1162. All Fifty States Now Hiding Out in the Smallest One! - 1-2m
Hopkinton, RI
Placed 1/1/2021

We suggest you pick a day that is not too cold to do this series, since it involves handling over 50 very tiny stamps passed along to us second-handedly, and we wouldn’t want you getting frozen fingers and having any states go slipping through your fingers along the way! Actually, when moonstone first gave us these minis a few months back, we thought we might turn them all into “travelin’ lights” and plant each stamp on a discrete little stone as we had already done with one round of state abbreviations across the USA years ago. That just seemed too hard for this pandemic year, though, so we decided instead to separate them by random regions into little orange pill bottles and then plant them all in one preserve close to our home - the Grills Preserve on route 91 just north of the Hopkinton /Westerly line near the old Bradford Dam, where there is a good-sized parking lot with a trail map kiosk set back a bit from the main road.

Now, here’s what we suggest you do for stamping all these states in: just make a game out of it! Imagine a map of the USA, and as you find each little orange pill bottle, color code the stamps by region and try to place them in the best position in relation to each other that you can remember. For us that was pretty easy, having visited all 50 states even before our letterboxing days and many times since, but we can imagine that this could be quite a challenge here in this case without size or shape to rely on to help get the state positions right, so just have fun with it, maybe get a few laughs and a few smudges, and see how close you can get to creating a map of the USA with maybe room leftover for the USA stamp somewhere in the middle!

First, let’s start out with the “outliers”, if no one else is around, or you can always wait to get these at the end of your journey during a perhaps quieter time. Hawaii should be saying “HI” from its hiding spot behind a stone on the east-facing side of a low foundation remnant about 6 steps south of a large multi-tree cluster to the west of the parking area, while Alaska “AK” hides behind the last iceberg-shaped boulder along the northwestern edge of the parking lot.

Now start your “road trip” eastward down the gravel road from parking lot passing two gates and eventually arriving at the junction of the red and the blue. Find the “North Central States” hiding out directly north across the road from the start of the red trail behind a multi-tree.

Continue your “road trip” eastward along the gravel road with its occasional blue blazes until you spy a tall dirt mound on the left. Climb gently up the “Cahokia Mound” and search behind the 2-trunk tree under its most supine branch for “Midwestern States” hiding beneath a stone.

Complete your road journey to a point where blue goes left onto trail along a stone wall and yellow goes right. Check the northeastern side of the blue-blazed tree on the left for the “Northeastern States” beneath a stoney overhang at the base of the tree.

Now leave the road and proceed southerly down the yellow-blazed path, passing a 3-trunk oak on the left and stopping shortly after at a large 2-trunk pine also on the left, with the “Mid-Atlantic States” hiding behind it under some bark.

Continue with the yellow blazes, cross a low stone wall and arrive at the foundation of a long-gone building. From the lumpy bumpy multi-tree at the far corner of the foundation, continue about 10 steps southeast, and look under a rock behind a tree for the “Southeastern States”.

Now head westerly with the yellow blazes, passing over a network of roots crossing the trail and keeping watch up ahead for a large 3-trunk pine. From it, go southerly about 10 steps and examine the south side of a tree for the “South Central States”.

Continue onward to an open area surrounded by 3-4 foot tall brush and greenbrier. To the left of the trail are numerous downed limbs and a medium pine with a large tree behind it. Beyond those trees is a small, scraggily multi-tree whose southwest side holds the “Southwestern States”.

Continue with yellow blazes, duck under a massive “squirrel bridge” and cross a wet area. When you arrive at a map board (which marks proposed location of orange trail) check the northwest side of the nearest tree for the “Northwestern States”.

Now cross a short bridge and then a larger 4-plank bridge over a flowing stream and finally reach higher ground. When you see the highway ahead, take a bend to the right and then approach an even longer bridge. Stop before crossing that last bridge and search for “USA” with its sign-in scroll on the north side of a multi-tree on the left, under the mossy leaning rock, between it and the tree, near the end of a bit of a stone wall. Yellow takes you quickly back to the kiosk in the parking lot. Hope you enjoyed your quick journey through all these states before they may take off on a trip elsewhere!

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