2009-02-15 35 -83

Sun 15 Feb 2009 in 35,-83: 35.3692524, -83.5834935 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Participants

• Luna diviner was almost there.

Expedition

This wiki is still in the works. Spent my free time at work developing this much, will try to finish before I turn in tonight. Feel Free to discuss on current postedness.

Preparation/The Energizer Bunny Is A Lie!

My girlfriend and I ran into some difficulties from the start. We were hoping to get an early start by leaving home base around nine that morning, but both of us woke late. We finally got on the road around noonish, only to find out that our on-the-road GPS device had died on the day before during a trip to Asheville. So, we turned around to go back and get the charger. Now, as all young(er) people know, a bachelor's house isn't exactly the easiest place to find something, especially something as small as a charger cord. After fifteen minutes of fruitless searching, we decided to trust to Trimble Outdoors via Verizon Wireless to get us to where we needed to go. I grabbed my phone and off we went again, but not before writing down some basic directions and the coordinates.

A Scenic Drive/Are We There Yet!?

We set off up Highway 28, hoping it would get us there sooner. I did not count on my phone signal dropping off as soon as we hit the highway. Verizon has the best network, my arse. We kept to the road, and it eventually led us out on to Highway 24, where I picked cell service back up. At this point, I finally got a chance to play with Trimble, and had not found all the features of it yet. So, here we are driving along, and we cross a river. I'm going off my memory of Google Maps at this point, so I yell out, "Turn here!" "Here?" "HERE!!" (Yes, we have an ongoing joke from The Three Musketeers) Fifteen minutes later, I finally find the feature on Trimble I'm looking for: GPS coordinate entry. And as you've probably already guessed, yep, we were going the wrong way. At this point, we're in the small town of Wesser. (On the way, we passed the Nantahala Outdoor Center. For those of you who keep up with kayaking and such, this was the site of the 2004 and 2005 Olympic slolam trials. Now, my girlfriend is a professional photographer, and as such, takes photos of EVERYTHING! Including the Nantahala river itself.) So now that I've got the phone's GPS working correctly, we get ourselves turned around and head to the correct location.

Into The Backwoods/Google Streets Needs To Come Here

We make the correct turn (for once >_>) and start driving down the road, and see the most common sight of rural North Carolina: No Trespassing signs. They're everywhere: on every tree, on every driveway, even on most of the roads! Consulting my phone pretty frequently at this point, I point out that we're nearing the next road we need to turn on. Problem is, the road doesn't exist. We slow down, looking carefully for even a track through the heavy brush on the side of the road. Closest thing we find is a small creek. we soon arrive at the end of the road and come to one glaring conclusion. If we are to reach our hash, we're gonna have to walk a lot farther than we realized it, and most of it through some pretty heavy woods. Not one to be dunted, I trun us around and drive back to the creek. Despite our setback so far, I jump out of the truck fully stoked and fully stocked. I've got my no-rip camo pants on, with food in the cargo pockets in case we get hungry. I've got my backpack, with Nikon D70s safely ensconsed within. And I've got my trusty machete handy, useful for marking trails or getting rid of pesky saplings. My girlfriend is laden likewise (minus machete, she's not cool enough to have one). Off we go, with high hopes and heavy packs.

The Walk Of Shame/Wouldn't It Be Gneiss...

--Luna diviner 03:06, 17 February 2009 (UTC)