2012-03-18 40 -73

Sempaispellcheck's FIRST GEOHASH!!, and the first geohash reached in this graticule in 33 months (since Jevanyn on 2009-06-05).

[edit] Location

Nissequoque River Road, Smithtown, Long Island. It's almost all forest out there, and once you get within about a half-mile of the hash, there are no streetlights. But the trees are awesome, and once you get to the hash, you can see the water.

[edit] Participants

Sempaispellcheck

[edit] Plans

My plans for this expedition basically went off without a hitch (I just wish the whole thing hadn't taken so much time). See "Expedition" below for more details.

[edit] Expedition

For me to be able to make a geohashing expedition, two things have to happen:

1) We have to have a reachable geohash, which is pretty rare since the NYC graticule has so much water in it, and 2) I have to have time. Since I am a full-time college student with a work-study job, time is not easy to come by for me

Today, those two things happened. First, our geohash was on land, and seemed reasonably close to a train station, and Second, I had time, given that my place of business closed relatively early (since it was a Sunday) and that I didn't have any homework due tomorrow (today being the last day of Spring Break). I figured it was now or never.

After work, I took the 7:25 PM LIRR train from Penn Station to Huntington. Transferred at Huntington at 8:36 PM for the train to Port Jefferson, and got off at Smithtown at 9:03. Walked the 2.2 miles from the train station to the hash point - hilly terrain, fairly dark (which makes sense, considering it was a wooded area and about 9:30 PM local time), but paved, which was nice. Saw a house or two every so often, but not many. Got within 2 seconds of the hash point at 9:43 PM, but there was a guardrail there to make sure nobody fell into the water. Took a couple of pictures (not many, and unfortunately the light wasn't good enough for me to capture the water), then walked back to the train station, arriving at 10:21 PM. Took the 10:29 PM train back to Penn Station, arriving at 12:03 AM after an 11:03 PM transfer at Huntington, and went home from there, arriving at 1:00 AM.

I did make two rookie mistakes (it was my first geohash, leave me alone): 1) I did not bring a marker, and 2) I did not photograph myself at the hash. I will not make either of those mistakes again.

[edit] Photos

Challenge accepted.
Proof of Public Transport Geohash Achievement. No idea why it uploaded sideways like that. Anyway, now you know what I look like. Also, the LIRR is expensive.
Success!! (-2 seconds)
Stupid guardrail.
Proof of Land Geohash Achievement. I'm sorry you can't see the water through the branches. You really should have been there.
44 minutes? I can do it in 37.