2009-09-29 50 -119

Tue 29 Sep 2009 in 50,-119: 50.5033539, -119.1947147 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

On the side of a country road north of Armstrong.

Participants

• Rhonda

Plans

I was visiting a friend in Kelowna and then driving back to Kamloops today. Google maps told me that this would only add a half hour or so to my trip... how could I not?!

I wrote down the co-ordinates and the turn by turn directions (with sketches of intersections) for the country roads section of the route, then headed out. Unfortunately while I had remembered my GPS and Sophie, I had forgotten my camera, so I had to make do with the camera in my phone.

Expedition

The directions led me through the roads and everything matched up nicely. After the last noted turn before the hash point, I pulled half off the road and programmed my GPS. I was almost exactly 1km away! I followed the road, the arrow pointing forward, plus or minus to account for the winding of the road. Then I saw the beginning of some construction signs. Then I turned one last corner and saw flag people, road workers, and trucks, patching the road. The GPS pointed 500m straight through them.

I hoped the point wasn't in the construction zone; they might not approve of me stopping there.

I idled through when the flag person let me go, and kept half my attention on the countdown. I passed the other flag person with 100m left, and estimated that the point should be right at the next corner. Sure enough, the numbers got down to about 10m then started counting up again. I turned around in the next driveway and came back.

Google maps showed the point on the inside of the corner on aerial photography view and outside the corner on the map view. My GPS said it was just on the side of the driveway on the outside of the corner. I pulled onto the wide apron of the driveway, and watched my GPS go below 4m as I parked. I got my camera out, and the GPS wandered up to 30m then back down to 1m. I managed to get a blurry photo of it at about 2m. All without even getting out of the car. Crazy.

Then, back through the construction zone, and I started looking for my first turn. Google maps suggested that I go through a maze of country roads to get back on a different part of the highway I needed to get home, instead of backtracking all the way to the junction of 97 and 97A. My first turn was Gulch Road. I found it easily. It was unpaved.

After only a brief hesitation, I headed in, down the switchback, up the switchback (I guess that must have been the gulch) and eventually to my next named road, which was paved. After a very short half km on that road, I was directed to Ford road, which was also unpaved. Oh well; onwards, with a great plume of dust behind my wheels. Finally I got to the next turn, which was paved all the way to the highway. Then, on to Kamloops.

I realized on the way out that in my amusement at getting a car geohash so car-ish I didn't even have to get out, that I hadn't made an xkcd marker just in case Juventas decided he would try for the point. Of course, since my GPS is notorious for not agreeing with other units, he may have ended up on the other side of the road which was where google maps said the point was, and not seen any marker I made anyway.

Photos

• 

  The countryside near the hash point

• 

  I hope the point isn't where they're paving!

• 

  I got there.