Letterboxing, Bugs, and Cliffs Don't Mix Well

Last fall Marley's 4th grade class took a field trip and hiked up Mt. Holyoke to the Summit House at Skinner State Park. We decided it would be fun to go letterboxing up there. I printed out the clues, and this afternoon Paul, Marley and I "rode" up to the Summit House to find it. With all of the rain we have been having, we were so happy that the sun was out and it was a nice day. The only problem, BUGS, BUGS, BUGS! They were everywhere.

Also, Marley kept wanting to climb up cliffs to look at the view and I nearly had a panic attack. Needless to say, I wouldn't let her do much. She said to me, "Grandma, no offense, but it was more fun when I came up here with my class." Yikes, how in the world did the teachers keep track of all those kids. I would probably have passed right out. She did tell me that one of the kids fell from something and they had to have an ambulance come get him.

She tried to find her name that she wrote with the kids from her class. She couldn't find it, but wrote her name again with a rock.







The view really was incredible.




One of the highlights of the day for Marley was seeing this snake. Definitely not a highlight for me. It was only a garter snake, but we saw signs that rattlesnakes and cooperheads were known to be on the Mt. Holyoke range.



Anyhow, this letterbox was not easy to find and between the bugs and the cliffs, we didn't stay too long.

Mental note to self - don't pick any more letterboxes that are anywhere around high elevations, and wear bug repellant!