2010-05-22 35 -80
| Sat 22 May 2010 in 35,-80: 35.4635260, -80.7646015 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
Davidson, North Carolina
Participants
Plans
Go.
Expedition
Art & Heather
Initial scouting of the hashpoint showed it to be a patch of woods in a subdivision north of Charlotte. It looked to be a relatively easy hashpoint, but would require a bit of walking. We loaded the coordinates into BlackStar along with the coordinates for a nearby geocache and set off.
We had about a 45 minute drive to the general area of the hashpoint. When Heather announced that we had arrived, I looked around, puzzled. It certainly didn't look like the area I scouted with Google Maps. I was convinced that this was not right, but couldn't check because we were too far away from civilization to get data on the cell phone. We turned around and drove back the way we came. Once the Internet started working again, I found my error. I had entered the latitude in both entry fields.
We plugged in the correct coordinates and were off again. Thirty minutes and 1 Green Tea Frappuccino later we were parked next to the correct patch of woods. Heather declared it to be too dense so I had to progress alone while she waited in the car. About 20 meters into the woods I walked headfirst into a huge spider web. After thrashing about for a minute I resumed my trek. Another 40 meters in, I walked into another web. This time, I actually found the spider clinging to my chest during the thrashing. Figuring that I was in the spider equivalent of New York City, I picked up a stick and waved it in front of me like a junior wizard trying to figure out a new spell. I must have looked ridiculous to the spiders not directly in the path of my spinning death stick.
The woods were very dense and my GPS several times proclaimed that I was going the right direction while simultaneously moving further from the hashpoint. In retrospect, perhaps it was trying to get me (or more likely, itself) out of there. At one point I startled something large that rustled in the bushes and ran away. I'm forced to assume that it was a raptor that was not hungry enough to ambush me at the moment. As I neared the hashpoint, I let my guard down and walked through the largest spiderweb yet. This time I saw the spider actually in my field of vision just as I collided with it. I dropped my phone and flailed around for entirely too long. (Note to self, I will have to devise a way to test my phone for both sentience and pre-cognition capabilities). The phone was fine, and I eventually reached the hashpoint. It was 5:15, well after the meeting time and I saw no sign that anyone else had been there. I simply left my marker, took some pictures and headed back to the car, waving my spider warding wand before me.
After returning to the car, Heather and I drove to the nearby geocache. The geocache was back in another patch of woods. This time Heather came with me because I promised it was not difficult and she was tempted by the possibility of treasure. The hike to the cache was much shorter, and spider free. We found the cache hidden in the crook of a large rock. Opening the cache we found a variety of trinkets, among them a key. We traded a toy car for the key, which Heather ascertains will open an even larger treasure. We just have to find it.
Photos
Obligatory stupid grin
Obligatory GPS proof
The Internet was here.
Heather with the geocache.
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