2012-07-30 40 -105

Mon 30 Jul 2012 in 40,-105: 40.1978875, -105.2767533 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

On the side of a gulch in the Heil Valley Ranch open space, about 2 miles south of Lyons, CO

Participants

Squenes

Plans

I plan to drive to the Picture Rock trailhead, park there, take the trail toward the hash point, then clamber around on the side of the hill until I find the exact spot. I'll aim to be there at 4:00 PM. According to my research with the county parcel mapping system, the hash point definitely falls within the open space, but it is only about 10 m away from some private property, so hopefully the owners of that will have researched the exact position of their property line as well as I have! -- Squenes 13:37, 30 July 2012 (MDT)

Expedition

As it turns out, this gulch was much steeper, deeper, and more heavily vegetated than I had anticipated. After waiting to let a thunderstorm pass and starting out down the wrong trail twice, I was finally on my way. The walk along the trail was lovely, but things started getting a little dicier after the trail and I parted company. The gulch turned out to be more of a small canyon, with steep sides, and thick foliage covering the bottom. After hacking through assorted plants for about 45 minutes, encountering snakes and large piles of excrement that suggested more substantial creatures may have been present but remained unseen, scrambling over rock slide debris, cutting my hand and ankle while engaging in said scrambling, determining that the actual hash point was likely on the side of a cliff, computing that I couldn't stay much longer and still get back to the trailhead by sunset, and seeing no path through the plants and trees to proceed further, I ended up turning back about 130 m away from the hash point. Yes, I'll say it, I am Mother Nature's bitch. More details and photos to come...