2009-04-18 49 -123

Sat 18 Apr 2009 in 49,-123: 49.0845888, -123.8377370 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

At Friday dawn, we discover that this week's Saturday location is in an agricultural field less than ten kilometres from the Duke Point ferry terminal in Nanaimo. It's not in the water; it's not on a mountain; it's not at the military base; it's just in between Quennel Road and Yellow Point Road.

Planning

The reason the non-water, non-mountain aspects of this hashpoint are so important is that Robyn declared in advance that she would attend this geohash, even if it took two days to get there. Thepiguy also committed himself to the adventure. Robyn announced:

On Thursday I will prepare everything I could conceivably need for a Vancouver geohash. That means bike, kayak, wetsuit, hiking boots, ferry schedules, T-Rex, bear repellent, ambassador letter, compass, GPS and camera batteries and spares charged, games, chalk, tent, sleeping bag, stove, food, and somewhere I can rent snowshoes borrowed from thepiguy.

Then at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, I will check the coordinates. If they are in a remote area I will spend at least an hour planning and researching routes, before I set off in search of the geohash.

Vancouver must not defy me!

See the talk page for more details on how you plan an expedition without knowing where you are going.

After knowing the coordinates

Robyn, and the people who hoped to geohash with her again in the future (especialy the one who had agreed to go with her), were very relieved to have the coordinates be merely a two hour ferry ride away, with no spring mountaineering or 20 km kayak trips.

The first plan was all ready, when thepiguy spotted a doable hash in another graticule on a road that forbade bikes, so a new plan was announced and executed with only a few completely unplanned aspects, then Robyn was released to reintersect her original plan.

Expedition

Waiting for the ferry

Robyn, T-Rex and Успех (Robyn's bike) were dropped off at the Ladner bus exchange, thence a quick 13 km trip to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, putting Robyn at the terminal almost two hours before the next sailing to Duke Point. Robyn entertained herself by talking to the other people waiting for the ferry, and documenting them for your education and entertainment.

First we have the man towing an enormous log on a trailer. Note the red reflector simply nailed to the trailing end of the log. The man was taking the log home to carve it into a totem pole, the traditional icon of family power and history in the northwest coastal region. He estimated it would take about sixty hours to finish, using modern powered tools. He would sell it when it was complete. Before Robyn had a chance to ask him which legend or family totems it might depict, he took a cellphone call and it lasted a while so Robyn walked off to investigate the next interesting truck.

This man was lying comfortably inside what looked like a giant mesh-walled bucket. "Are those giant crab traps?" Robyn asked, although they didn't really look like crab traps.

"They're black cod traps," the fisherman explained. The trap is baited with squid and a few hake then lowered to the sea bed with a line and buoy attached. The cod can get into the trap through holes that are big enough for mature cod to enter, but not big enough for the largest spawning fish, so as to allow them to lay their eggs and increase their population. The inside of the hole is lined with a net sleeve, such that for a fish to turn around and get out of the trap would be like you trying to put your arm in a shirtsleeve while it's inside out. And fish don't have thumbs. A small hole in the side of the trap has no sleeve, so that immature cod and smaller non-target species can swim out easily. The trap is left down for about twenty-four hours (much longer and decreased mobility makes fish susceptible to sea lice). Typically ten or twelve fish are in the trap but the fisherman said he'd seen as many as a hundred.

Another truck was transporting live crabs, and the one in the last lane had a race car on it. Robyn looked at the instrument panel for the race car and laughed because it consisted of one giant tachometer and a couple of tiny oil pressure and oil temperature gauges. "I guess you don't need to know how fast you're going as long as you're going faster than everyone else?" Robyn asked the driver, and he agreed. Two more race car drivers arrived towing their cars, all going to a race in Langdale. The cars weren't street legal, with everything non-essential to racing removed, but one of them amusingly had stickers on the front fairing simulating headlights and turn indicators like on a normal car. The race car drivers were engrossed in a discussion of engine modifications.

During this time thepiguy arrived, having dropped Elbie off and changed into biking gear, after the previous geohash.

Participants

• Robyn who started this.
• thepiguy who was very relieved that he wouldn't have to hike half way to Whistler.