2013-11-09 43 -86

Location

rural property in Fruitport, MI, USA

Participants

Mcbaneg (talk) (George)
Rebekah

Expedition

We were headed northwest to visit friends on the lakeshore (that is, the Lake Michigan shore) overnight, and today's hashpoint was in the southeast corner of a graticule that is (1) mostly water, (2) virgin, and (3) part of the set we need for a Minesweeper achievement. It looked easily accessible, but on private land a good ways behind an associated house, so it seemed likely we would need to ask permission.

We found the house without difficulty, set just a little back from the road. There was a flag flying. We walked onto the porch (past a No Solicitors sign), and a small dog in the house started barking. A lady opened the door before we knocked and looked quizzically at us: 51-year-old man and 14-year-old girl, and it's not Girl Scout Cookie season. I said we wanted to ask her permission to walk through her backyard, and explained that we were playing a game where we tried to get to particular spots on the earth, and today's spot for our region was at the back of her property near a sandpit. We showed her the Google map and pointed out her house and driveway, and she then pointed near the hashpoint and said "and there's the pond". We chatted a little more and she somewhat reluctantly smiled and said "well, okay" and we thanked her and headed back there. There was in fact a tiny pond, and we skirted around it and found the hashpoint just west of what turned out to be a sandpile. Notice the compass picture showing that the south end of the sandpile is properly at 80 degrees from the hashpoint. In honor of Pastori please note that it's a Finnish compass.

Photos

Compass pointing toward end of sandpile(no batteries required.)
George showing compass pointing toward sandpile.
The pond.
Rebekah at hashpoint.
Stupid Grins.
Lake Michigan later that day, looking south from the mouth of the Pentwater harbor.