1051. Mutant Spring Flowers for the Young at Heart (4) - walk
Mystery Puzzle
1. Bloody Bloodroot
2. Ruby Moccasin
3. Crimson Britches
4. Scarlet Stars

Like the spring flowers we previously transplanted to this preserve near one of North American letterboxing's earliest epicenters, these "mutant" flowers first appeared at our "Springing Up Lantern Hill" gathering in North Stonington many years ago, on an offshoot trail that only a small number of people got to visit that day. They did, however, give at least a few folks some chuckles because, even though these flowers are actually white or pale pink, we requested that they be inked up in red, with green leaves and sky blue background, just so that the flower parts would show up - hence the name "mutants"! For us, letterboxing has always been about the hikes and places we get to visit, while the stamps themselves have never been our focus of interest. However, for those who wish to get any sort of decent images out of these particular stamps (keeping in mind our pathetic carving skills, which have only gotten worse with time!;-) please remember to bring at least three colored ink pens: red, green and sky blue. (Solid color ink pads just will not do, so don't even try messing with these if that's all you've got!)

Anyway, to find these "mutant flowers", first get yourself to the junction of red and yellow mentioned in our previous spring flowers clues. (We do like to maintain at least a tiny bit of mystery in some of our clues to keep folks reading, thinking, and learning, but we were tickled that Sherlock Miles took us up on our suggestion to have someone else plant on the outer red loop here in this preserve, so her clues may help shed some light on where to go for our flowers for those still "in the dark" about the starting point;-) We transplanted these four add-on "mutants" on the first day of spring 2020 to go along with the original six spring flowers that we transplanted there on the first day of spring 2019, but, finding the first three wet, we decided to take them home for cleaning and bring them back the following week for some friends that we were introducing to letterboxing to find. Unfortunately, the coronavirus shutdown occurred in the meantime, so we didn't get back to replant the first three, but the last three of the original flowers are still there, for those who haven't already gotten them, to perhaps find on their way out!

For "Bloody Bloodroot", continue along the red ridge (northeastern prong) until you see a tree on left with a red blaze and a huge gaping maw. From there, go 10-12 steps at 155 degrees to a slightly leaning tree with a small square white-capped box behind the rock on its south side.

For "Ruby Moccasin", find an elbow tree on right edge pointing into trail. Look in the direction of the pointing elbow and find SPOR in front of a 3-foot stump within the mountain laurel there.

For "Crimson Britches", continue following the red blazes to a junction with the white-blazed cross-over trail. Go left on white, looking for a 4-trunk somewhat candelabra-like tree on the right. Look under the flat stone at the base of that tree on its front trail side.

For "Scarlet Stars", continue on white until you reach a large chunk of ledge rock on trail left that is about 3 feet high and 15 feet long. Walk past it a few dozen steps to the next large boulder off trail left, about 8x4 feet with a twin-tree behind. Look in the cave of the nearer one of the rotting sisters for this last mutant flower. Then continue on white, crossing a small stream, to reach red, which will take you back south to the junction with blue and a direct descent on red, or take red left back to yellow for a mellow loop back around to the road and then north just a short way back to your car! Hope you enjoyed this short walk for our little "mutant spring flowers"!

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