2009-02-08 33 -84

Planning

This expedition was a little East of downtown, in a subdivision. The satellite photos put the hashpoint in some woods, surrounded by some completed houses and some houses under construction. As the satellite photos could be well outdated by now, we weren't sure just what we'd find, or if those woods were even still there. But it was a Sunday, and this expedition would give us a three day consecutive geohash, so there was no reason not to attempt.

Expedition

The neighborhood surrounding the hash.

We left Nick's loft around 10:45, and brought supplies for a picnic at the hashpoint. We drove out into the area and to our delight, the woods were still there. And oddly enough, there were no signs forbidding access. Woo hoo! So we parked the car on the shoulder and started off with our supplies and our Garmin eTrex GPS. The woods weren't too bad, except for one bit that was quite thick and gave us some trouble. There was also some serious elevation change, so we went carefully and methodically. We crested the final hill to view the hashpoint, and descended to our picnic. The actual point was in a small clearing in a valley, about 30 feet from a small stream. Success!

And, Chris may or may not have peed on the hashpoint...

So we sat down on a log to enjoy our victory picnic of pringles and Coke. In our Atlanta culture, Coke is a part of everything. Unfortunately, none of the impressionist painters we know came to college up in Atlanta, so we had to settle with a lame photo. Maybe back down in Jacksonville this summer... But anyways, Nick also discovered some animal bones near the hash. We couldn't figure out anything beyond the fact that the unfortunate animal had probably been killed by a raptor. Perhaps someone will leave a comment suggesting the animal's species.

We then gathered our belongings and hiked back to the car, this time armed with a plastic bag to do some Green hashing. Unfortunately the place needed it pretty bad, and we with our measly bag was soon far outpaced by all the refuse to the point that we had to give up. It was sad. But every little bit helps. And either way, we still had the consecutive and picnic ribbons, so we were content to find our ways back home and prepare for the week ahead.