2010-08-04 48 -123

Location

The first sand trap on the third hole at the Cordova Bay Golf club.

Participants

Wenslayer

Plans

Wenslayer: It's less than 10km from me, so I'll go for it after work.

Expedition

I ended up leaving after dinner in the cooler evening. I took me only about 10-15 minutes to make my way up the Lochside Trail to Mattick's Farm, and to the Cordova Bay Golf Club. I locked up my bike, and entered the Pro Shop. I didn't know if I'd get permission to enter the course, but I gave it a shot. I spoke with an affable young guy named Tyler, and tried to explain the Geohashing concept. He was certainly curious about it, and to my delight, let me onto the course.

It was dusk and so there were few golfers, luckily none where I had to go. I simply followed the paved path starting from the first hole. Within about 50m, I came across a couple deer grazing right off the trail. They didn't spook, and let me take a picture of them from quite close off, before they bounded away.

Onward I walked, and snapped another pic of a deer as it trotted parallel to my path in front of the sunset. I passed the second hole, and eventually came to the sand traps I had spotted on the satellite map. The Geohash point was right where I suspected, and so I snapped a picture of my GPS for the proof.

Since it was right on the sand trap, I used the rake there to write "XKCD" in the sand -- Golf Geohash proof for me! Perhaps tomorrow's golfers will come across it and wonder what it means? I snapped some more pics of the views from the spot, including one of Mt. Douglas to the south, and the ocean to the east (with six deer visible in that shot).

I made my way back, encountering even more deer, chatted briefly with Tyler explaining my success and made my way home, all in just over an hour.

Oh, and I felt compelled to create a Deer category, to which I'll add all the other pictures I have of the beasts.