Madison, Wisconsin

Marshfield	Wausau	Appleton
Sparta	Madison, Wisconsin	Fond du Lac
Dubuque, Iowa	Rockford, Illinois	Schaumburg, Illinois

[[Category:Meetup in {{{lat}}} {{{lon}}}| ]]

The city of Madison is the hub of the 43, -89 graticule, but the region covers mostly the area to the north. Madison residents should also consider geohashes in Stoughton to the south.

This graticule also has a Facebook group: Geohashing - Madison, WI

We are just getting going here, and it may take a few weeks to get this site organized, so please be patient. We will try and keep both the Facebook group and this wiki up-to-date with all the same information. If you have any cool ideas or comments, please post them to the Facebook group or the wiki discussion page, as we would like to keep the main wiki page as 'clean' as possible. Thanks.

Participants

Dan Simanek
Info: Student at UW-Madison, will try to make it to coordinates within biking distance of the campus.
Tom Schaffer
Info: Student at UW-Madison, outdoor enthusiast, and Pirate Extraordinaire. I will try to make it to coordinates in this and surrounding graticules accessible by boat.
Bill Minser
Info: Systems Programmer at UW-Madison. Really I live in (42, -89) but I long for the north.

History

Saturday, December, 13th, 2008

N43°2.117', W89°48.9669'
Sam, the baby and I went west to Blue Mounds today. The hash point was about a half-mile off the road, right between Blue Mound State Park and Brigham Park. As we drove in, the views were gorgeous. Farms terraced out on rolling hills. Brigham Park is almost as high up as Blue Mound, so we could see for miles. The day was beautiful - temps in the low 40's. There was about a foot of wet snow on the ground. We parked the minivan along the road, through the baby in a backpack and trudged into the woods. After about forever following deer tracks through the underbrush and snow, we were almost there. And the ground sloped sharply down. Facing an uphill trudge back to the car and exhausted from the 40lbs on my back, we gave up. We pulled out the "The Internet Was Here" sign and a staple gun and attached it to a tree.
By the time we reached the car the sun was down and we were famished. Blue Mound has two seedy looking bars, but no diner. We drove back through Mt Horeb, but it was crawling with people. At the edge of town we had to wait for a line of 18 firetrucks decked out in Christmas lights followed by a four-wheeler pulling Santa. The baby was happy, but we were cold and wet. Patty melts and rootbeer all around at the Culver's in Verona. --Bill

Saturday, November, 22nd, 2008

N43°27.9312', W89°1.3294'
Sam, the baby and I ventured out into the wilds of Columbia County. The spot was easy to find - about 50 yards off a back road, just down the hill from the goat pen at a farm. The field had been harvested recently, so walking out into into it was no adventure. Except for the popping sounds all around and the little specks of blaze orange on every ridge and in every clump of trees. That's right. We walked out into a field in dark clothing on the first day of gun deer season in rural Wisconsin. I am happy to report no injuries. We planted a small "The internet was here" sign, but alas forgot the cameras.
Is there a combat zone achievement?
--Bill

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

N43.188392°, W89.146815°
Globetrotter Sam, the baby and I were at the meetup time/place on Saturday, Oct 11th. It was along a country road just east of Sun Prairie. The relative ease of getting to the spot made me hopeful that some of you would join us. We did see lots of pickup trucks and a few tractors, but alas no cool dudes (or dudettes) from the tubes. We stood along the road for 20 minutes or so, then went back to Sun Prairie for pie.
The moral of the story - if you miss the meetups, you miss the pie. See you soon.
--Bill

Bill Minser earned the Speed racer achievement by passing through the (N43.188392°, W89.146815°) geohash on 2008-10-11 at the maximum legal speed.

Saturday, August 23th, 2008

N43.021297°, W89.777397°
I got pretty close. The spot a few hundred yards past the end of a long (1/2 mile?) dead end country road. When I got to the end of the road, there was a farm and a dog and a whole lot of cars. I thought y'all were having a big geohashing party, but then I noticed a few of the guests where in their 70's. Perhaps it was discriminatory on my part, but I tend to think of geohashers as a bit younger than that. I didn't have the cajones to interrupt the family reunion to verify my assessment, so I just turned around and went to the Firehouse Muster in Mt. Horeb. Firetrucks are sweeeeet! --Bill

Saturday, August 11th, 2008

N43.091382°, W89.058595°
The weather was perfect and the scene was lovely. The spot was about 75 yards off of a little country road east of Cottage Grove. It was in a valley in a hayfield between two cornfields between two classic farmsteads. I arrived at approx 4:15 and enjoyed the bucolic scene for about 15 minutes before getting back in the car. Explored Cottage Grove on the way back. Town needs a diner. --Bill

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

N43°8.9366', W89°55.2777'
This is about half mile south of Hwy 14 and a little more than a mile east of County Hwy H. There is no apparent road access, so if you make the trip, be prepared to walk.