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

National Surveyors Week in 2008!

National Surveyors Week will be celebrated annually during the week in March that begins with the 3rd Sunday. This year National Surveyors Week will be celebrated March 16-22, 2008, and the Geodetic Center Tour '08 at Meades Ranch is an excellent way to kick off the festivities.

Promote YOUR profession with these from the NSPS website:

Most of the following information is a duplicate listing of the event as it appears on the Geocaching.com website. There are small differences due to the separate websites, but overall the information is the same.

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. With respect to the non-commercial nature of Geocaching.com, 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 an email to Ernie Cantu at geocacher@sktc.net.

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.