2008-11-20 48 -121

From Geohashing
Thu 20 Nov 2008 in North Cascades National Park:
48.5329261, -121.9345394
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Location

Despite impending rain, the North Cascades graticule looked doable today and I was on my way to Seattle to give a presentation. It was only 30 km out of the way, so definitely worth a shot.

Participants

  • Robyn in a (cheating) car.

Expedition

The wind was already very strong and a few drops of rain were falling as I left the I5 to follow highway 20 east towards the geohash. The road was narrow and I was stuck behind a cement truck most of the way, probably a common problem for this road, because the cement truck eventually turned off into the yard of a cement company. The inland route kept me ahead of the rain for now and when I found the turnoff that would take me to the closest road to the geohash, I discovered some new roads. A new subdivision was under construction, bringing me to within 450 m of the geohash right on the new blacktop, and some of the brush was cleared at the side of the road.

I parked and set off towards the geohash, but the cleared area only continued a hundred metres from the road. Three hundred fifty metres of bush separated me from the geohash. I know that normally for me this would be a done deal, but the same geohashing experience that tells me I could do this, warns me of how long it could take and how treacherous it could be. I hadn't really dressed for geohashing, especially not geohashing in the rain, which really was due to arrive any moment, and I had an appointment to keep in Seattle. I decided not to wade into the brush.

I did try again from another road, but it was also 450 m from the geohash and it was signed as private property, so the North Cascades continues to hold out on me. The rain started within minutes of the last photograph in this set, and continued into Seattle so heavily that I almost missed my exit. The presentation went fine, however.

Images