Black Friday

We were soooo excited about Black Friday. Could hardly wait for it to come. We were making BIG plans. We had everything ready.......to go letterboxing!  We were planting our first letterboxes. DH had beautifully carved 2 Hawaiian stamps to put in the letterboxes. The logbooks were ready. The clear plastic boxes were carefully covered with camoflage duck tape. Lunches and cameras were packed. It was finally time to go!

(photo to be added later: for some reason uploading photos worked a few days ago, but I've been unable to upload since then. I've had this post in drafts since Black Friday waiting to be successful in uploading)

We were going to Hosmer Grove which is the first stop just inside Haleakala National Park. Most visitors to Maui go to Haleakala to see the volcano's crater and many to bike down the mountain (we've know....we have done both), however not as many stop at Hosmer Grove.  It is a pretty place, lots of birds and a hiking trail with lots of trees and a lookout area. We enjoy stopping each time we go to Haleakala, either on the way up or on the way down depending on time of day. There is a small camping area, a picnic area, the hiking trail, restrooms and there is a ranger on duty to talk about the area. The rangers we have spoken to have been very knowledgeable and passionate about the nature and history of the area.

Once we arrived at Hosmer Grove,  we headed for the trail. It's important to hide your letterbox well so that casual passerbys don't see it, but not so well that letterboxers can't find it. It's also important to not go off the trails if it violates park rules.  We found our first hiding spot and after carefully hiding, DH wrote the clues so others can find it. Woo Hoo! We successfully planted our first letterbox! Now on to the second hiding place. We wanted to hide at least 2 boxes on this trail, so letterboxers would get a chance to enjoy the trail while scoring 2 letterboxes. We also wanted them to be fairly easy to access with good clues to make them easy to find as there are many other things to be doing on Maui other than letterboxing. (like enjoying the beach, snorkeling, surfing, whale watching, shopping......)