2012-08-12 37 -121

Location

Just off of the Limekiln Trail in Los Gatos, between Alma Bridge Road and Woods Road.

Participants

Plans

I will bike here sometime in the afternoon.

Expedition

Last night, I realized that the Sunday geohash was only 13 miles away from me by bike! Of course, I had to go.

I left at around 4 PM, and for the most part, took the exact same route as last month's hash. I took the LG Creek Trail all the way up to Alma Bridge Road, but this time, I took a left on Alma Bridge, not a right. So far, everything went swimmingly.

After originally missing the turnoff (I went all the way to Priest Rock trail), I reached the point where I'd turn off of Alma Bridge. It was a small trail called Limekiln Trail, close to the quarry (I had no idea there was a quarry until I hashed).

The Limekiln Trail, according to Google, connects Alma Bridge with Woods Road. Fun fact: Exactly 11 months ago, I went too far on the Woods Trail (as you can guess, it is close to Woods Road), and it got dark. I had gone over 5 miles past the closest road, and therefore had to call the parks service to rescue me. I was fine, but decided to hash today with caution, as I had to go to the same Open Space Preserve as the one I got "lost" in. When I left, I didn't worry too much though. At the time, I didn't have a smartphone. Now, I did, and it was loaded with Google Maps, Navigation, and Geohash Droid. What could go wrong?

When I was about 1,000 feet away from Alma Bridge Road on Limekiln Trail, I checked my phone to see how it was doing. I had no signal. Absolutely none. Geohash Droid couldn't determine my current location, as a result.

My old phone had Verizon, which has pretty good service essentially everywhere. My new one had Virgin Mobile (Sprint), which has no service in anywhere approaching rural. I have had no service in Lake Berryessa, and when we went to the Grand Canyon last week, my family (Verizon and AT&T) could call with surprisingly good signal while my phone was essentially a really small camera.

Even though it was only around 5:30-6, and I still had plenty of daylight left, I called off the hash. I was not walking 4 miles on the trail, and then 0.3 mile off of it without any GPS. Plus, I now had no idea where to turn off the trail. I was blinded by science!

I did get to explore the really cool roads of Los Gatos though, so all in all, it was an awesome trip, as always.

Gallery

Photo Gallery
Alma Bridge Road looking west
Jones Trail
Trail entrance. I can't remember whether this was Priest Rock Trail or Limekiln. I think the latter.
Another sign (about canine heatstroke, probably on Priest Rock Trail
With no signal and 4 miles to go, I turned back here.
I took this pic about half a mile down Alma Bridge. My phone told me I was in Holy City[[1]], a place which I am glad is no longer there. I would not do well in a white supremacist society.
Geotrashing.