2011-02-18 35 -84

Fri 18 Feb 2011 in 35,-84: 35.0569460, -84.7266731 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In some woods off Old Federal Rd, near Old Fort, Tennessee.

Participents

• turbomagnus

Plans

turbomagnus 16:15, 18 February 2011 (EST): Due to time constraints, I didn't plan this expedition as well as I normally do... A fact would come back to bite me.

Expedition

turbomagnus 16:15, 18 February 2011 (EST): I had to be out and about anyway as one of my housemates had a doctor's appointment, so it wasn't too hard to divert us afterwards and head for a Geohash (Actually, it was their idea... even though they actually stayed with the car, so I don't consider it a drag-along). On the way to the hashpoint, after crossing the Tennessee/Georgia line, we were momentarily distracted by the sight of a large 'See Rock City' billboard with a bulldog on it - in Tennessee. Anyone familiar with the rivalry between the University of Tennessee Volunteers and the University of Georgia Bulldogs will know that while finding fans within the other state's borders isn't uncommon, such a sight is still interesting...

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On a side note, despite my status as a Vols fan; a moment of silence, please, for Uga VIII, mascot of the Bulldogs, who recently passed away due to cancer.

Back on the road, we encountered a minor delay in the form of a one lane bridge that wasn't kidding.

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After a few minutes of driving around and hoping that the Hashpoint would turn out to be in a nearby field or closer to reach from another side of the woods, Finally, I was forced to concede that the only option was essentially a frontal assault. After the car was parked in the nearby field, roughly three-hundred and fifty feet from the hashpoint, it was time to move out. I - wisely, as it turned out - made the decision to leave Chibithulu behind with my ride and attempt the hash alone. The undergrowth was thick and made slow going. So slow, in fact, that at times my GPS didn't even register any movement. Perhaps worse was that the undergrowth was filtering me deeper into the woods, but not necessarily in the direction of the hashpoint. As I made my way forward, I paused for a moment to take a picture of an interesting bird's nest and catch my breath and bearings.

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  Anyone know what kind of bird's nest this is?

At this point, I began to look around and question my sanity and chances of success... the answer to both wasn't favorable. It had only taken me twenty minutes to make it two-thirds of the way in, but it looked like any further attempts would be curtailed by the underbrush; the trees were all starting to look the same; half the time my GPS wasn't registering any movement; I couldn't see any trace of the outside world and I was beginning to wonder if I hadn't gotten turned around at some point as I wasn't seeming to get any closer to the hashpoint no matter how much I walked. After a moment's thought, I decided to consider the final location inaccessible before proceeding to take my 'proof' photos and head back to the car.

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  Somewhere out there, in the woods, is the hashpoint.

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  Being out of shape doesn't help matters any...

It actually took longer to get back to where I had started, but I finally made it and collapsed into my seat with a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat away and put some hand sanitizer on my arm where it had taken the brunt of Nature's fury.

• 

By this point, after a raptor attack and becoming Mother Nature's Bitch, I reached the conclusion that to be a Geohasher you didn't just have to be crazy, you had to be a special kind of crazy to go through all this and still want to do it again.

Appearantly I am that special kind of crazy.

Achievements

turbomagnus earned the Done with Nature consolation prize by failing to reach the (35, -84) geohash on 2011-02-18.