2018-07-03 43 -121

Location

In the middle of a patch of new growth in Deschutes National Forest, east of Newberry NVM.

Participants

Frogman
Daisy

Expedition

It was the last day of my stay in Central Oregon, and I had been itching to go on a good geohashing expedition, so I was excited to go on this one. Daisy, as always, was also down to clown.

The quickest way to get there, according to Google Maps, was through the Lava Cast Forest road, which is pretty bumpy and would require high clearance. Since I was taking, instead of a large truck, my parents' shiny new Subaru Outback (important detail! remember this for later!) I thought the better way to approach the hashpoint was north on US-97 and then east on a logging road. I did that, getting caught behind logging trucks on the road a couple times, but also seeing other sightseers like myself. It's Central Oregon! Take your dog for a hike in the middle of nowhere, where they can run around!

The road took me around the monument and met back up with Lava Cast Forest road (which looked awful to navigate, so plus one for good planning) before heading south, eventually getting closest to the hashpoint at about 3km away. We got out of the car and walked the rest of the way.

A couple highlights from the walk:

I heard some rustling, and I looked over, startled, and saw two foxes scurrying into a hole! They were pretty. Daisy, being not very sight-oriented, missed them but got very interested in the smell later on when she wandered close. Trying to be polite to the local residents, I hurried her along.
The road turned eastward and went up onto a bit of high ground, which had less vegetation than normal so I got good views of the mountains.
There was a very densely forested area for about 200 meters between that area and the patch of trees with the hashpoint. It was annoying to walk through, and I got worried that maybe I wouldn't be able to find my way through, which was an odd fear as I had a GPS and also it was only about 200 meters, but I suppose it's better to be safe with these things and trust one's instincts so I promised myself that I wouldn't attempt such a mission solo again (I had Daisy with me but she is a poor navigator).
I saw the largest caterpillar I had ever seen. It was probably about as big as a finger! I regret that I did not include something to show scale in the picture I took of it.

The hashpoint itself was in the middle of a patch of newly-planted trees. Daisy and I were getting tired, so we drank some water and headed back. On the way back I saw another one of those absolutely humongous caterpillars and took another picture.

We got back to the car and drove back. It was a bumpy ride, and I hit some potholes perhaps a bit too fast! I had to turn right onto US-97, as left turns were prohibited, and drove up to the next exit before turning back. After a couple of miles, the tire light came on. Thinking not much of it, I returned to my parents' garage and -- very slowly, with ample time to prevent it if I was less of an idiot -- crashed the corner of the car into the frame of the garage door, leaving a nasty dent. I went and told my dad, who came out and agreed that it was, indeed, a nasty dent on his shiny new Subaru Outback. I decided it was probably a good idea to also mention the tire light, so we checked that out as well, and sure enough, there was an audible leak. My dad took off early from work to drive the car into the local car dealer (you know, the one that does free tire repairs).

Normally I would be pretty distraught about damaging my parents' car. But twice? On the same trip? I was so distracted that I forgot to post this writeup. (Historical note for people in the future: this was posted on January 10th, 2019!) I hope you will forgive me.

Photos

Walkin'
A pretty, open area. You can see mountains in the background! They appear small here because that's how lenses work. They're actually pretty big in real life.
biggest caterpillar i EVER saw
Tired grins
The hashpoint
Another one of them caterpillars


Tue 3 Jul 2018 in 43,-121: 43.8104374, -121.2306397 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox