2011-01-22 33 -84

Graticule

About

Off of a dirt access road for a high pressure underground gas line in Ellenwood.

Expedition

NWoodruff

5 in a row. 15 more to go for the win.

To get to this hash spot, I had to park in a housing subdivision and walk through the woods to get to a path that lead to the actual Geohash spot.

I drove up on the neighborhood and parked at the end of the cul-de-sac. I retrieved from my truck, my eTrex and the printed Google and Peeron maps. To start off, I had to walk down a drop off of about 15 or so feet to the drainage area of the neighborhood. There were plenty of trees to hang onto as made my way down.

Once i was down the small hill and round the drainage ditch, there was a road that looked like had once been paved with a very thin layer of asphalt. That was probably about 5 years ago. It had since eroded away. I walked on this eroded away street till I came up on the path for the gas line. The gas line path was in the same direction that my eTrex was pointing as the way to the Geohash spot with .2 tenths of a mile to go. I walked down this path til I found the Geohash spot.

The actual geohash spot was on a pile of old and rotting logs. I decided that I was not going to climb up on it and that 15 feet to go was close enough to the hash spot.

I took a few pictures and made the walk back to my truck the same way that I went in.

I walked around the drainage ditch and started back up the the steep inclined hill. At the base of the hill I could see someone standing at the top of the hill near where the pavement ended at the top of the hill.

It took me about 3 to 4 minutes to climb the hill as steep and muddy as it was. I ignored the person at the top of the hill as I climbed up. Almost to the top, I hear a voice say "Stop!" I look up to see a Henry County police officer standing there with his hand on his gun still in his hip holster.

That is never a good sign.

I say "Hi, How are you?"

He says "What were you doing back there."

Instead of giving an explanation of geohashing, I say "I was looking for a GPS point."

He says, and I wish I could make something up like this, "Well, where did you lose it?"

I said "What? the GPS point?"

He said "Yes, what ever you were looking for."

I climbed up the last two feet or so and then walked the last 5 feet or so to the curb where my truck was parked. I had the Google map of the area with me that had the pin mark on it. I pointed to the map and showed the officer where we were standing on the map and pointed to the area that I was trying to reach.

I then showed him the Peeron map with the coordinates printed at the bottom and the coordinates of the eTrex. He took the map from and started to study it.

I then gave him the short explanation of geohashing the same short explanation that I give property owners when I knock on their door.

He then picks up the mic to his radio and gives some kind of code and then some numbers.

He then says "I found the guy, he was just surveying the area."

He looks at me and smiles, and then says "I couldn't say that you were Geohashing, they would all laugh at me back at dispatch."

He hands me back the map and says, "Generally if you hang around less than an hour, nobody should bother you." I had been there less than 45 minutes.

I shake the officers hand and he gets back into his car and drives off.

I take a few minutes to knock the mud and dirt off my shoes before I get in my truck and drive back to Norcross.

Gallery

This trail seems easier to take than the eroded road. It is also going the right direction.
The gate is open....
15 feet to go. Close enough. The exact spot is actually on a pile of logs.
Time of the meetup.
Date of the meetup.
12 feet accuracy, good enough.
Actual geohash spot is in the center of those logs.
Looking west standing near the Geohash spot.
Me standing near the Geohash spot with a Stupid Grin™