This is the worst one I've ever run into. Need to mark the NW of the NW. I believe from the notes that the corners are there - GLO posts and caps from late 30's. Even if I get to the East 1/4 will need to take a chainsaw to clear for GPS to work. Over 1000 feet of elevation change, more like cliffs than a mountainside.
Here is link to topo (40 foot contours).
http://www.highterra.com/pdf/Section_22_Birch_Creek.pdf
Got any volunteers?
Center of Section about N39 35 15.99 W111 20 55.81. Zoom in with Google Earth and you can see the relief.
Ya better hurry Leon, it's THAT time of year up there...
Loyal
My kind of survey.
Thanks, but I'll pass on that invitation.
I'll be at the top of our best impersonation of a bluff later this morning. But, I'll drive to within forty feet of where I need to be both times. On the top side, not the bottom. The railroad shown between the bluff and the river is the now-abandoned Santa Fe that ran from Pittsburg to Chanute. These are 10 foot contours. About a mile to the southwest is the site of the first establishment of Osage Indians in Kansas after leaving Missouri in about 1800. It was also the site of the first Presbyterian mission school in 1820. The treaty signed between the US and the Osage in 1865 was signed about one mile straight south of the cemetery shown.
LRDay, post: 398704, member: 571 wrote: This is the worst one I've ever run into. Need to mark the NW of the NW. I believe from the notes that the corners are there - GLO posts and caps from late 30's. Even if I get to the East 1/4 will need to take a chainsaw to clear for GPS to work. Over 1000 feet of elevation change, more like cliffs than a mountainside.
So, why don't you take the jeep trail through Sections 13 and 14 and walk the Ridge Line to reach the corner instead of trying to climb the hill on foot?
Now that looks fun, are you trying to do it this fall? There can't be much time left, at that elevation we already have snow and it's a really light snow year this year.
Most years you would be out of luck by now even getting close with a rig.
Leon, looks fun to me. I am dying to get out of the office. Let me know when.
I think we have a week or two. Tell my boss that I am doing a demo...
🙂
LRDay, post: 398704, member: 571 wrote: This is the worst one I've ever run into. Need to mark the NW of the NW. I believe from the notes that the corners are there - GLO posts and caps from late 30's. Even if I get to the East 1/4 will need to take a chainsaw to clear for GPS to work. Over 1000 feet of elevation change, more like cliffs than a mountainside.
Here is link to topo (40 foot contours).
http://www.highterra.com/pdf/Section_22_Birch_Creek.pdf
Got any volunteers?
Center of Section about N39 35 15.99 W111 20 55.81. Zoom in with Google Earth and you can see the relief.
If I didn't have a day job, you could count me in to be there in a heartbeat. Looks like fun.
Jobs like that make we glad I am now a Flatlander. You need what one of the old legendary County Surveyors in the Ozarks had, his name was E. Turner, you can find his work in several Forest Service offices. He was supposed to have had a trained small mule that would follow him like a dog and carried all of his equipment. He usually set square stones for corners and the story goes that he set the largest stone his could drag up. Having found a lot of his corners I do not doubt that at all.
looks dangerous getting to the N1/4 from the canyon, cliff faces, maybe swinging to the north from the NW corner and coming back at it from the NW?
Coming at it from the NE would mean getting up above 10,000' (is that above timberline there? it would be here), might be way late for that.
I do my other jobs to feed the family waiting for these....
I've done a few of those. Planning is essential. Sometimes I just walk around the whole section. Don't forget food and water.
All you gotta do is follow the little black lines on the ground that show up in all the aerial views as you walk around the section. When two lines meet------------that's the section corner.
Kent McMillan, post: 398736, member: 3 wrote: So, why don't you take the jeep trail through Sections 13 and 14 and walk the Ridge Line to reach the corner instead of trying to climb the hill on foot?
Yeah, I've considered that route. Their is also what appears to be a ATV trail from the North up to near the ridge. Might be gated though.
The real buggar is the East 1/4. Looks like a hike up the creek from the west. The oaks, brush and aspen are real thick in there and it's quite a climb also. I doubt that the corner will be GPS able also, maybe could clear enough to make it work but would need to take a chain saw. It's at least a two person hike in if not three to get the gear in there.
LRDay, post: 398959, member: 571 wrote: The real buggar is the East 1/4. Looks like a hike up the creek from the west. The oaks, brush and aspen are real thick in there and it's quite a climb also. I doubt that the corner will be GPS able also, maybe could clear enough to make it work but would need to take a chain saw. It's at least a two person hike in if not three to get the gear in there.
Well, they aren't all one-trippers, right? Worst case is you have to set some GPSable control to tie the corner from.
?¬ corner in Hell
Finally got the corners. It wasn't pretty. All those that ??volunteered? to go are lucky they didn't.
I got the North ?¬ Section 22 about a month ago. One corner one day. Couldn't get on the property, but after over an hour speaking with the owners finally they let in in and was able to drive an ATV up their 2 mile long switchback road to near an elevation of the corner. From there a ?« hike in and back on the contour. This was the easy one.
Yesterday got the East ?¬ and the South ?¬. Picked up two other section corners along the way, just for kicks. Decided to hike it downhill from the top, sounds easy, it AIN'T.
First drove in to client property and set up a RTK base, elevation 7434. left truck there and drove back to town and had wife drive us (me and son-in-law) to the top of mountain, 10,000 feet. First for kicks corner near top (SE Cor Section 23), survey measurement says 9985 feet at 1:05 PM.
Hiked down to S ?¬ Section 23, couldn't find it, probably buried on slope, didn't need it so left it. Hiked up over a ridge and then down the ridge to the SE Cor Section 22, just for kicks, survey measurements says 9117 feet at 2:22 PM.
Headed west up and over ridge, down ridge then northerly off ridge to South ?¬ Section 22. Survey measurement says 8773 feet at 3:13 PM.
Decided to hike around contour in a northeasterly direction headed for the East ?¬ Section 22. This is the corner in Hell. Fairly dense forest of aspens and pines. Lots of fallen timber and the closer we got the steeper it got until we ended up hiking around slopes that were way to steep to go down. Finally had to go down some places literally sliding on your butt and hanging on to the vegetation to get through. Luckily no serious injury. Following the contour we came out way to high. about 1800 feet south of corner and super steep downhill to get to it. We finally got to the corner area on a slope in aspens. Someone else had been there maybe 20 years ago and cleared a strip about 30 wide and 100 feet long (east/west). Looks like they did it with an ax. I packed in a couple of band saws but we didn't need them. Not the biggest hole in the timber but barely enough. I don't think they actually found the corner. I had decided to pack the magnetic detector and that was the right decision as the post and cap was completely buried under the soil moving down slope. Took about 5 minutes with the detector to buzz it up. Survey measurement says 7998 feet at 6:27 PM.
OK, we'd hiked into Hell. I thought the hike out was going to be easy. Turns out it's harder to hike out of Hell than into Hell. We hiked downhill to the north to the creek and expected to hike down the creek to the west. When we got to the south side of the creek we couldn't get down into the creek bottom because of a vertical bank maybe 20 feet high. Finally found a spot to slide in where the water comes in from the snow melt. Once into the creek bed there was no good place to go, big boulders, willows, vertical banks on both sides. Worked our way slowly and decided to try our chances up on the slope. Did that for awhile, very steep, dropped into the creek again then back out and up on the slope. It's about 9 PM and not much daylight left. My old bones, knees and feet are really hurting bad by now, even considered overnighting it. Anyway, it's either keep going or die. We finally broke out onto a road which is the last ?¬ mile. Hiked to a cabin along the road, knocked on the door and got the very nice lady to give us some water (ran out about an hour before), and then she drove us back to the truck. It's totally dark by then, about 10 PM.
My wife says I'm not going to take on any more of these bad mountain jobs. Maybe she's right, I got to stop acting like a kid. Maybe my Ridgeline days are over.
Might post some pictures later.
Better you than me Leon!
I spent 2 hours in the field yesterday morning near Park City, walked maybe 200 yards TOTAL, and decided;
TOO HOT
TOO Brushy
TOO OLD
Loyal
One of the pleasures of getting to this age is the knowledge that we DO NOT ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO TAKE EVERY JOB that comes our way. Let the young bucks learn.
Thanks very much for posting this tale of woe and warning. Makes me a little embarrassed for the sites I have whined about at my young age.
Great finds Leon. Tell your wife that Gene says she is right, but that I know why you took the survey (and will likely accept at least one more).
And despite what Loyal says, I know he wishes he went with you (to guard the base station). 😉