2012-07-01 45 -122

Sun 1 Jul 2012 in 45,-122: 45.8506096, -122.7131653 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Off a private road near LaCenter, Washington.

Participants

• Michael5000

Plans

Seeing that the hashpoint was relatively cromulent, and inspired by Mrs.5000's exploits in Montana, I set out north into the Evergreen State. I could tell that the road by the hashpoint was basically a shared driveway, so I decided to park at nearby Paradise Point Park and make a run out it.

Expedition

Turns out that you have to pay ten bucks to "use" Paradise Park, so instead of parking in the parking lot I drove a few meters back out past the park boundary and deposited the truck on the shoulder. Some kind of law-of-unintended-consequences action going on there, I suppose, but it didn't really affect the expedition.

It was not an especially pleasant run, largely either right next to the Interstate or on a country road with no shoulders, but it did get me to the road to the hashpoint. It was, as I expected, a private road. I ran down it to a point 19.2 feet from the exact coordinates, and commenced a familiar internal philosophical debate: "What is the nature of 'here.'?" Here I am, occupying and positioned in three-dimensional space, very near to and in plain site of a point in an unremarkable plot of ground. If I had brought my pruning saw along with me (which is difficult when running) I could reach out and touch the point with no difficulty. Indeed, I could hop the little unsigned barbed-wire fence and touch the point with no difficulty. But why run the risk of antagonizing the locals? Am I not "here" enough?

I decided that I was "here" enough.

Photos

• 

  Mildly amusing barn wall, about a kilometer from the hashpoint