Schell Brewery Letterbox
 
Terrain: Easy
Difficulty: Easy
Placed: July 29, 2005
By: The Dragon
Location: Brown County, MN
Nearest town: New Ulm, MN

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CAMOUFLAGED BOX

Part of the New Ulm Series - Click here for more information
 
Yet another attraction of New Ulm which you don't want to miss is the Schell Brewery along with the Schell mansion and beer gardens.  If you enter the town on the east end, you can not miss the signs directing you there.  You can read about the history of America's second oldest family-owned brewery at their website, and learn more about the mansion and gardens.  You might also want to note the times that there are brewery tours, which will also afford you the opportunity to sample some of their beers (you may have to email them for

the current info).  Although they do not sell their product on site, any number of liquor stores in New Ulm carry whatever is in season.  (Note:  If you intend to take some home, and you have a long trip back home, you might wish to bring a cooler and ice.  Some of their beer is un-pasteurized and needs to be kept cold.  Also, you can bottle your own 1919 Root Beer for the kids right from the tap at the liquor stores, but that is best kept cold too.)

Clues:

The Schell Brewery property lies right up against Flandrau State Park.  At one point during my college life, I either hiked from the beer gardens into Flandrau or from Flandrau into the beer gardens.  Unfortunately, I don't remember which and I couldn't figure out how I did it while I was in the area. (This is due to age, not the consumption of Schell's! : - ) )  My original plan was to hide the box in Flandrau and give you two ways to get to the box - one from Flandrau and one from Schell's.  Although I did receive confirmation from the park staff that there is an un-maintained trail connecting the two, I first tried to find it from Flandrau without success.  When I tried to find it from Schell's, I was thwarted by new construction at the brewery.  Maybe once the construction is over, enterprising letterboxers could give the Schell's to Flandrau route a try.  You should be able to determine where to go from the following clues and a park trail map.

In the meantime, I strongly suggest that you visit the Schell Brewery for a tour, then go to Flandrau State Park to find the box.  You'll need to pay for a daily pass (which you should be able to use at the other state park you need to go to for the falls and mill boxes) and park down by the pool.  You may download useful maps at this site, or pick up a trail map on your way in.

Once you are parked, pick up the Woodland Trail heading along the river. When the Woodland Trail turns left away from the river, continue along the river on the River Trail.  Don't worry - the "difficult" part of the trail comes right away and the rest of the trails are relatively flat.  At the "trail intersection that doesn't exist", continue along the river - don't go up to the country club.  At the next intersection, you can continue on either trail as they'll both end up at the same spot.  (You might take one way there and one way back!)  Shortly after the trails reunite, you'll come to a bench which is the observational spot for the area.

Once you are rested, continue just a little farther to the next trail sign which indicates that you are at the beginning/end of the River Loop.  Stand in front of the sign looking directly at it.  Then take one sidestep to your right.  Look up the hill for a sawn off stump.  The box is three feet to the left of that stump against the backside of the sawn off trunk.  You might want to walk up the hill alongside the other fallen trunks to minimize damage to the environment and avoid leaving a trail.  Once you are in the right spot, look under loose forest debris for the box.  Please replace accordingly.

If you have time, you might want to take the River Loop to the "former dam site" and check it out.  Somewhere around there is the trail to Schell's.
 

Before you set out read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.

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