2015-03-22 48 -122

Location

Northeast of Marysville, at the intersection of 84th St NE and 94th Ave NE.

Participants

Plans

This is an easily accessible spot off Highway 9, on the shoulder of the road.

Google Maps shows the geohash close to the intersection of 84th and 94th, with a dirt trail nearby that would point to the geohash point if it was extended across the road, and a power line overhead. I plan to take the scenic route up Highway 9 and stop off at the geohash sometime Sunday afternoon.

Expedition

The weather was grey and drizzly while I drove up Highway 202 and Highway 9. I was hoping that the weather would stay clear after Saturday, but no such luck. At least it briefly stopped raining by the time I reached the geohash.

I've used State Route 9 to reach the area around Arlington before. It's an interesting 2-lane alternative to 405 and I-5 that passes through small but growing towns. The drive was longer than I expected, though. I took I-5 and 405 back home when I was done.

The hashpoint itself was beside a road that fed into Highway 9. The road was crossed by a wide stripe of clearcut forest with giant power lines running overhead. I was tempted to calculate the electromagnetic force generated by driving perpendicular to the power lines at the speed limit. Maybe later.

The power corridor was an interesting sight. Google Earth shows it as a pale green stripe stretching northeast to the Diablo Dam on the North Cascades Highway, and south to Shoreline in Seattle.

The area south of the hashpoint was a weedy bog. I thought about taking a step or two off the gravel shoulder and into the ditch beside the shoulder in order to make sure I'd hit the hashpoint. There was a hole in the weeds that might have belonged to an earlier geohasher. I decided to play it safe. I couldn't see the ground through the weeds. I wasn't sure if I was going to be stepping into two feet of water or how hard it was going to be to climb back up to the shoulder.

This was my first geohash. It's surreal to visit a nondescript spot on the side of the road that I'd already studied heavily in Google Maps. My "proof" that I took these pictures on the 22nd is pretty shoddy; I'll have to do better with that next time, and also get an actual GPS device.

After taking a few pictures at the hashpoint, I visited a nearby park, and took a short walk along the hiking path, before heading home.