 95 and Riggins rather than go back to Hwy 55 near McCall.
When I finally did make it into French Creek I needed to take a break from driving. Lucky for me this place was an excellent spot to relax and enjoy the scenery! The weather was perfect as was the view! Since I had time on my hands, I thought I'd take the time to plant two boxes to encourage others to go out and enjoy the spot. One box comemorates my journey to French Creek and the other mimics the name of French Creek.
Unless you are as adventerous as I, I would recommend taking Big Salmon Rd. in and out of French Creek from Riggins. At least take it one of the ways so that you can enjoy the drive along the Salmon River and the old one-lane bridge across the river. I was amazed to see yet another school bus make it across that bridge (which also has tight turns on both ends). Oh, the precarious things we go through to up our F count! :-)
Enjoy!
Clues:
Box 1-French Creek1-French Creek
From the sign, walk on a bearing of 76 degrees to a tall pine tree at the edge of the bank. Take five steps down to a rock on your left. There is a small cavity under the southeast side of this rock with some rocks inside. Remove two rocks and you should be able to see the box. Please re-hide with the two rocks so the box cannot be seen and it is held firmly in place.
Box 2-Don't Do This....With a Hybrid!!
From the sign, head west down the road to the very large rock formation on the north side of the road. Go around and behind this rock (around the west side to the north side of the formation). There you should be able to spot a crevice with a number of rocks inside. The box is buried under these rocks and dirt. Please replace with dirt and rocks so the box cannot be easily found.
Chances are I will never make it to this spot again, so updates on the conditions of the boxes and any TLC you can give them (if needed) is much appreciated! Thanks!
Before you set out read the read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.