Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Vahastu

Geodashing Dashpoint Log
2016-05-31 17:42:03 UTC
GDDB-NAYM

Player: Haraldpoiss
Team:   FinEst Dashers

GDDB-NAYM is near Põllika, Estonia.

> Date, Points, TeamPoints, Dashpoint, Country, State, Lat, Lon, Distance
2016-05-28, 3, 3, GDDB-NAYM, Estonia, , 58.9145, 25.2343, 0

New extreme south visit this year for Estonia: GDDB-NAYM
If this is not correct, please notify the Geodashing Webmaster

Number of previous hunts by Haraldpoiss: 79

It was possible to drive to 460m, wherefrom a small trail took me to the destination. The point was near an intersection of ditches and some wild strawberries were blooming around it. Afterwards I took a walk in the picturesque swamp and Piiumetsa landscape protection reserve nearby. I went swimming to a lake in the swamp. It's maybe 1.5m deep, but the bottom is so soft that it's not possible to stand in there, but only to swim or to hold from the shore. And the shore ain't made of soil, but of Sphagnum plants that have grown on top of each other over centuries and millenniums. The shore is actually floating on water and it's so soft and elastic, that all the small trees and bushes around you swing along if you jump on it. The lake gets deep instantly and as I checked, the shore is actually hollow from underneath. It's possible to get out only by using the strength of your arms to heave your body, until you get a knee on the edge. And you must be careful when standing up, because the shore is soft like cottonwool and bends backwards. As I wasn't careful enough, I lost my balance and splashed all the way back in, which was quite funny in fact.

http://geodashing.gpsgames.org/cgi-bin/dp.pl?dp=GDDB-NAYM


baby frogs

a tree fallen by beavers

the lake

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Vetepere

Geodashing Dashpoint Log
2016-05-21 17:53:16 UTC
GDDB-NIGA

Player: Haraldpoiss
Team:   FinEst Dashers

GDDB-NIGA is near Albu, Estonia.

> Date, Points, TeamPoints, Dashpoint, Country, State, Lat, Lon, Distance
2016-05-15, 3, 3, GDDB-NIGA, Estonia, , 59.0982, 25.5378, 0

New extreme east  visit this year for Estonia: GDDB-NIGA
New extreme south visit this year for Estonia: GDDB-NIGA
If this is not correct, please notify the Geodashing Webmaster

Number of previous hunts by Haraldpoiss: 78

It was possible to drive to 1.6km, wherefrom a prepared wooden hiking trail took me through the swamp to 300m from the point. How nice :)  The trail was actually part of Peraküla-Aegviidu-Ähijärve hiking trail, which goes through the whole Estonia and is 820km long, but after long consideration, I decided to skip passing the whole distance last Sunday. The point was in swamp and nearby there's a free-to-use self-service public guesthouse with smoke-sauna and several camping facilities.

http://geodashing.gpsgames.org/cgi-bin/dp.pl?dp=GDDB-NIGA



Kollassaare free-to-use self-service public guesthouse. The black tepee on the right is smoke-sauna.

a spider stepping on water

Väike-Pakri

Geodashing Dashpoint Log
2016-05-17 18:02:18 UTC
GDDB-MYKI

Player: Haraldpoiss
Team:   FinEst Dashers

GDDB-MYKI is near Paldiski, Estonia.

> Date, Points, TeamPoints, Dashpoint, Country, State, Lat, Lon, Distance
2016-05-14, 3, 3, GDDB-MYKI, Estonia, , 59.3356, 23.9715, 0

New extreme north visit this year for Estonia: GDDB-MYKI
New extreme west  visit this year for Estonia: GDDB-MYKI
If this is not correct, please notify the Geodashing Webmaster

Number of previous hunts by Haraldpoiss: 77

It was raining when I left Tallinn and most of the way, but in the area nearby the dashpoint it was dry and not even a single drop of rain fell on me during the whole day that i spent there. The dashpoint had fallen on the easternmost island of Pakri archipelago, across the 3km wide strait from mainland. It's basically not deep between there and if you go from the right place at the right angle then, according to the map, it should possible to cross strait Kurkse on foot. But if it's cold and stormy and you loose your way then you may easily drown, like it happened to 14 people on 11 September 1997.

It would have been possible to reach to 500m from the point by sea, but as it would have been basically in front of the doorstep of a household, I decided to disembark little bit further towards north-west, next to an old wooden boat-wreck. The point was in forest and there was nothing interesting around the place. After having reached successfully to the destination, I decided to visit also the western island of the archipelago, where I was greeted by a dead cow laying on the ground at the place where I landed. As the island was lacking dashpoints, I just went to a randomly self-generated point that happened to be on a meadow with some bovines on it. There's 6 people in total living at the archipelago and I didn't happen to meet any of them during my visit.

http://geodashing.gpsgames.org/cgi-bin/dp.pl?dp=GDDB-MYKI


In memoriam for the soldiers that died during the attempt to cross the strait on foot

It's not the boat that I used to reach to the islands :)

I'm sorry for posting this, but it's the first time in my life to see a dead cow