This cache has been archived.

KSLS - Kansas Society of Land Surveyors: Archiving the listing. It's been over for quite a while; archiving is overdue. See you next year.

GC15XVW ▼

A cache by KSLS - Kansas Society of Land Surveyors Message this owner

Hidden : Saturday, March 15, 2008

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

Geodetic Center Tour '08

at Meades Ranch

Saturday, March 15, 2008

10:00 a.m.

N39° 14.046' ~ W98° 39.597'

Geocaching.com Event GC15XVW

Every bench mark hunter and land surveyor should know about this place. MEADES RANCH is the NAD27 Geodetic Center of the nation, the "Primary Station" for all surveys in the United States and in Mexico and Canada. With permission from the owners, this event is for all who wish to make the trek to the geodetic "Mecca" of the surveying world - to Meades Ranch.

The Meades Ranch monument is generally located 45 miles northeast of Hays, Kansas, and 60 miles west-northwest of Salina, Kansas. Coordinates displayed on this page are in degrees, minutes, and decimal minutes, the format common to Geocaching.com.

The Meades Ranch monument is on private land and is being made available to the public as a courtesy for those reverently inspired by its significance to the infrastructure of this continent. As a condition of being open to the public, the owners have established some guidelines.

It is private agricultural land. As a general policy, to prevent fire damage, no smoking will be permitted on the premises. However, as the days get nearer to the day of the event, it will be decided if there will be a controlled bond fire as part of the festivities.
Each person will be charged 20 dollars cash for the use of the property. The Kansas Society of Land Surveyors will NOT receive any proceeds from this event. Children under 16 years old may participate for free. The owners call this home and are not set up for swiping credit cards, scanning checks, etc, therefore, cash is preferred.
This event is a "pack-it-in, pack-it-out" idea. Please take all trash with you to protect the environment.
Collecting a georock speciman is allowed.
Our "tour group" can stay up to three hours. There is a lot to explore, and feel if you want to take some time.
Bring a sack lunch, something portable, something that can be taken back with you when you're done with it. Evie will have some iced water and some soft drinks up at the disk. In the event that the bond fire gets included, we may have a cookout.
Please bring along some personal items such as a small trash bag for yourself, a water bottle, etc.
Cameras and camcorders are encouraged.

Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles

The posted coordinates mark the meeting place where we will all gather together. When we are ready, we'll make the trek up to The Disk. The owners will provide rides into the land up to the location of the Meades Ranch monument. Since this event is being held as a cooperative effort, it would also be helpful if some participants could bring four-wheel drive vehicles for support. If you can bring a four-wheel drive vehicle, please mention it in a "will attend" log.

Filming on the Property

Everyone is encouraged to bring along your camcorder. The Kansas Society of Land Surveyors is attempting to make a DVD movie of this event using clips provided by as many participants as possible. The DVD will be provided at a future surveying convention and to all who would like a copy. This endeavor is an attempt to focus on documenting the memories of the occassion, and is not meant to be a professionally directed movie produced for profiteering. Again, all participants are encouraged to bring camcorders for your own memories of Meades Ranch and also to contribute to the contents of the KSLS DVD movie.

On-site contact information

Evie Wray, 785-698-2555 in case someone gets lost.

The Meeting Place

N 39° 14.046' W 098° 39.597'

The Geodetic Center

N 39° 13.445' W 098° 32.529'

Driving directions
to reach the Meeting Place:

Follow the path through Reference Points 1, 2 and 3 to get you to the Meeting Place.

Reference Point #1: N39° 11.472' W98° 41.666'

To get to Reference Point #1, take U.S.281 north from Luray or south from Osborne, Kansas. At about 12-15 miles either direction that you'll be coming there is a County sign at Reference Point #1 that says: HUNTER, via county road.

Reference Point #2: N39° 11.479' W98° 38.872'

From Reference Point #1, take the county road east. It is well marked as Osborne County Road 412. Drive East 2.5 miles and junction then with Osborne County Road 677 at Reference Point #2 at N39° 11.479' W98° 38.872'.

Reference Point #3: N39° 14.059' W98° 38.875'

From Reference Point #2, turn North. Continue for 3 miles to reach West 230th Drive at N39° 14.059' W98° 38.875', being Reference Point #3.

Meeting Place: N39° 14.046' W98° 39.597'

From Reference Point #3, turn West on the good gravel road. Drive for half a mile to N 39° 14.046' W 098° 39.597' and turn into a driveway on the South side of the road. The studio house is gray.

Lodging

Lodging information was obtained from the Osborne County Chamber of Commerce. Their toll-free phone number is 1-866-346-2670. Their website lists 14 different places nearby to stay. Each of the listings shows a phone number and some have email addresses, too. Here's the link to the list of lodging locations:

Lodging in Osborne County

To help out, here's a bit more information about some of the locations. For a traditional hotel/motel, there is the Camelot Inn Motel right in the city of Osborne on the highway. At the end of the list is West Lake Inn, on Highway 24, ten miles east of Osborne in the city of Downs. For a bed-and-breakfast, The Loft Bed and Breakfast is owned by an old couple and has a couple bedrooms. The Riverbend Bed and Breakfast, 3 miles east of Osborne, was described as being a really nice selection. Other bed-and-breakfast stays are the Covert Creek Lodge; Howell House Bed and Breakfast 10 miles east of Osborne; and the Prairie Lodge Bed and Breakfast 20 miles south of Osborne. The others on the list are hunting lodges.

The website also lists local area lakes.

More Lodging, Russell County

Here is more lodging information that is available from the Russell County website. The city of Russell is on I-70 Exit 184 and on U.S. Hwy 281, being 25 miles south and 10 miles west of the posted coordinates. The city of Gorham is one and a half miles north of the I-70 Exit 175 and on Old U.S. Hwy 40, being 25 miles south and 20 miles west of the posted coordinates. The city of Lucas is 14 miles southeast of the posted coordinates, and Luray is 9 miles south of the posted coordinates.