2009-05-24 43 -79

Sun 24 May 2009 in Toronto: 43.7976355, -79.3838622 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

About

Today's hash was located in the woods a little north east of my neighbourhood, Willowdale. It was south of Bestview Park.

Expedition

Splitdipless and his Very Understanding Girlfriend

I left my condo with a bit more then an hour of daylight left, which I knew could cause problems when venturing out into the inner-city wilderness, but I really wanted to show my very understanding girlfriend what all the fuss was about. I even let her use the GPS.

Using Satellite imagery, entry was planned from Bestview Park. As we strolled downhill along a paved path that would take us to the hash, we eventually noticed that the hash was about 120m into a thick bush and forest. We continued south until we hit a creek or river that had a path running beside it. We used that path, and thankfully it turned towards the hash point. At its closest point, it was 30m off. Near the path, the growth wasn't too high, so we started entering the bush. The mosquitos were thick, and I had a short sleeve shirt on and I recently had my hair cut down to a thick stubble. We got to 17m away from the point.

It was really starting to get dark, the path forward involved certain raptor attacks, and the mosquitos were liking both of us. I abandoned the hash. I feel like I don't win any consolation prizes this time. We didn't chicken out before the hash, and people have earned MNB for much more impressive obstacles we faced. Technically, my very understanding girlfriend wins a Nanny consolation prize.

There is always next time.

Booberfish went too

... but earlier in the day, around 3pm. I considered biking from my place downtown, but my friend Jeff who I was dragging along with me didn't have wheels of his own, so we opted for the subway. The hashpoint was about 4k from the station, which we deemed walkable. Once we got into the park, walking north from Cummer Ave, we found the same path Splitdipless used later, on the north side of the creek, which took us as close to the hash as my GPS cared to tell us. I didn't trust that little Blackberry app (it didn't even trust itself, as it jumped around a lot), so Jeff and I wandered through the woods enough to convince ourselves that we hit the right spot. The wilderness didn't look so bad in the bright sunlight, so it wasn't a problem, although the mosquitos were pretty bad so we didn't want to stay long. I wrote 'The Internet Was Here' on a tree in poorly visible yellow highlighter (having not thought of leaving our mark beforehand, the highlighter was all we had), but now knowing that somebody else had gone later in the day I wish we had done something more noticeable. I should have built a cairn! Anyway, I consider it a success.

Photos

Booberfish went too

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  Signpost to Bestview Park. With a name like that it better be nice!

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  The closest coordinate we got on camera. It couldn't make up its mind.

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  My GPS track, which shows a combo of us wandering around the area, the GPS jumping around, and waiting for a bus.

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  Requisite goofy smiles

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  Failing to get the coordinates in the same photo as us.

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  The Internet Was Here, in pale yellow highlighter.

Splitdipless and his Very Understanding Girlfriend

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  I had my stupid grin on when it was still light and the undergrowth was only waist high.

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  She wears her sunglasses at night.

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  17m away is a long distance sometimes.

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  That little speck of light in the trees? Our way out.

Achievements

Splitdipless

Splitdipless earned the Two to the N achievement by attempting to reach 22 hashpoints on 2009-05-24 43 -79 and is promoted to Level 2 (Expeditions).