2014-08-17 42 -79

Location

North of the small village of Ellington in a forested area.

Participants

Pedalpusher
Myka the dog

Plans

Pedalpusher is attempting a multi-hash expedition starting in this graticule. Will plan on leaving mid-morning sometime and since this is the closer hash to home, should arrive in about an hour. The hash looks to be in the woods a little bit from a farmer field and about 600 Ft/200 Meters from the road so it shouldn't be hard to get to as long as the land isn't posted. The plan is to take a few pics and move on to the next hash in Pedalpusher's home graticule which you can read about here.

Expedition

Got on the road at 10:15 and with great weather and expectations, immediately made a pit-stop at a gas station to fill up the tank. There wasn't much hope starting a Multi-hash expedition on a half tank and I didn't want that kind of adventure. I'm hoping to avoid the Train Wreck Ribbon as long as possible. Next stop was a market that is usually out of the way for some spices that we were short on. A quick and uneventful 5 minutes later and we were back on the road. Let me introduce you to my younger dog, Myka, who came with me in the pictures below. She is a 2 year old pit-mix who always needs a good run.

On the way out to the first hash, we passed a very nice public access area to a lake and I figured a rest stop/swim break was in order. After a little doggy paddle, we were back on our way. As we were getting closer, I realized we were in Amish Country and every once in a while, we passed a horse and buggy. As I was driving, I figured it was safer for everyone if I didn't take any pictures at this point. Once again, the directions were adding up and every turn was marked...until the second-to-last road. Fortunately, I was alert and was pretty sure the road we had just passed was the one we wanted so a quick U-turn was executed and our last turn was found. Down the road and the new GPS was humming along just fine. We parked the car after surveying for Posted signs(of which there were none!). The forest next to the field looked pretty open and we wandered in checking the GPS periodically.

But what is this? A house in the woods right by the hash! Walking toward the house, it looked almost like the house might be on the hash. I decided to walk to the field and get by the house and was relieved that the hash was in fact in the woods well past on the other side. I made my way closer and it at first looked like the hash was next to a creek right by a small fallen tree, but the GPS changed it's mind a few times resulting in the Geohash dance I've read about so often. It finally settled down in the creek a little ways away from that initial spot by the tree. Pictures taken, frolicking in the woods and cute furry pictures complete, we headed back to the car. I didn't notice what time we parked the car but it must have been about 11:45 because when we got back to the car, it was Noon. Success was extra sweet as this hash earned a Level 1 Minesweeper as well. With confidence high, we headed to our next hash in our home graticule.