2011-05-29 45 -122

Sun 29 May 2011 in 45,-122: 45.5979576, -122.8216042 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In a Power right-of-way near Forest Park

Participants

• Jim

• Michael5000

Plans

Jim: Looks possible - I'm strongly tempted to give it a try.

Michael5000: Not known for his geohash planning.

Expedition

Michael5000

I actually thought to ride my bike the hilly 15 miles out to this hashpoint, and boy I'm glad I didn't. Despite that there are tidy suburban homes not 1000 feet away, this one is a brutal bushwhack.

From Skyline Drive, there's a very sweet little path through the trees that gets you about 150 feet from the hashpoint. But from there, it is a steep ravine wall littered with felled timber and brushy growth. "This is stupid," I thought, looking downslope. "I'm not dressed for it, I don't have proper shoes, and if was to break a leg or something I could literally die before anybody found me." Then I started down.

Well, it gets worse the further down you get, and unfortunately for me my GPS doesn't have a compass -- I couldn't keep enough momentum going to get a good directional heading. Some of the toughest bushwhacking was what I thought would be the last 35 feet, but when I was able to check in I was 60 feet off; I'd passed the hashpoint wide right. But eventually I got there.

Climbing back up is easier than climbing down, right? And happily, the log that my feet slipped off of in opposite directions was only a foot and a half off the ground. It was an anxious foot and a half on the way down though, I'll tell you what.