2009-01-03 36 -77

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We decided to conquer this virgin graticule because the N36 W77 geohash would take us to Lake Gaston, an area we seldom visit. There was freezing rain last night throughout this region, but by the time we started our trek, the roads were drying off. We first went to our cabin to thank our kind-hearted and hard-working neighbors who repaired the washed-out road in the neighborhood, and after some target practice with our handguns, we drove east to the geohash.

We navigated the old-fashioned...well, 20th Century way, using only the state road map, and after driving an hour, arrived at the geohash parking area at about 1540. Amazingly, the area looked relatively unchanged from the Google Earth image. We guesstimated the geohash point then oriented the map. In order to be aligned with the northern triangulation point - the bluish-green storage building (now two of them) lying almost directly north, we had to move further back into the woods. But since the woods were thinned out and there was no foliage, you could still see the three triangulation points clearly. We then shifted south until we were aligned with the second triangulation point - the trees and the intersection just SSE of us. And since the third point matched up, the tree line to the SE, we knew we were right on the geohash.

We photographed our success and looked around for signs of wildlife. After waiting 15 minutes for fellow XKCDers, we gathered up our hashing equipment and panda bear. We had brought trash bags prepared to do some geotrash collection, but the area was spotless. A credit to the residents of Timber Lodge.

Participants

Eisen & Bear - NCBears

Geological Features

Rolling farmland (mostly corn and cotton). Geohash was located ~10 meters inside wooded area. About 375 meters from Lake Gaston and 4.0 miles/6.5 km south of the Virginia border. Open field between Geohash and road was used for corn crop. See Google Earth screenshot below.