2010-03-28 global
Location
I didn't check the global hash until Danatar alerted me to the fact that it's in Idaho, only 800 km away from Vancouver across one international border. That's about ten hours drive, plus we need to ford a river and climb 700' in elevation up a steep mountainside.
Those actually considering going
Planning
It's possible that the roads in the area are blocked by snow, as was discovered by intrepid geohasher David Souther last year about this time. We started research. The geohash is on top of a plateau near the town of St. Maries, which has a small local airport, so naturally we immediately checked into helicopter charter. There is no helicopter outfit out of St Maries, but Coeur d'Alene is about 30 miles away as the crow--or helicopter--flies, so this looks like about a $300 helicopter charter through Big Country. Add in fuel, motel, psychotherapy ... is it worth it for the coolest geohash ever?
There are logging roads that lead closer to the point (and up the hill), but as mentioned, they may be blocked by snow this time of year. Wish I had my parents' jeep for that :-) -- Rhonda 19:10, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
The weather has to permit the helicopter--and our car--to make the trip. It's expected to be mostly cloudy in Coeur d'Alene tomorrow, but the aviation weather makes it look okay. I talked to Jim at the helicopter company, and he says they are available tomorrow morning, that it would be about half an hour each way (longer than I thought: helicopters take longer to reach altitude and forward speeds than airplanes). It would be $450/hr for two or three people, and 500 lbs (i.e. Rhonda + Wade + Robyn) would be an acceptable load. We can't land if it's not cleared. Also the snowline there is above 4000' right now, so snow should not be an obstacle. We could drive and hike. -Robyn 20:15, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
Drive and hike might be good. In the google satellite view it's a cutblock, so it's probably all young trees and dense underbrush by now. Also, Xore has said that if I'm going, he's not bloody well going to miss it... -- Rhonda 20:32, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
How soon can you leave and whose car should we take? Mine has four seatbelts, half a tank of gas, and room for four knapsacks in the back if we all pack light. -Robyn 20:40, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
