2009-04-22 34 -84

Graticule

About

I chose this graticule today because I could tell that the Atlanta graticule was going to be on private property. I was not sure that this graticule was going to be on private property. I looked at both maps for today and this graticule was closer to where I am and also was only about 100 yard trek into the woods instead of the more than a mile trek for the Atlanta graticule.

People

NWoodruff

Expeditions

As I was driving to this hash point, I was keeping my fingers crossed that it was not on private property. I knew that if it was, there would be no way that I could reach the Atlanta Graticule hash point for today. I kept studying the Google map looking for signs of a gate. I didn't see any. The best part is that there is a Google street view all the way to the dirt road that you need to turn on to get to this hash point. If Google can get to it, so can I.

As I turned on to the dirt road, I noticed a street sign with a stop sign posted on it. It had to be a county road for a street sign and a stop sign. I continued driving down this road and I needed to turn on another dirt road. I was in luck. Another county street sign with a posted stop sign. As I turned on this last dirt road, I started to notice signs that said "Posted NO Hunting". My heart began to sink. It was a half mile drive down this dirt road and I started to notice the "No Trespassing" signs on either side of the road.

I found the last turn point. No street sign. It has a gate. I mumbled an expletive under my breath. I got out of my truck and looked at the gate. There was a chain and a lock hanging from the gate. It wasn't closed. I looked up the road and in the distance, maybe 50 yards or more there was a pickup truck. My last hope.

I pushed the gate open and started walking toward the truck. As I got about half way to the truck, I saw an older man, late 50's early 60's walk around to the back of the truck. I shouted out "Hello!".

When I got to the truck, I introduced myself, tried to explain geohashing a bit and show the man the print out of the Google map that I had. I showed him where I suspected that where we were and then where the hash point was. I really don't think that he understood why I wanted to go to the exact spot.

He looked at me and asked how far it was. I pointed up the dirt road and said about 100 to 200 yards up the hill. It was more like 400 to 500 yards. He said "Okay, I'll go with you". PERMISSION GRANTED.

I ask the man his name, he said that it was "John". He was there to chop up the trees that had fallen across the dirt road. When I had got there he had just finished moving several sections of a tree that he had previously finished cutting up.

I kept looking at my GPS like I knew what I was doing. John asked several times "How much further". All I would say was not much farther. We finally got to a point that the eTrex pointed straight into the woods. I said, "The point I need to reach is about 100 feet directly into the woods". It was more like 100 yards, but I didn't want to discourage John from following me in.

He said "Okay, I'm staying here. Make it quick". I quickly walk into the woods about 30 to 40 feet to a point that he could barely see me any more and then took off running as fast as I could. That was the longest 100 yards of my life.

The hash point turned out to be on a tree that had fallen down. I hopped up on the tree and the eTrex would then say that it was on the other side of the tree from where I hopped up on. I jumped up and down on this tree 3 or 4 times before I decided I was wasting time. I settled on one side of the tree with 6 feet to go. Close enough.

I jogged out of the woods as fast as I could. I didn't come out of the woods the same place that I went in but I did notice that John had decided to start walking back to his truck.

I continued to jog on the dirt road. I was glad that it was down hill. I caught up to John. I thanked him, left him the copy of the Google map that I brought along and informed him how to find this website and web page.