2009-04-25 49 -123

Sat 25 Apr 2009 in 49,-123: 49.4809778, -123.3527699 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Glorious, fabulous success. One of the most fun geohashes ever. Write-up tomorrow. Unless Rhonda does it. -Robyn

Location

Today's location was just up a hill behind Camp Artaban, on Gambier Island. By Vancouver standards, this location is highly accessible - and Wade wanted to see Camp Artaban and neither Rhonda nor Robyn wanted to get on their bikes for the Victoria hash point.

Planning

Robyn and Wade identified five possibilities for getting to the hash point, then settled on taking the scheduled water taxi from Horseshoe Bay, which had a stop at the government dock right at Camp Artaban, followed by a tour of the camp (since they had permission from a camp director to do so) and a short hike to the hash point, followed by whatever random hiking there was time for while waiting for the water taxi's afternoon visit.

Expedition

Rhonda

I caught the bus to Horseshoe Bay, a thoroughly uneventful trip except for the huge number of cyclists on Marine Drive in West Vancouver - a street which is busy, narrow, twisty, has no shoulder to speak of, and yet is an inexplicably common cycling route. Maybe the other roads are worse.

When I got off the bus at the stop that seemed nearest the government docks, which I assumed were in the water visible from the corner, a lady with a fishing rod strapped to her backpack put it down on the sidewalk to adjust something.

"Going fishing?" I asked, searching for a conversation starter. It made as much sense as people asking Robyn if she knew she had a dinosaur on her bike, so why not?

"Yes, we're going to Gambier Island," the lady replied.

I told her I was also going to Gambier Island, and asked if she was taking the water taxi.

She was. "Do you know where they dock?" she asked.

"At the government dock, over there I think," I said, waving vaguely in the direction of the water I had seen when the bus turned the corner.

"We'll follow you then!" she said with a smile, as she swung her pack up to her shoulders.

Uh-oh.

She and her fishing companion didn't follow me far, once they saw the water, saying something about meeting friends and waving. "See you later!"

I walked on alone, looking for a public dock and scanning the area for Robyn, since I didn't know what Wade looked like other than from Robyn's pictures of him with his motorcycle helmet on, when I heard them call to me from somewhere behind me.

Photos

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  Creating the xkcd marker

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  T-rex and the marker, camouflaged

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  Chalk mark the spot

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  Climbing down from the hashpoint

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  An outdoor living room!

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  Where's Robyn? Back at the hashpoint for 4PM

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  Waiting for the water taxi at the end of the day