Introduction
Warning: May contain nuts.
Ekorren - that's the european brown squirrel, scientifically sciurus vulgaris. Jumps around, collects various stuff, hides things and never finds all of it again.
I found the link to geohashing on some geocaching forum. Ok, I thought, so there's something even more crazy, so let's try it ;) Then I read all of the past XKCD comics and suddenly felt at home. Given that my list of regularily read webcomics is all but short there's really no excuse that I didn't find XKCD earlier.
For a spontanous expedition bicycle will be the only reasonable mode of transport for me, so I'm somehow restricted to the nearer surroundings of my home coordinates which are roughly N 48°31' E 9°3', as well as weather-restricted. Though, the first geohash I visited was far away from home...
Statistics
|
successful |
failed
|
| Expeditions total |
20 |
1
|
-  saturday 4 pm |
3 |
|
| Graticules |
5 |
|
-  virgin graticules |
3 |
|
| Countries |
3 |
|
| - virgin countries |
1 |
|
| Expeditions by type of transport: |
|
|
-  foot |
- |
|
-  bike |
12 |
1 (+1*)
|
-  public transport |
8 |
|
| Reasons for failure: |
|
|
-  No trespassing |
|
1
|
-  Transportation failure |
|
0 (+1*)
|
* reached the hash by public transport instead
Past Expeditions
| Date
|
Grat.
|
Transport
|
|
Comments
|
| 2008-10-28
|
49 6
|
 
|
  
|
On a meadow near Fentange, south of Luxembourg. Virgin graticule and virgin country.
|
| 2008-11-15
|
48 9
|
|
|
Near Kusterdingen, on a field. Saturday 4 pm, but didn't meet anyone as nick_mz was late and I didn't expect anyone to come.
|
| 2008-11-18
|
48 9
|
|
 
|
Reutlingen, on a cycle path between Ohmenhausen and the city centre. Déjà vu geohash and probably the only expedition worldwide on that date.
|
| 2008-11-19
|
48 9
|
|
|
Wannweil, at Gärtnerei Hespeler.
|
| 2008-11-22
|
48 9
|
|
  
|
Tübingen, Rammert forest, near Hofgut Eck. A XKCD'ish snowman (no eyes!) was built and I met nick_mz.
|
| 2008-11-26
|
48 8
|
|
|
Pforzheim, in front of the slaughterhouse. Met Danatar.
|
| 2008-11-29
|
48 9
|
|
30px
|
Sonnenbühl-Genkingen, Öschenbachtal. Ice and slope is a bad combination.
|
| 2008-12-12
|
48 9
|
|
30px
|
St. Johann-Würtingen, with a lot of snow getting in my way.
|
| 2008-12-15
|
48 9
|
|
|
Hattenhofen, failed due to fenced area, and there was noone I could ask to be let in.
|
| 2008-12-17
|
48 9
|
|
|
Reutlingen, and once more too much ice and snow
|
| 2008-12-27
|
48 9
|
|
|
Dettenhausen, in the Schönbuch forest
|
| 2009-01-02
|
49 10
|
|
|
Satteldorf-Gröningen, in a strange tree plantation
|
| 2009-01-03
|
48 8
|
|
|
Rottenburg am Neckar
|
| 2009-01-04
|
48 8
|
|
|
Rottenburg-Ergenzingen
|
| 2009-01-07
|
48 9
|
|
|
Pliezhausen-Rübgarten, in the Schönbuch forest
|
| 2009-01-10
|
48 8
|
|
|
Muggensturm
|
| 2009-01-12
|
48 8
|
|
|
Lauterbourg (France), a long walk with Ilpadre
|
| 2009-01-26
|
48 9
|
|
|
Metzingen, another forest
|
| 2009-01-28
|
48 8
|
|
|
Rottenburg-Bieringen
|
| 2009-02-13
|
48 8
|
|
|
Horb-Hohenberg, approach by bike failed because of torn tyre
|
|
|
|
second approach by train and bus succeeded
|
| 2009-02-22
|
51 10
|
|
|
Ottersberg, near a minor road between some unexpected water. Met Danatar, Dawidi, Hans, Thomcat and Tomcat.
|
How I use the symbols in this table
Achievements
Template:Virgin graticule
Template:Virgin graticule
|
Ekorren earned the Frozen Geohash Achievement
- by reaching the (48, 9) geohash on 2008-12-12 while the temperature was around -3. This was the third sub zero hash where he couldn't bring an accurate thermometre, but this time it didn't get above zero the whole day anywhere in the area...
|
|
Template:Virgin graticule
For the following achievements the rules had to be stretched a bit, usually because of insufficient proof.
I put the ribbons here anyway but don't insist on counting them, and will definitely try to replace them.
Template:Mnimb geohash
I can't decide whether 2008-11-29_48_9 and 2008-12-12_48_9 qualify for a MNIMB. They were both made difficult by snow, ice, and a terrain that provides generally no easy trails. After careful examination I came to the conclusion that they beat some of the existing MNIMB hashes but are themselves still beaten by quite a number of others which leave me humble and in awe. I'll take the ribbon for now.
Tools
I run another of those online hashing tools, built to contain everything important on a glance and work on virtually every device not entirely uncapable of browsing. See here.
GPS for sale
2009-02-07: I just ordered myself a replacement for the old first generation Garmin Etrex (yellow) which I had in use on my expeditions so far. It's neither a new or a very good one, nor does it look like new (after all, it is an outdoor model), but it was sufficient to decide for a spot, track a way (with a few precautions), and also find most of the caches I searched with it yet.
Postage is affordable to everywhere. About the price, that still needs some research. To be honest, these things are sold on ebay for more than they are IMHO worth, and I need the money, so the price I would get there is kind of a guideline - minus the fees, of course. On the other hand, unlike the average ebay seller, I'm willing to share experiences and advice how to get the most out of it, and possibly throw in a piece of rebuilt electronic scrap that happens to work as a serial data cable if you don't feel like building that yourself. These cables cost a fortune alone if you buy them from Garmin.
Please contact me by mail if interested. --Ekorren 23:18, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
36 / m / 48,9
saturday 4 pm
virgin graticules
foot
bike
public transport
No trespassing
Transportation failure
