2013-05-11 42 -116

Location

In the desert south of Grand View, a couple miles off Mud Flat Road.

Participants

Eldin

Expedition

Today was my first good chance to go out geohashing in a few weeks, so I was excited to get out. The coordinates for my home graticule didn't look particularly promising, so I tried for the Grand View, Idaho graticule instead. This had the added excitement of being a virgin graticule, to which not even a failed expedition had previously been documented.

From Google's satellite imagery, it looked like the coordinates were on open range, a bit south of the nearest agricultural areas. Since it was predicted to be relatively hot today, I made sure to apply sunscreen and to load plenty of water for the trip. Then I got in the car, and headed out towards Grand View. The drive out was mostly uneventful, except for having to drive through a herd of cattle being driven by a couple of mounted cowboys.

I found a spot to park near a trailhead, just off Mud Flat Rd, and about 3.5 miles from the hash point, and set off walking across the desert. The thermometer in my car when I parked read 89°F. As luck would have it, the trail where I had parked went in the opposite direction of where I intended to go, so I was walking cross country, though there were occasionally game trails that went in roughly the right direction.

About 2 miles from the hashpoint, I found a barbed wire fence cutting across my path. I turned to follow the fence, and was still traveling roughly towards the hashpoint, so I still had some hopes of being able to reach it. There were not any signs saying 'no trespassing', but attempting to cross the fence would likely have resulted to damage to the fence or myself (and quite possibly both). But finally, almost exactly 1 mile from the hashpoint, the fence I was following ended at a perpendicular fence. And thus my expedition was cut short. When I turned to head back toward the road (by a somewhat different route than the one by which I had arrived here), I discovered the skeletal remains of at least 2 cows. The walk back to my car was uneventful.

Unsatisfied with the quality of my adventure thus far, I went out hiking on the trail near where I was parked, which was fun. I found the remains of an old stone house, though it was fenced off, so I didn't get to explore it. Based on condition and the use of local quarried stone, I'd guess the house was built sometime between the 1880's and WW1. I had an enjoyable few hours out hiking. But it was disappointing to be unable to reach the hash.

Photos

Hash point is almost exactly 1 mile that way.
The fence post where I turned back.
Skeletal remains.
The hills where I went hiking after failing to reach the hash.
An old stone house. There's a collapsed stone building behind it, which you can see the roof of.