2010-08-16 50 -113

Location

Near Stavely, AB, along Range Road 280.

Participants

air384

Planning

As I rolled out of bed this morning, I recalled that it was Monday, and therefore I had four new hashpoints waiting for me. I checked all four of the Calgary graticules, and while the two northern graticules would have been closer, they were not at all accessible. However, the SE graticule looked promising, so after trying to convince a friend to be dragged along, I headed out on my own.

Expedition

The drive was pretty straightforward - I didn't even take a map. I just headed south through Calgary, south on Highway 2, and passed a series of small and large-ish towns along the way (including Nanton, advertising its candy store). At around Stavely, I turned west on Highway 527, and promptly proceeded to drive past the turnoff to Range Road 280. Highway 527 is a narrow 2-lane highway, so I manouvered my car in something like a 7-point turn and made it onto Range Road 280 safely.

Range Road 280 is a dirt road with no obvious lane barrier, even narrower than Highway 527. As I turned onto it, I pulled out my GPS and started watching the coordinates. I overshot the coordinates and proceeded to do another multi-point turn to turn around. After doing so, I promptly pulled as close to the side of the road as possible, since I saw an oncoming truck. The truck passed without event, which is good since I was worried about some farmer stopping to ask what I was doing on the backroad, and I'm not sure if Alberta farmers would take kindly to an explanation involving the words "I'm from the Internet."

I decided it would be best to walk to the coordinates considering how frequently the GPS jumped around, so I parked again as close to the ditch as I could, and got out. From the Google Maps image, I could tell the hashpoint would be somewhere in the very grassy ditch, and at this point I realized that perhaps sandals were not the best choice of footwear. I cautiously walked into the ditch, over a few more steps, and all of a sudden, I was at the hashpoint! I struggled to get the camera to take a picture of the GPS without glare, and finally got something passable. I took a few more pictures of myself and the area, headed back to the car, and headed back home.

It's too bad I didn't have someone else with me to take pictures, since I saw a few cool things on the drive back. There were eagles, or some other large birds circling in the air; there were numerous artefacts of Small-town Alberta, including grasshoppers, grain elevators, and Chinese food restaurants. Mostly though, there was the rolling prairie, which looked quite beautiful in the sunshine. I did, however, get a couple of pictures before turning back onto Highway 2: there were a couple of llamas just hanging out by an abandoned store, and I took some pictures of Stavely itself. I'm not sure if the convenience store in Stavely had some sort of squishy-type drink, and I now regret not checking. I also realized, on the drive back home, that I never marked the hashpoint; somehow I don't think another geohasher will be showing up today.

Overall, a pretty easy geohash, although the driving took a while. And of course, I had cherries with dinner to celebrate my success.