2020-10-13 53 9

Location

In some brables next to a tree by a field in Kisdorf, Schleswig-Holstein

Participants

π π π (talk)

Expedition

After I‘d missed my chance for an easy Walk Geohash back in 2018 when it was only 1.7 km away, I knew had to get the achievement for this one, which was only 3.5 km from my home, the second closest yet. Also, since it lay so conveniently at the edge of a field by some easily recognisable trees, I figured I could get a No Batteries Geohash as well. So I printed out a map and the location of the hash on two different satellite images. But I had misestimated the sunset time, so I only left at 6 pm and it got dark on my way there. Armed with a powerful torch and severely overequipped against the cold, I walked the 3.5 km and arrived in darkness.

Thankfully and against my expectations, I could easily identify the trees from the satellite image and was able to find the right location almost at once. A path led through brambles to the street 45 m away, but the hash was located 25 from it, so I first had to switch to a smaller path and then climb across some nasty brambles that stuck to my overcoat. I went onto the adjecent field to estimate the distance between the trees, and was able to locate the exact position of the marker on the geohashing.info satellite map with a precision of less than 1 m thanks to the hashpoint being located less than half a metre from the connection line of the two trees. I briefly got startled by two birds, probably partridges, that emerged from the brambles just a I was about to step on them (it was very dark), then found a position I deemed acceptable and took out my phone to get a screenshot of the coordinates (note that I did not use my phone to navigate in any way). I took some very dark pictures and then went to the position of the Google Maps satellite map marker which was located about 3 m off (for whatever reason), and took another screenshot. The coordinates show that I was less than 5 m off at the first position and less than 4 m at the second, though the coordinates are only accurate up to 5 m.

I briefly considered going for a Tron achievement, but ultimately decided against it because I would have had to climb through many more brambles to avoid the way I came. So I continued my audiobook and set off again on the same path, passing some very brightly illuminated football fields, but having to use my torch for most of the way back. In retrospect, this hash would also have been perfect for a Midnight Geohash on the previous night. Oh well. This was my first expedition in the dark where I could freely choose the time.