2016-09-04 42 -85
| Sun 4 Sep 2016 in 42,-85: 42.9745667, -85.8890309 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
Weedy field north of M45, Allendale, MI
Participants
Expedition
Sunday of Labor Day weekend: the hashpoint fell less than a km from my office. I made it a bike/bus/bike/walk/bike/bus/bike expedition, using essentially my usual commuter procedure.
The hashpoint was in a big field that has been owned by the university since land was purchased for its founding something like 55 years ago. The field is on the opposite side of the highway from the main campus and has lain fallow and undeveloped for at least the 15 years I have worked here. It's full of tall thick grass, blackberry, greenbriar, Virginia creeper, Queen Anne's Lace, goldenrod, poison ivy, scrub trees, and other shoulder-high stuff I couldn't identify. I struggled for maybe half an hour through this stuff from where I ditched my bike to get to the hashpoint, and then chose a somewhat better but still tricky route back to the road. The footing was deeply grooved in some places and I actually managed to lose my balance and fall at one point. I did see a 4-point buck bounce away from me during the return.
When I emerged I biked back to my building, went down to the lab, and washed my scratched legs in hopes of warding off most of the poison ivy curse.
Position of bus stop. I biked from the blue dot to the first bend in 40th Ave and hid my bike in the weeds there before starting toward the hashpoint on foot.
View N from hashpoint.
Grin.
Proof.
