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 generous 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.
• 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.
• Bring a sack lunch, something portable, something that can be taken back with you when you're done with it.
• This event is a "pack-it-in, pack-it-out" idea. Please take all trash with you.
• Collecting a georock speciman is allowed.
• Cameras and video recorders are encouraged.
• Remember that this is a rustic site, so restrooms are "available" if you can find a convenient bush that you like.
• Rumor has it that the owners may have black angus ranch beef burgers on the barbie up at the site.
• Rumor also has it that the owners may have several horses for the event.

The Meeting Place, the South Gate

N 39° 12.357' W 098° 32.486'

DRIVING DIRECTIONS to reach the Meeting Place:

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

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 #1: N39° 11.472' W98° 41.666'

From Reference Point #1, take the county road to the east. It is well marked as Osborne County Road 412. Drive East for 4 miles on the good gravel road to Reference Point #2 where the main pathway of the road will curve to the left, to the north.

Reference Point #2: N39° 11.502' W98° 37.215'

From Reference Point #2, continue through the turn, taking you to the north. Drive north for just one mile to Reference Point #3, where the main pathway of the road will turn again, this time to the right, getting you to drive easterly again.

Reference Point #3: N39° 12.345' W98° 37.175'

From Reference Point #3, continue through the curve of the road and drive east for 4.2 miles to the Meeting Place.

Meeting Place: N39° 12.357' W98° 32.486'

The meeting place is a pasture gate on the north side of the road (left side). This is the south entrance to the private property where the Meades Ranch disk resides.

Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles

The posted coordinates mark the meeting place, the South Gate, 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.

The disk is over a mile from the meeting place and is accessed from a twisty curvey rough trail road. HOWEVER, attendees will get to ride (or drive) all the way there to within just a few feet to level pasture ground. So the terrain rating is pretty much insignificant for the short and easy walking part.

Lodging, Osborne County

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.

• City of Russell hotels and motels.
• Russell County Hunting and Fishing Lodges
• Russell area restaurants

Additional links for additional reading

Osborne County Chamber of Commerce talks about Meades Ranch.

Another link by the Osborne County Chamber of Commerce

What does Wikipedia have to say about Meades Ranch?

What is NAD27, and what does it have to do with Meades Ranch?

Geocaching.com listing for KG0640 Meades Ranch
http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=KG0640

View original datasheet from Geocaching.com
http://www.geocaching.com/mark/datasheet.aspx?PID=KG0640

View the OFFICIAL datasheet from NGS, the National Geodetic Survey.
1. Then click on the one item listed so that you highlight it.
2. Then click on the "Get Datasheets" button.
3. Scroll all the way to the bottom and read what organization filed the last two official Recovery Notes; that's right "Recovery Note by Geocaching".

(GC9064) Geodetic Center-as close as you get.. by barondriver

GEODETIC CENTER OF THE NATION - Kansas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Bench Marks nearest to Meades Ranch - information from Geocaching.com

Evie's personal webpage: http://eviewrayartist.blogspot.com/.

Butterfield Overland Dispatch Markers on Waymarking.com

MINGO, the oldest active geocache in the WORLD!

A shortened version of the link to this webpage: http://coord.info/GC1X9QD

Users of Geocaching.com may login and view the archived listings of previous tours of Meades Ranch: 2008, 2007.

This event is in coordination with the NSPS Geocaching Project.

REMEMBER:

• Make the fair trade.
• Log your visit.
• Leave the site better than you found it.
• Protect the environment — always.
• Educate those around you.
• Find another cache!

Good luck, and may all your cache dreams come true.
—cantuland