2013-07-06 39 -77

Location

In the Potomac River near Sterling, VA

Participants

Allison
OfficeLinebacker (talk)

Plans

Try to walk to the spot, then wade/swim into the river to get a water achievement

Expedition

This was a pretty epic achievement. It was about 96 degrees the whole time. We chugged water and Powerade to prepare.

I had seen several hashpoints which were anywhere from right at the edge of a river to a few dozen feet into the river and had had in mind for several weeks now to try a water achievement by wading or swimming into a river and this point provided the perfect opportunity.

We parked at a boat slip about 3/4 of a mile away from the spot. It was just an exploratory spot, as there were roads that would take us closer, but I felt this might be a good place to start and scout the path. Well I turned out to be right because there was a path almost directly to the hashpoint, only with one twist. I was limited in my ability to navigate and take pictures because my phone charge wasn't very strong, being only about 20% when we left the car.

We followed the path along the Potomac and about 2/3 of the way there there was a big river that joins the Potomac. The water was very scummy and it was quite wide and deep (maybe about 50 feet wide) so we decided to walk along the river because it looked like there was a lake we could get to, and we could circumambulate the lake and get to the other side. We saw a couple of trees that had fallen and almost bridged the river, but not quite enough to actually create an easily crossable bridge. However on the third tree across the river we saw evidence of humans having crossed it so we went for it. I crossed once without the towel or cell phone just to make sure it could be done. I came back to Allison and retrieved the stuff and we both crossed again. It was not an easy crossing by any stretch but it was fun.

We continued along paths until we got to a small picnic table that was exactly at the point on the shore nearest the hash. There was a floating platform anchored about 70 feet offshore, that had a propane grill bolted to it as well as a potted plant. As I waded out into the water, I stopped to pose for a pic and I felt something weird at my toes. Some fish were nibbling at my toes and lower legs. They mostly focused on my cuticles and a blister so it was like doctor fish. Anyway I decided to swim out to the platform, which was harder than I thought. Then, what was REALLY harder than I thought was hoisting myself up onto the platform. I tried and failed twice before I was able to grab one of the legs of the BBQ and haul myself up.

Allison declined to join me. There were lots of the same little fish all around the platform. I dangled my feet in the water but at that point, they were not interested. The weather felt so much cooler out on the water with a nice coating of water, than walking there.

I swam back and was greeted by a smiling Allison with a towel. I toweled off and we headed back. We came to the mouth of the river again because Allison was considering wading across, but when I showed her the scummy water she agreed we should cross the tree bridge (she didn't like crossing it the first time because it was pretty sketchy).

The trip back was relatively uneventful and we got back to the car. By then Allison had a massive upside down "T" on her shirt in salt, because she had sweated so much. About halfway back from my swim, I crossed the threshold of most of the wetness of my clothing being from my sweat, rather than from the swim.

A very epic hash, and a new achievement. Very fun!

As far as the water achievement, the exact location of the hash was a little iffy. I stood near where they point seemed to be according to the map, but my GPS was saying we were still about 50 feet away. Seeing as the point was almost directly between where I entered the water and the floating platform, and I swam most of the way to it, I'm giving myself credit for the water geohash achievement.