White River Trail

Clues…

From the Trailhead: Church Steeple=295°; RR Bridge=310°; Red Caboose=260°; Footbridge=80°.

From the Letterbox: Root end of fore-tree=280°; Tree with Handle=60p on trail, due S; View of River=74p on trail, due N; Side Path=28p on trail, 300°.

Box planted 9p off trail under fallen log.

Swan Cemetery

(quite a snug little place)

Use the numbered list of puzzle clues below to find the words that fit into the puzzle. Each of the 35 words replaces an asterisk (*) in the clue; the number in parentheses following each set of asterisks indicates the total number of letters in the words in that grouping (spaces are not counted).

 
| Click here to open the puzzle grid in Adobe .PDF format |

Puzzles Clues…

1. Close
2. Extent of space
3. No longer upright
4. Strip of land along the water
5. Number of children fathered by JS Bach
6. College titles
7. To moisten or sprinkle
8. Place to prepare food
9. A sailor’s footlocker
10. Number of people in Albom’s divine social circle
11. Irving’s superstitious schoolmaster
12. (opp.) Angels
13. Trinity
14. A Benjamin
15. One located near another
16. The altar end of a church
17. Mentally or emotionally disturbed
18. To lag behind
19. Animal skins
20. Remaining firm
21. Restrict to a definite amount
22. 1996 movie starring Rupert Everett (1st word)
23. To place in a position
24. Intermediate interval
25. Shapes wood
26. Securely
27. Cold minus 100
28. Jurisdiction of a bishop
29. Shrub commonly used for hedges
30. Noisily encourages the home team
31. Subordinate
32. Secondary menu selection
33. Larger than a hamlet
34. A window projecting outward
35. Cygnus

The Clue…

Nestled **** (26) and lumbertown **, * (15) the * (4) of the **** (18),
the ** (12) lies along * (4) the * (9). In this *, *** (22) between the * (5)
and the * (5) to the * (4). Three **** (24) from the ** (12), the *** (13)
the * (5) of a ** (14).

Spirit of the Lake

 
This letterbox was originally created for the 2004 Great Lakes Letterbox Gathering held at Morraine Hills State Park, McHenry, IL on June 12, 2004. The box was replanted in its permanent spot in Michigan, with the original stamp and logbook in July 2004.

Clues…

As Sherman and his dog, Nugent, walked toward the lake, they passed the entrance to Idlewild. Sherm fondly recalled summers he had spent with his grandparents in the neighboring beach community of Winnetaska. Mindlessly he began humming the song written so many years ago by Douglas Malloch, one of Winnetaska’s renowned residents.

As they crossed through the parking lot and headed down the boardwalk toward the beach, he listened to the whisper of the wind in the trees and the clapping of the waves hitting the shoreline, and thought how fitting the words of the song, “The whisper of the forest tree, The thunder of the inland sea…” They certainly captured the spirit of the lake that stretched endlessly before him. The poet could have been standing in this very place when he so eloquently penned his tribute.

He turned and started back up the boardwalk, the words of the song still running through his mind as he headed off to hide the letterbox.

*FROM*BPM*YLK*MPYL*CTYMVIO*VMIZ*FTQ*DOFYWBU
*ZCH*TCZZCK*HVS*RZMCX*NLUCF*BW*AOL*SLMA*LZJG
MYZ*AOL*DCDZOFG*QCBHWIS*WB*H*WSYXLIVPC*PUDQ
OFUAZ*AV*V*NYHZZF*RUVSS*PU*FTQ*JSMHYPUN*TWLO
WWF*BPM*JATKY*OZWJW*YMZK*JUNBM*KWVDMZOM*R
UZP*CBS*GAOZZ*SJSFUFSSB*LJWW*LCN*EAST*WV*FTQ*
SIDE*VM*SGD*VWZZ*UFCKG*OB*GSC*BZMM*WITH*OVIZ
TG*VSSXW*LQXXBN*Z*DOHV*OBR*AOYS*FUBY*KOM*ZU
*THIS*MKXX*NWTTWE*SGD*YJCQ*AOHA*EBXL*QTILTTC
*HVWG*NLYY*HUK*IWT*VUM*GTFFHMF*HSRDKE*UZ*O*
BCFHVSFZM*RWFSQHWCB*MH*V*WSHJL*VGDQD*EQHQD
MX*AYHPSZ*BTTI*VSOR*OH*HKC*LYRHVIH*BWBSHM*ZA
CNAAO*CX*HVS*SBR*CT*HVS*TRAIL*DOLYL*H*VDGVTDJ
H*CPLD*XO*AOL*ILHJO*WJZ*RFC*SHRL*HDHPA*IPMIL*LC
*VLR*I*YBT*HEAO*ODAEEQP*BJSF*O*GAOZZSF*VUL*JC*L
ZW*TPEGI*CT*THEIR*UMMBQVO*ZWSG*HVS*PCL*

Indian Point

Prior to the building of the existing channel between White Lake and Lake Michigan, lumber, cargo and passenger ships manuevered their way in and out of the busy port of White Lake through a narrow, shallow stretch of the White River. During dry spells, it was often necessary to transport cargo by barge from ships on Lake Michigan into the harbor as the river channel was too shallow for fully-loaded vessels to pass. Where this stretch of the river met White Lake, a bump of land, known as Indian Point, protruded from the northern shore of the lake forming a bay to the east, known as Indian Bay. Legend has it that Indians would wait in the woods on this point of land for the barges to transport the ships’ cargo into the lake. As the loaded barges sat in the bay, awaiting their destination, they would pirate the goods at night.

In 1866 Congress appropriated money for a lighthouse at the mouth of the White River. At this same time it was decided to construct the current east-west channel between White Lake and Lake Michigan to replace the oft-impassible stretch of the White River.

The old channel, now a mere creek flowing aimlessly from the SW corner of Indian Point to Lake Michigan, is still visible — a reminder of the busy and colorful history this area holds.

Getting There…

Follow the old channel trail along White Lake. As you near the point where you can go west no more, make your way to the place where the old channel meets White Lake at the SW corner of Indian Point.

Clues…

Find the letterbox under rocks, shaded from the mid-day sun by the lower boughs of the easternmost evergreen tree in the small stand of trees near the water. Please be discreet in your searching and stamping activities and rehide the box well!

One Tin Soldier

(the return of Billy Jack Beale)

 
Now they stood before the treasure, on the mountain dark and red,
Turned the stone and looked beneath it, “Peace on Earth was all it said.”

Clues…

On a cold and rainy evening in November, the brave one-legged soldier returned home from Virginia, after many years of seeking his great-great-grandfather’s treasure.

Several years later, he sat beside a crackling fire at the Circle R Ranch and told of the lessons he had learned — about greed and the uselessness of violence, “Listen children to a story…”

When he finished, a little boy who had been listening intently to each word of the soldier’s tale, murmured — as much a question as a statement, “But you can justify it in the end?”

The old soldier looked away, far off toward the mountains as if remembering how it had been. Quietly he answered, “There are some who say you can; I don’t.”

51, 62, 157, 14, 118, 159, 98, 124, 181, 36, 170, 133, 150, 40, 61, 16, 98, 5, 13, 68, 108, 22, 136, 20, 180, 9, 1, 79, 182, 137, 100, 68, 3, 159, 88, 58, 176, 1, 181, 41, 117, 102, 87, 92, 130, 103, 100, 68, 171, 68, 29, 109, 66, 133, 181, 39, 49, 145, 159, 53, 50, 99, 2, 166, 61, 38, 178, 160, 98, 181, 65, 136, 125, 124, 92, 98, 105, 63, 68, 87, 176, 146, 29, 184, 171, 181, 54, 117, 178, 120, 136, 23, 22, 110, 12, 159, 57, 96, 108, 133, 47, 95, 162, 143, 13, 61, 128, 9, 176, 65, 136, 111, 100, 68, 54, 1, 181, 10, 159, 59, 50, 51, 102, 184, 160, 29, 31, 147, 16, 148, 176, 1, 181, 19, 68, 87, 108, 171, 181, 68, 136, 93, 159, 68, 181, 65, 136, 114, 61, 175, 133, 68, 55, 128, 109, 142, 26, 61, 143, 36, 125, 137, 100, 154, 23, 128, 93, 48, 68, 50, 120, 159, 6, 63, 181, 141, 86, 90, 22, 102, 105, 39, 184, 5, 176, 120, 61, 68, 1, 49, 153, 178, 160, 68, 17, 48, 181, 15, 78, 9, 68, 32, 162, 18, 87, 68, 181, 174, 161, 115, 61, 169, 89, 107, 61, 3, 66, 91, 164, 128, 68, 37, 162, 68, 35, 181, 50, 80, 143, 29, 181, 45, 87, 68, 181, 86, 20, 159, 120, 82, 69, 39, 65, 147, 126, 133, 68, 181, 102, 59, 136, 145, 101, 154, 60, 98, 16, 91, 71, 68, 100, 59, 160, 78, 42, 63, 181, 86, 23, 98, 130, 153, 1, 40, 181, 127, 38, 144, 68, 185, 173, 129, 136, 181.