| Tue 17 Mar 2020 in 34,-77: 34.9629791, -77.1477187 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
In an open area of the Croatan Nat'l Forest
Participants
- Pedalpusher
- Brother of Pedalpusher
Expedition
Down in North Carolina, visiting my brother and his family, we hadn't been able to do much since the (late) reaction to the COVID-19 Pandemic was starting to ramp up and things were getting closed. My brother and I were supposed to drive to Raleigh, NC this afternoon to go to the Buffalo Sabres/Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) hockey game, but that got cancelled. Instead, I just got to spend more time with the family.
In the morning, we went out for an early lunch to a great Bagel place for sandwiches for the last time in a while as this was the last day they could be open. While the sister-in-law ran some errands after, my brother and I had some time to attempt this hash. I asked him about 'the fields in the Satellite pictures in the middle of the forest' and he said he explored them when he first moved there a couple years ago as a potential duck hunting spot. He said there were some deep channels surrounding each section of 'field' but those channels were pretty deep. "With hip waders, I could have walked anywhere in there but I think the Channels were about chest deep" is what he said.
They are currently in the process of buying a (brand new) house a couple miles down and we were going to meet to check it out around 13:00 before I started driving home. We had just enough time to be a little late for the meeting at the new house and we decided to go for it. The drive into the forest wasn't bad as the main forest roads are pretty wide with (mostly) minor potholes. It was only the last section of road by the hash that things got REALLY rough. My brother after seeing a pothole about the width of the car decided to park it there and we walked the remaining couple hundred meters. We would have only been able to drive half the distance anyway as there was a gate that we walked by.
As we walked down the paths and to the fields, we saw even here there was a deep channel filled with water that was surrounding the open areas. In this section it looked like they might only be knee deep, but being totally unprepared for that, it really didn't matter how deep they were.
I took some pictures and then we drove to the new house. It will be really nice, once completed. They still need to finish up the wiring, put the finished layer of flooring down on the first floor and paint the walls. Heading back to their current house, I packed up, said my good-byes and headed back to Maryland.
I was also looking at another hash on the way to MD, but reviewing on the street-view, I saw there was a gate across the dirt road that lead up to the hash so ended up not stopping.
Photos
Driving through the Croatan Nat'l Forest
Didn't want to take the chance of getting stuck so we parked here.
Walking up, this is part of the ditch we would have had to cross. No bridges or ferries in sight.
The hash is out there somewhere.
As close as we were able to get.
Ribbons
*No Ribbons today* - none of the Consolation ribbons seem to fit this scenario. It's not even really Mother Nature, as these 'canals' were dug by people.
