White Elephant
(at White Mountain)

There really is such an animal as a white elephant, but they are very rare.  The term "white elephant" has come to refer to any odd or unusual article, ornament, or household utensil, particularly one that is no longer wanted.  Webster's Dictionary defines the term "white elephant" as an object no longer esteemed by its owner though not without value to others.  Hence, we get the term "white elephant sale" which brings to mind tables laden with odd-looking pieces -- junk to some, treasures to others.

Location:   Hurd State Park, East Hampton, CT.
Terrain:   Moderate.
Clues:   Easy.
Time:   Add an additional 1 hour to the time you have already spent looking for other boxes in this park.

DIRECTIONS:   For directions to Hurd State Park, see the clues for the Blue Griffin letterbox.

CLUES:   Remember the point on the paved park road where the red trail comes out, at the end of the hike to find the Blue Griffin letterbox?  Just a few steps past it, there is a trailhead for a yellow trail.  A few feet from the trailheads, these two trails cross each other and continue on in their opposing directions.  Follow the yellow trail, climbing gently uphill.  Although it is blazed in yellow at the beginning, it is not well-marked further on.  Just stay on the main trail (there is only one major branching, which is on the right) until you come to the end, where you will see a brown wooden sign with arrows pointing you to "White Mtn", "River Vista", and "Split Rock".  To find the start of the White Mountain trail, start from the brown wooden sign, take a few steps in the direction of "River Vista" keeping an eye out to the left for faded orange blazes.  The blazes are faded, few, and far between, but once you are on this trail you should be able to stay on it.  (A few trees are also marked with yellow ribbons tied around them, but I don't know if this is considered to be permanent.)  You will cross some rock, then pass in and out of several stands of mountain laurel.  Continue in a generally southeasterly direction.  You will pass rock ledges on your left, then the path curves to the left to climb up over the rock ledges.  Through more laurel, across more black rock with bits of embedded quartz, more laurel ...

As you are approaching the top of the hill, you will pass a jumble of rocks on your left.  This is where you must look for the letterbox.  If you were to continue on, out onto the top of the hill, you would walk out onto a crown of VERY white rock -- the White Mountain!  But if you have come to the whitest part of the rock, then you have gone past the letterbox.  As I said, it is back there in the jumble of rocks that you passed on your left.  There is a large, flat-topped rock which sits atop another even larger rock and up against the base of a tree.  Look under the top rock (reach in near the tree) for your treasure -- the White Elephant letterbox!

The RETURN:  After stamping in, go on up to the top of White Mountain, if you haven't already, to enjoy this unique spot.  When you are ready to return, there's no need to go back the way you came -- it is quicker to take the path that starts at the south corner of the whitest part of the rock.  Here you will find the continuation of the trail marked with the faded orange blazes.  Following this trail, you will immediately begin to descend, curving back and forth in front of the White Mountain, until the trail brings you out at the blacktop park road.