2018-12-23 44 -89

Location

As might be expected in Wisconsin, the hash was in a farm field, this one just outside of Wild Rose, WI. The SO and I were returning from a visit to her sister when I saw that a "slight" detour from our route would put on the state highway next to the hash. The satellite picture shows it next to a business, one that I figured would be closed on Christmas Eve eve.

We had hoped maybe that what looks like a road on the satellite would turn out to be one, but it was only a track. The walk from where the track goes to the road (at the top of the picture) to the hash was about a 1/4 mile, for scale.

Participants

WausauBill and
the love of my life, Kathy V.

Plans

Looked pretty simple, pull off the road onto the track, walk back to the hash.

Expedition

The only thing we had a against us (mostly) was the very short time of daylight.

When we left Kathy sister's house, it looked as though we would reach the hash point right around sunset. That is, if there was any sun to set. This was about, probably, the 7th or 8th day in a row with such heavy cloud cover that the sun was nowhere to be seen during the day. Fortunately, as we approached the hash point the clouds thinned out a little making it a bit brighter.

Google maps told us once again when we reached the vicinity of the hash and it was just a little way up the road that we found the driveway for the track that is on the satellite shot. I pulled off the road and was a bit surprised to find, not a factory next to use, but a small herd of horses, including an enormous white draft horse who came running over to see us. But we did not have time to talk to the animals.

I pulled out my phone, and having installed Polaris Navigation all we had to do (we hoped) was follow its magic arrow. And that is pretty much what happened. We followed the track and the GPS arrow and even with both of us in crappy walking shoes, it wasn't long before the distance indicator on the Polaris app went from a decimal mile to feet and then finally the arrow flipped as we reached the spot.

Back to the GeoHash Droid and it said we were there. We hugged and snapped a selfie and hauled butt back to the car as the last remaining light faded from the sky.

It was about then that I realized that maybe driving DOWN into the field was a bad idea. Our little front wheel drive car decided that it could not make it up the ice and snow covered slope that lead back onto the road. For quite sometime as our wheels spun in frustration, it looked like we were going to have to wait until spring to get up the last 10 feet to the road.

Fortunately we were soon joined by a night in shining armor who arrived on a white steed (well, a giant white pickup truck anyway). Young couple jumped out, and although they didn't have a tow strap grabbed a spot on the back of the car and with just a little extra traction, it scampered up the hill to the road. And with a hearty "Hi-Ho Silver and Thank You Very Much!" we were on our way.