2013-08-10 32 -106

Sat 10 Aug 2013 in Las Cruces: 32.0075376, -106.5622691 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

South of US 404, near Anthony NM/TX (near the Texas/NM border). Great spot between metro areas of El Paso and Las Cruces, perfect for a meet-up. The hash-point fell at an easy to reach location in the desert scrub and foothills of the Franklin Mountains.

Participants

• Fugads and my two kids age 4 and 1.

Expedition

I've been watching the local hash-points for a few weeks now, and while a few have been tempting to visit, this one seemed too perfect for what I had in mind. Not only is it pretty accessible, but it is also pretty close by to the metro areas of El Paso, TX and Las Cruces, NM, which also fit into my plans. Anyways, the kids and I made the short drive out to the haspoint, having only to walk the last 300ft or so. We lucked out with an unseasonably cool and cloudy day (only high 80s) and with all the creosote bushes in bloom the area was pretty... except that it appears people have been using some of the dirt roads out here for illegal dumping. We passed by a giant pile of weathering shoes, among other junk. Once at the hash-point I took out the geocache I had prepared to leave there. It is full of XKCD swag of course! We snapped some pictures and tried to enjoy ourselves despite being in earhsot of someone's shooting practice. The geocache I placed is supposed to get locals to try out geohashing. In order for the local geocachers to claim this as a find, they'll need to visit a hash-point first. Maybe this will spur some local interest in this area?

After locating the hash-point and leaving our new cache, we did some more caching in the area. The closest geocache to the hash-point GCZFZ2 was only .2miles away but I had found this one earlier. We ended up caching closer to Anthony. All in all, a good adventure with the kids.

UPDATE 8-15-13: The Geocache I placed finally got listed, GC4JCB6 Geohashing Challenge. In order for Geocachers to complete the challenge, they must perform a sort of reverse Collision achievement, finding a geocache that is <1km from a geohash location. I ope Geocachers find it fun and maybe it'll get some interested in Geohashing as well.

Photos

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  Obligatory Proof plus cache stuff

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  Kids at the geohash

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  The geocache we hid at the geohash

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  View of Franklin Mountains from geohash

Achievements

Fugads earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement by being the first to reach any hashpoint in the (32, -106) graticule, here, on 2013-08-10.

Fugads earned the Hash collision honorable mention by discovering the geocache GCZFZ2 1100ft from the (32, -106) geohash on 2013-08-10.