2015-09-05 31 -106

Sat 5 Sep 2015 in 31,-106: 31.8501532, -106.6747570 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In the middle of the desert, right beside a railway.

Participants

• stadekxiel

Expedition

Set out around 1 in the afternoon to do my first ever geohash expedition. After looking at the map I think to myself "This looks pretty easy, there's a road leading almost all the way to it." Deciding I wouldn't need to prepare too much for it, I eat some lunch, then buy an energy drink and some snacks for the short hike to the hashpoint from the road.

I see that look on your face, you already know exactly where this is headed.

On the first part of the expedition, the drive there, I was already running into issues. See, I drive a beat up old Honda. It isn't very fast, or that powerful. I had to drive up and over a mountain on my way, and on my way up, I could barely keep up with traffic. I'm puttering along, getting passed constantly by traffic, and briefly consider getting a bumper sticker saying something along the lines of "I'm pedalling as fast as I can." The rest of the drive is fairly uneventful, until my GPS tells me to turn onto the final road of the trip. The problem here, is there was no road. The road was no more than a little trail obviously meant for dirt bikes, or maybe other off road vehicles. Not content to let this stop me, I dutifully turn my little car down the path, and hope I don't get stuck. Eventually, I hit a segment that had washed out at some point, and can't get my car past. With nowhere to turn around, or to pull off to the side of the road, I decide my only option is to back the car up until I have enough space to pull it off to the side. That turned out to be about half a mile of going backwards.

Finally, with my car safely off the side of the trail I get out, grab my energy drink and a small bag of crackers, lock up my car, and check my location. A little further than expected, about a mile now, but that's not too bad so I decide to go for it. Immediately, I regret having overlooked bringing a backpack, as I now had to juggle my phone, camera, food, and drink. Still, I don't let that stop me, as it would only be for a mile.

First, I try following the Google Maps app on my phone, and set out walking. I found out the hard way that wouldn't work, when half an hour later, I was still somehow a mile away.

Well then. I decide I should instead download a geocaching app, figuring people use them to find caches, and it should work just fine for me. I input the coordinates aaaaand... "No caches found nearby." What? No! I just want to go to that spot.

Alright, if it's going to be like that... I try another one. Same problem. Then another one, and another. None of them would let me just plug in a destination and go to it. Eventually, I give up and download a simple compass app, and just compare my current location to the hashpoint, and go in that direction. Having found a solution, I happily travel along another mile, confident I would get to the hashpoint soon. After travelling roughly another mile, I check my distance. Still a mile away. Somehow, I had managed to circle around while keeping a constant distance from where I wanted to go. At this point, I'm tired, hot, starting to get a sunburn, and wondering if my shoes would melt from wandering in the desert.

I consider turning back and taking the consolation prize, but now the hashpoint is closer than my car, and I'm not entirely certain I remember which way I came, what with all my circling around. Eventually, I pull up the geohashing app and notice that it was showing the hashpoint, my current location, and the distance between. Finally struck with a workable idea, I just watch the distance, and go whichever way makes the number smaller. After a little wandering, it actually pans out, and I gradually close the gap. No more than a hundred feet from the hashpoint, I actually ran into someone who was driving a dune buggy along one of the trails that didn't show up on the map. He gives me a bottle of water, which I thank him for, and is on his way.

Finally, I reach the hashpoint, located rather inconveniently on the side of the only steep hill I had come across. Not to be deterred in this final stage, I climb up, with the sand and dirt under my feet shifting with each step up. Once I get to the point, I snap some pictures, stop to eat, and am on my merry way.

The trip back to my car was much less eventful, once I figured out how to get back down from the hill. I knew where the car was in relation to the hashpoint, so I was able to make a relatively straight line to it. You might think the adventure is over at this point, but it's not. You see, you might remember when I mentioned I locked up my car before starting my walk. It was parked in a desert, with the sun beating down, with the windows rolled up and the doors locked. Fun little detail I forgot to mention: My air conditioning's broken. As soon as I open the door, I get hit in the face with a heat wave coming from the car. It was hot. Oven hot, oven that just caught on fire hot, even. Within seconds of getting in the car, I'm sweating buckets. Eventually my car cools down though, so I happily make my way to the nearest gas station, buy some more water, and go home.

Next time, I'll be bringing a backpack, bottles of water, and some granola bars at the very least. Even if I'm only expecting a short walk from the car, best not to tempt Murphy like that, you never know when things will go sideways.

Photos

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  Can't get my car over that, gonna have to walk.

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  Backing out..

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  Good thing I stopped my car when I did. No way I would have gotten through that.

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  Found a little dust devil.

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  Almost there.

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  The point is right on the edge of this.

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  That count as a picnic? No? Awww.

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  Um. How do I get down?

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  Road!

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  Almost...

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  Never been so happy to see my car.