2010-05-18 45 -122
| Tue 18 May 2010 in 45,-122: 45.5970856, -122.8051989 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
Forest Park region near Cornelius Pass Road
Participants
Plans
My original plans were not to go on this expedition at all. I had inspected Google Maps and decided that the point was inaccessible due to distance into the forest. I suspected it was on public land, however.
Later discussions on IRC revealed that the terrain of the hashpoint wasn't particularly hospitable. I was also lacking boots and a camera. An expedition was ill-advised, and very unlikely to be the least bit successful.
Oh yes, and my vehicle wasn't suitable for the trip.
Expedition
After I finished at work, I went by the gym. I emerged in an endorphin-addled state and something like this conversation must have happened in my head
- You know, Google Maps isn't always right.
- (That's true, but it only seems to cause the hashpoint to look EASIER.)
- Well, maybe that was an old satellite images.
- (Uh, huh)
- Maybe there's a parking area, and a path leading to the hashpoint...
- (Yeah, and a big friendly sign that says "Welcome, Geohashers!")
- I'll give it a try...
- (You're being an idiot, but I guess I'm stuck with you.)
So, I headed up to the hashpoint. The first part of the trip was on Cornelius Pass Road, which was originally a state highway when it was built, but is now just a major county road. It leads over the hills from the inland areas like Hillsboro and Beaverton to the Columbia River. It has lots of farms on it, and is very pretty. I then headed onto Germantown Road, which goes higher up and is even more pretty. And curvy. And not very suitable for a little (old) underpowered truck. But at least I didn't have 500 pounds of feed in the back.
I would check the GPS from time to time. (Despite my really great planning, I did program the GPS.) Eventually the distance got down to about a mile. Then it started to increase. I went back, and glanced at the closest point. It looked like private land, and not quite as forested as I expected. But there was no good place to stop, so I continued on to head home, especially since I now had traffic stuck behind me.
Examining the maps when I got home, I find that I might have been one street over from where I should have been. Printing out the map might have helped, except that I wouldn't have been able to look at it in the truck. And it still looked like private land.
