Girl Scouts leave their mark in parks

While some scouts might spend an afternoon taking trash out of a local park, the scouts of Girl Scout Troop #5664 in North Liberty are leaving stuff behind.
What they’re leaving are letterboxes, an outdoor treasure hunt of sorts, similar to geocaching. The hobby offers all ages an excuse to go outside and explore. Letterboxers follow clues (these days, the clues are online) to small, weatherproof boxes containing a stamp that is hidden in publicly accessible areas. Once they find the letterbox, they collect a copy of the stamp, leave their own mark and return the box to its hiding place.
“We loved the idea of encouraging our neighbors to get outside and explore our parks,” said scout leader Lori Steffens. “The girls loved writing clues, hiding the boxes and following trails to other letterboxes.”
The new letterboxes are hidden in North Liberty’s parks with the hope of encouraging other community members to get out and explore the parks over the summer. And maybe have a little fun, too.
“I really enjoyed looking for letterboxes and making the clues. It was so fun!” said scout Tatum Stille. “My family is excited to look for more clues in North Liberty.”
Anyone can look for the boxes by following the clues at letterboxing.org or following these links to Box 1, Box 2, Box 3, Box 4, Box 5, Box 6, Box 7, Box 8, Box 9, Box 10, Box 11, Box 12 and Box 13.