2010-03-28 global

Location

I didn't check the global hash until Danatar alerted me to the fact that it's in Idaho, only 800 km away from Vancouver across one international border. That's about ten hours drive, plus we need to ford a river and climb 700' in elevation up a steep mountainside.

Those actually considering going

• Robyn
• Wade
• Rhonda
• Xore - not going to miss it if Rhonda goes

Planning

It's possible that the roads in the area are blocked by snow, as was discovered by intrepid geohasher David Souther last year about this time. We started research. The geohash is on top of a plateau near the town of St. Maries, which has a small local airport, so naturally we immediately checked into helicopter charter. There is no helicopter outfit out of St Maries, but Coeur d'Alene is about 30 miles away as the crow--or helicopter--flies, so this looks like about a $300 helicopter charter through Big Country. Add in fuel, motel, psychotherapy ... is it worth it for the coolest geohash ever?

There are logging roads that lead closer to the point (and up the hill), but as mentioned, they may be blocked by snow this time of year. Wish I had my parents' jeep for that :-) -- Rhonda 19:10, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

The weather has to permit the helicopter--and our car--to make the trip. It's expected to be mostly cloudy in Coeur d'Alene tomorrow, but the aviation weather makes it look okay. I talked to Jim at the helicopter company, and he says they are available tomorrow morning, that it would be about half an hour each way (longer than I thought: helicopters take longer to reach altitude and forward speeds than airplanes). It would be $450/hr for two or three people, and 500 lbs (i.e. Rhonda + Wade + Robyn) would be an acceptable load. We can't land if it's not cleared. Also the snowline there is above 4000' right now, so snow should not be an obstacle. We could drive and hike. -Robyn 20:15, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Drive and hike might be good. In the google satellite view it's a cutblock, so it's probably all young trees and dense underbrush by now. Also, Xore has said that if I'm going, he's not bloody well going to miss it... -- Rhonda 20:32, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

How soon can you leave and whose car should we take? Mine has four seatbelts, half a tank of gas, and room for four knapsacks in the back if we all pack light. -Robyn 20:40, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

My old car is flat as a pancake and I don't have the new one yet. Could leave soon, but will want to have lunch at some point as I haven't yet. Also wrestling with justifying spending the entire weekend in a car when I have a lot of stuff to do. But, globalhash. -- Rhonda 20:48, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm packing right now, in case you say yes, and Wade isn't back yet. Don't forget your passports. -Robyn 21:00, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

I just haven't been able to justify it to myself. It would be pretty cool to get a globalhash, but. -- Rhonda 21:06, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Does that mean you're not coming? How about Xore? -Robyn 21:42, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

We're going. Car to leave soon. Get on the bus, or lose this chance forever. It will be awesome! Much better than whatever other stuff you would have done this weekend. Much, much better. --Wade 21:46, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

If I could suggest it Rhonda... Throw caution to the wind and do it. You don't want to let Atlanta to be the only Graticule to have a Global Hash.--NWoodruff 22:17, 27 March 2010 (UTC)