2009-11-07 46 -123

Sat 7 Nov 2009 in 46,-123: 46.1274876, -123.7789729 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In what appears to be a field near Astoria.

Participants

aperfectring - In a fit of not wanting to be cooped up, I am headed in that direction, what will happen? Stay tuned in to find out!

Plans

None, well, other than typical geohashing stuff.

Expedition

I woke up, then did some work on the bot, and said to myself: if I don't force myself out of the house, I am going to sit here and work on the bot all day, and then I will be pissed at myself. The weather is none-too-great for going out and spending bunches of time outside, so I figure that perhaps a drive will do. But where should I go? Enter the clicking on surrounding graticules until finding one that doesn't look too far, and also looks interesting. Hello Astoria. Bonus points: the hashpoint looks especially accessible (just a couple dozen feet off the road) AND this is a virgin graticule! Therefore, I made my intentions known to both the IRC channel, and this page shortly before I left at 10 AM.

I drove for about an hour in pouring rain, only to happen upon a wildlife viewing area. I don't think much of it. I have seen signs about elk and deer all over the place, but it is really coming down, and I doubt I will see anything. As I am driving by the pullout, I notice that there is an entire herd of elk just standing around and grazing there. Being too stubborn to admit a mistake, even to myself, I don't turn around. I tell myself that they will be there when I drive back this way. So I continue driving in the pouring rain for another 15 minutes or so when suddenly it stopped! I might even be able to get to the hashpoint without getting drenched!

At this point I could hardly contain my excitement. Normally when I think it won't be too bad for a geohash, something like time constraints or hidden rivers block my path, but here is one where all the stars seem to be aligning! I drive by the hashpoint on the nearest road, noticing that there isn't even a fence or no trespassing sign blocking my path! I end up about 500 ft away from the hashpoint where I parked. After I keyed the coordinates into my handy dandy GPS unit, I start to head off to the point, noting about how far, and in what direction the point is in.

I look up, and estimate where I think the hashpoint is. To my horror, I see what I am going to call an abandoned horse shelter, because I honestly can't put my finger on what to call it. Sure, I make it all this way, driving through pouring rain, no fence, the weather lightens up just for when I get to the hashpoint, and I am going to be thwarted this. As I am headed in to get to the nearest point I can reach, I look at the distance, and realize, hey, this might just be on the other side of this thing.

SUCCESS! I even got it down to saying <2 ft from the spot. Pictures ensued, and I walked back to the car. As soon as I started it up, the rains came again. Not quite to the level as they were on my drive here, but enough that it would have made for a miserable 90 minute drive back had it been doing that while I was out there. I make it back to the wildlife viewing area, the elk are still there, AND the rain has let up for me AGAIN! I then, while watching the elk watch me, called Jim about some sausages we are supposed to get later on today. The planets really aligned for me on this expedition, and the day in general!

Photos

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  Proof!

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  It looks like I need to shave.

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  Believe it or not, this was one of the more boring of views I got today.

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  The abandoned whatchamacalit.

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  The abandoned whatchamacalit as seen from the road.

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  An even older and more abandoned whatchamacalit.

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  Elk!

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  Why are they looking at me like that? They're judging me, aren't they?