2009-06-04 40 -73

From Geohashing


Thu 4 Jun 2009 in 40,-73:
40.9745098, -73.9838037
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Participants

Plans

  • I'm going to Clifton to pick up a fish tank, and Oradell is not much further from there.

Expedition

The drive up from Clifton was uneventful, except for a maintenance crew on US-46 that pushed everyone into one lane, right at the point where my onramp met the highway.

We arrived around dusk, and as we crossed the tracks on Old Hook Rd., I felt a boost of excitement when I saw the farm/market at the corner of Schraalenburgh Rd. Since these two streets were main thoroughfares, I parked a good four blocks from the train crossing.

It had rained most of the day, and was pretty humid. Halfway from the car to the train crossing, I realized I had the wrong satellite photo with me. (The one from Tuesday's geohash had still been in the car.) I did not go back to retrieve the correct map. As it turned out, going back would not have improved my chances of success.

I missed getting a picture of a train crossing the road (batteries died as I tried to get a shot of the gates closed). I didn't see the train itself; it may have been only an engine since the road was only closed for two minutes.

Once at the train crossing, I ducked along the embankment, exploiting a brief moment when there were no nearby cars. I soon realized that the visual landmark I was hoping to use, a track though the farm on my left, wasn't visible through the trees. Still undaunted and running out of daylight, I pressed on until I reached a pair of drain pipes, routing a tiny trickle of water from under the tracks and toward the reservoir. On the reservoir side, a six-foot fence meant I couldn't go any further west. I knew the drain would be on the photo when I checked it later, but I thought the geohash was closer to it than it was. But knowing I was not going to get any closer to the geohash than the fence itself, I gave in and turned back.


Photos