2009-04-27 48 9

Mon 27 Apr 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany: 48.5560658, 9.0917150 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

About

The hash is in the Schönbuch forest, between Pfrondorf and Bebenhausen.

Expedition: Nick_mz

It was just down the road. In fact the road was a highway=track grade2 to grade1 (as seen on OSM) and "down" was about 3km.

Expedition: Ekorren (first approach)

Plans for the day were to go to Stuttgart, and visit this hash on the way. These plans were cancelled after seeing the weather forecast, but since this hash was far below the You can't miss it radius, and well accessible, I would go there anyway, no matter how the weather turned out.

The discussion of the Tron achievement had been up for quite some time, and I saw that this hash would be a good chance to try that. While I was still doing other stuff, and trying to decide on a route, nick_mz suddenly and unexpectedly announced that he just now would start walking. I replied, hoping that he would get the message in time, and hurried to get on my way.

Now, I was still up for the Tron achievement, but also wanted to keep it open to return to Tübingen together with nick_mz, so I chose a route that would most probably not interfere with any place he could live - that is, I took a slightly longer route mostly around residential areas to Lustnau, and planned to cross Lustnau on the easternmost reasonable and not too slow route available. When reaching that suburb, I found that my GPS had switched itself off, probably because of loose batteries, a problem many etrexes have. I switched it on again, but as now about 1.5 km were missing in the tracklog, the Tron achievement was gone anyway. So I went on the probably fastest way and hurried into the direction of the hash.

About 1 km before the point nick_mz came down the track, already on his way back. I stopped and convinced him to join me for my visit, and together we went for the hash again.

According to my GPS, the point was just at the side of the track. It wasn't any special, so we just left my prepared marker, made the obligatory proof photo and went back for Tübingen. At Lustnau, we split up again, and I went home. It was a fast, easy and not very interesting hash - besides the fact, that it had been an actual meetup, which is a really rare occasion in our area.

Expedition: Ekorren (second approach)

Now, the Tron achievement had failed for technology reasons. But why not try again? After all, the point is really near, it is just about an hour round trip, and there is plenty of daylight time left. The conditions to do that achievement wouldn't probably get any better any soon, and even the place was very appropriate - the forest track actually is named Durchlaufender Weg which means Continuous way. Just the perfect place for a Tron geohash, isn't it? So I planned that out a bit more, and thought up another, shorter, route that would not intersect anywhere.

Habit would probably be the main problem. In very known terrain, you develop some habits, some standard ways you always use without even thinking about. You reach an intersection, go on as always, and two hundred metres later you realize: Oh, I didn't want to go that way today, I wanted to go left this time, didn't I? And then you turn around. But the achievement doesn't allow to turn around. It doesn't allow to pass under a bridge, then take a 270° turn and pass over it. It doesn't allow to turn into your street from the same side where you left on your start. You have to consciously hold your subconciousness off from doing that.

I started again - in, as it seems, opposite direction. Actually, to keep open any way in the inner city for the way back, I went for a slightly remote route which did not intersect with any of my standard ways to the city but stay out of it. I reached Lustnau from the south, crossed that suburb so that I wouldn't hit the main intersection, and suddenly found myself in front of some stairs. Well, on any normal trip I would have turned around for just twenty metres and taken the next track. Not today. Luckily these were just stairs and not a dead end road, so I carried the bike up the stairs and continued from there. Again into the forest, and to visit my marker.

I had hoped I could make it an absolutely pure Tron geohash by just stopping in front of my marker, making another proof photo and continuing. But GPS reception at this point was rather poor, so this time the GPS sent me about 10 m into the forest. That meant, I had to get off and visit the point up there. Which I did, then went back to the bike. I still claim that as a successful Tron hash, because the distance was well below GPS accuracy and the sidetrip only a few metres. It even hadn't been necessary on the first approach. It might be possible that just waiting for the inaccuracy to come to me would have been enough, also.

After another proof photo, I had to find my way back without any intersection to the way I came. So I couldn't go back the way I came but needed to continue further into the forest. I soon found a track down into the Kirnbach valley, from where a well-beaten track leads down to the main intersection of Lustnau, which I had successfully circumvented before. And as I had also spared out all of the inner city, I could just go through there and keep on my standard routes without much thinking about.

Achievements

Two comments to the tracklog:

• I edited away a part in my quarter. Given the road network in the quarter, I assume you will just believe me that it was no problem to approach from the other side than the one I left. If someone is in doubt, I may provide you with the full tracklog, but I'm not going to put that up for all public and search engines.
• There are some places that look like a short sidestep along a road. These actually are "wide" U-turns onto another road or way. I did not turn around anywhere.

Ekorren earned the Tron achievement by not crossing his/her own tracks on the 2009-04-27 48 9 expedition (with the GPS tracklog being here.).

Gallery

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  Some sheep on the way

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  One of the least impressing views on Tübingen

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  Continuous way leads to the hash.

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  The point is right there.

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  The GPS of Ekorren and nick_mz didn't exactly agree with another.

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  On a second thought, they didn't agree with themselves, either.