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Ed's 50th Somerset County -- Franklin Park, NJ Carved July 2009 -- Planted 09/06/2009 I created this stamp to commemorate my 50th birthday on February 25, 2009! First available in the summer of 2009 at the "Summer is HERE!: Hudson Valley Camping Gather", I finally have gotten around to planting this stamp. Please note: You need to know how to use a compass to find this stamp! Thanks to the foresight of its citizens and community leaders, Franklin Township in Somerset County is a true gem of Central New Jersey, claiming over 8700 acres of preserved open space within its borders. While preserving the rural character and traditional land uses of the township, the large blocks of open space protected from development also provide key habitat for unique species of plants and animals. The Franklin Township Open Spaces allow hunting during FIVE months of the year. From Mid-September through Mid-February, there is hunting Monday-Saturday from 1:30 pm to dusk. As a hiker, you only have Sundays and from dawn until 1:30 pm Monday-Saturday. I think it is an excessive amount of hunting as I like to get out on Saturdays and I'm not an early bird. Should you decide to go letterboxing on hunting days, wear some kind of bright OPTIC color like ORANGE GREEN YELLOW and be very wary of hunters in the area. Click here to view/download a Butler Road Trail System map; sometimes there are maps at the kiosk but often there aren't any. You don't need a map to find this box but it is nice to have (just in case, you never know!). The map is in PDF format so if you don't have a reader, you can get it from Adobe here. Find Butler Road which is off of South Middlebush Road (CR 615). On Butler, find the Hiking Trail parking area; from South Middlebush it is on the right. You want to take the Purple Trail; it is about 1.5 miles round trip on fairly easy terrain, although it can be muddy in areas. There are a few places where you have to cross small streams but there are rocks to cross. Please note that there are many holes, tree stumps and other tripping (get hurt) hazards on the trail. Plus poison ivy and prickers in spots. After a short while you will come across the Red Trail on the left but stay on the Purple Trail. Continue on the trail until you come to a split in the trail to go right or left. Here you have a couple options, you can be a hiker then a letterboxer or a letterboxer then a hiker or just get the letterbox and go! I recommend one of the first two options but I have done the third on numerous occasions... I would say it is about 20 minutes to walk the loop through pines, fields and woods; it is a nice walk. In any case, when you are facing the split from the main trail, do an about face (turn 180*) and walk back to the 1st trail marker on the left, then take 3-4 steps more. Face approximately 108* and go about 28 steps. You should find yourself at a curvy 6" vine next to a 2-trunk tree. Just past this vine & tree, there is a 4-trunk tree. There are 3 medium size trunks and 1 dead trunk. At the base of the tree, under the dead trunk, in a crevice, under a SPOW (bark), you will find a Lock'n'Lock type box (Good Cook not Snapware) in a black plastic bag. After you wish me a happy birthday or offer me condolences (50 years old!!! OMG!!!), please double-bag the logbook, replace the plastic bag and hide the box better than how you found it. NOTE: There is a Geocache within approximately 5 steps of this box. It is called: PMC Lite - Paul is Dead? The cache is an AMMO CAN with a green Geocaching.com sticker clearly labeling it as a geocache; take a moment to find the nearby cache and sign in! To get back to your car, just follow the trail back out the way you came. Please let me know if there are any problems. Thanks!!! Record your find at LbNA and/or AQ.
To find out more about me, go to my other website: BluArcher.com |
