2011-11-12 44 -122
| Sat 12 Nov 2011 in Springfield, Oregon: 44.7481019, -122.4934818 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Participants
Plans
It's been a long time since I've dusted off the old GPS and gone 'hashing in search of adventure. However, I've recently felt the siren call of the hash, and have been waiting for reasonable coordinates to show up. Today I saw the hashpoint was in the foothills of the Cascade Range, and became disappointed. Upon further review, though, I saw that fortune had placed the hashpoint in the middle of the pass. Elevation was no longer an issue! And it was in a town I had never visited before!
Unfortunately, my usual partner Lizzy97396 had to work today. Luckily, I had a few friends next door that I figured might be interested. I went over to visit.
"Hey guys, up to anything exciting?"
"Nah, we're just taking a break from Skyrim."
"Oh. Well, I fear that answers my question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Would either of you be interested in going on an adventure?"
"Be more specific."
I briefly explained geohashing, and 30 minutes later we were in a car.
Expedition
The quickest way to get to Mill City was to take Highway 22. However, that's the boring way to travel, so we took the backroads through the towns of Turner and Aumsville. These are not exciting places; Turner's claim to fame is that local theme park Enchanted Forest has a Turner mailing address. Aumsville has even less going on, although we did pass an enormous church on our way out of town.
Soon we reached Mill City and started looking for the coordinates. We pulled over in a driveway to try to figure out the best was to proceed. During this time, the homeowner came out and asked what we were doing. We told him "just trying to reset our GPS", and he left contented with our answer. We then drove slowly along the road, until we were near the spot. Unfortunately, in our path there was a huge ravine that we were not equipped to descend, with a branch of the Santiam River at the bottom. We were so close! We could almost see the spot across the river!
After walking for a little bit more, we realized we COULD see the spot across the river...
...in the backyard of the house where we had initially stopped.
We went back, and I knocked on the door to get permission to travel on their property. A woman opened the door, and declined to give us permission. With a heavy heart, I headed back to the car.
As we were getting ready to leave, the man who talked to us earlier came out and asked what was going on. I explained how geohashing worked, and told him we were pretty sure the spot was near the field in his backyard. He was interested, and when I promised that all we wanted was a few photos, he was fine. In fact, he even went with us to the hashpoint! I'm pretty sure there is an achievement for that.
We took photos, but thanks to Daylight Savings Time it got darker a lot faster than I thought it would, so it's kind of hard to see. Also, it was raining the entire time.
Achievements
The following were achieved for the first time by both Azrane and mephistowolf:
The following were achieved for the first time by Haschel Cedricson, Azrane and mephistowolf:
The following were achieved for the first time by Haschel Cedricson:
Photos
Uploaded later tonight.
Update: Difficulty removing pictures from camera. Stay tuned for future developments.
