Subject: first attempted hexapopper in history<br/>
Date: Jul 19, 2000 @ 21:17<br/>
Author: michael donner (michael donner &lt;m@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-631054382">early sunday morning  jane & i were heading wnw from mt mansfield  vt  &<br/>
back again toward the international mohawk  aka akwesasne  reservation for<br/>
a new quintipop try<br/>
this time a more deliberate endeavor & perhaps even a provocative one<br/>
since<br/>
besides the obvious & ordinary international trijunction point lurking<br/>
within it<br/>
namely caus2nyonqc or nyonqc<br/>
there may also be immanent at akwesasne  a couple of strange pairs of<br/>
simultaneously international & multinational point twins<br/>
<br/>
& if i seem to be trying to make multinational point twin butter out of<br/>
thin air<br/>
or a new andorra in north america<br/>
i hope you will forgive me a poor multinationally starved yank<br/>
<br/>
the more obvious of these pairs of twins are the 2 longitudinal or east &<br/>
west extremes of mohawk territory along the caus boundary line<br/>
for these points are a basis for potential or immanent trinational point twins<br/>
<br/>
the other & less obvious pair of twins mark the positions where the united<br/>
states akwesasne reservation & the canadian akwesasne reservation meet the<br/>
rest of new york &or the united states<br/>
& tho seemingly trivial  this set may nevertheless prove to be all the more<br/>
poignant & consequential<br/>
<br/>
for it seems that these latter 2 points<br/>
tho technically resolvable into the nontwins akusnyon & akusnyqc<br/>
might remain twin in mohawk eyes as akcaakusnyw & akcaakusnye<br/>
  this last  btw  in a place also known accurately as  snye quebec<br/>
because mohawk mapping suggests that the mohawks make no formal distinction<br/>
whatsoever between the ontario portion & the quebec portion of the canadian<br/>
portion of akwesasne<br/>
while international customs concessions & immigration easements suggest<br/>
that the mohawks do at least notice parts tho by no means all of the caus<br/>
international boundary running right thru the middle of their reality<br/>
<br/>
but i think the coolest thing about this final pair of points is that they<br/>
actually present the mohawk nation with an extra couple of reasonably<br/>
authentic international trijunction points proper to akwesasne itself<br/>
& they thereby promote akwesasne from a resident bystander at a<br/>
superimposed & alien international trijunction  namely nyonqc<br/>
to an actually participating member in immanent international trijunctions<br/>
& so  naturally & consequently  also  in immanent trinational points<br/>
<br/>
or that at least is the madness to my method<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
but at any rate<br/>
an earlier reconnaissance of the akwesasne area including a feeble feint at<br/>
nyonqc had been made by us spontaneously & with laughably inadequate<br/>
information a few months earlier<br/>
<br/>
but by sunday morning<br/>
as we advanced toward & eventually across lake champlain very near where it<br/>
spills north into the richelieu river & canada<br/>
i was pretty confident we had all our ducks in a row for an interesting<br/>
retry of not only nyonqc but all 5 of these rather ducky points  to be exact<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
i dont think it is possible to get jaded on 5 pointed stars<br/>
even  or especially  when awarding them to oneself<br/>
<br/>
& i grant americans may have a particular weakness for the fives not merely<br/>
because of various well known military symbols but more pointedly because<br/>
the united states today offers precisely 65 allstar multisubdivisional<br/>
points just as if these were the literal & faithful product of the 13<br/>
original 5 pointed stars<br/>
<br/>
& i swear it was not until we had reached alburg vt that the thought of<br/>
anything so rad as a hexapopper  or sexipopper if anyone likes  even<br/>
entered my mind<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
it did this via my gut tho<br/>
which said<br/>
  dude<br/>
   approaching major international trijunction<br/>
    can you dig it<br/>
<br/>
but my mind was racing maybe 100 miles ahead already prepaving & staging our<br/>
approach to the mentioned 5 most major mohawk points<br/>
  first try number 5  & then 4&3  all within the river<br/>
  & then 1&2  on land<br/>
    as enumerated & mapped earlier in message 202<br/>
  etc etc<br/>
<br/>
nevertheless several miles  & twitches of my point gut  later  my mind<br/>
finally sat up & perceived  as i saw with my eyes also  that we had come<br/>
unwittingly within eyeshot or class d photo range of nyqcvt<br/>
<br/>
janey then officiated without delay nor ado as shutterbug<br/>
& voila we had a point in the bag almost without even trying<br/>
while most people were still in bed or church<br/>
<br/>
man it was so beautiful it was almost obscene<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
& so there i was  contemplating hexapopperdom for the first time<br/>
& not out of any sense of vanity or blind ambition  mind you<br/>
but simply because<br/>
1 unexpectedly down  plus the 5 deliberate anglos to go  would after all make 6<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
a couple of hours later we were already in robert moses state park bearing<br/>
down on the westerly twin  akwesasne canada united states  tripoint  or<br/>
akcausw<br/>
but we quickly zeroed out on that approach when both of the possible access<br/>
roads ended all too soon<br/>
in a traffic circle in a thicket  & at a locked & forbidding power<br/>
authority gate  respectively<br/>
<br/>
this was seemingly bad news because it meant we had no hope of a hexapopper<br/>
unless we ventured into canada for a better angle<br/>
  or for any angle at all  really<br/>
& i do instinctively avoid customs or any other searches if possible<br/>
so this apparent setback had already upped the game stakes considerably<br/>
<br/>
but happily we could afford to save the wildest ride for last<br/>
<br/>
so we bagged class d photos of tripoints 4 & 3 in relatively rapid succession<br/>
first pointing the camera north across the st lawrence toward cornwall<br/>
island along a perceptible town & reservation boundary line<br/>
& then northwest across the same river & toward the same island but from a<br/>
bit farther downstream & very near an overgrown yet perhaps still<br/>
monumented turnpoint which i think the ibc considers as the nyqc or 45th<br/>
parallel terminus as well as the nyon or wetline origin<br/>
<br/>
& in fact the last mentioned trijunction point  more than halfway across<br/>
the river from this origin & turn point  was & is none other than nyonqc<br/>
our third point photographed & second major tripoint of the morning<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
after brunching on chinese leftovers from the night before<br/>
we next made a break for the easterly twin  akwesasne canada united states<br/>
tripoint  or akcause<br/>
but as we drew near it we were met with a veritable perturbation<br/>
<br/>
indeed it was the most disturbing thing i have ever encountered during my<br/>
many well disturbed years as a bounder<br/>
<br/>
to give a sense of it  i should explain that  in preparation for this visit<br/>
i had studied the best maps i could find<br/>
  see message 202 for the mohawk links etc<br/>
including the normally fairly reliable delorme topo atlas<br/>
& i was rather well persuaded by them  all together  that the akcause point<br/>
would lie in the thread  if any could be found  of a marshy creek perhaps<br/>
two thirds of a mile or 3500 feet east of chapman road & lying approx in<br/>
west long degminsec 74 33 26  according to my very careful measurements &<br/>
calculations<br/>
as previously detailed<br/>
<br/>
so we drove forward as far as we could & then continued on foot a total of<br/>
about 2200 feet due east into the swamp from chapman road along the<br/>
canadian side of the combined caus boundary & utility line before being<br/>
almost stopped by thickening undergrowth & lowering clouds of gadflies &<br/>
mosquitoes<br/>
but were actually stopped by shock & consternation after seeing a second<br/>
caus monument pass by on our right  as expected  but at a very unexpected<br/>
longitude  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.geocan.nrcan.gc.ca/ibc/coordinates/SECT-J-83.txt">http://www.geocan.nrcan.gc.ca/ibc/coordinates/SECT-J-83.txt</a><br/>
<br/>
since there would be no point in forging ahead into all this mess with<br/>
busted data  jane wisely snapped the shutter there & then while facing east<br/>
as i prayed for the 1300 feet of additional visibility that would be<br/>
necessary to claim this as a class d photo  at least per the delorme map<br/>
& that distance can in fact be measured here by counting utility poles<br/>
  more than 5 but less than 6 actually<br/>
since these are spaced at about 225 foot intervals along this particular<br/>
reach of international vanishing line<br/>
<br/>
& all that<br/>
assuming we could figure out why the monuments were in the wrong places<br/>
hahahaha<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
today after again rechecking my math i can tell you that it was not the<br/>
fault of the ibc nor of delorme but rather my own 41 second miscalculation<br/>
that caused the apparent perturbation or displacements of the monuments<br/>
oops<br/>
& happily i can continue to hope that our desperation shot will pan out as<br/>
a true class d pic by having the necessary 6 power poles clearly visible<br/>
within it  & that the camera was working properly  about which we shall<br/>
soon see<br/>
<br/>
my corrected best guess of the west long of akcause is btw about 74 32 45 dms<br/>
& this is roughly midway between ibc mons 758 & 759<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
still shocked & smarting from uncertainty & insect bites<br/>
we could not bring ourselves to continue proceeding directly  & thru<br/>
similar conditions plus a large apiary  due west from chapman road to the<br/>
also nearby point number 2<br/>
so we decided to tlingit & leave this most challenging try for last<br/>
& to advance directly into the wild blue yonder & over the high bridges to<br/>
cornwall ontario for our first birds eye views of the area & a retry of<br/>
akcausw<br/>
which was now in turn looking tame by comparison with point 2<br/>
<br/>
so first i ceremoniously placed my stash of contraband squarely upon the<br/>
caus line at the base of mon 760<br/>
<br/>
& then we drove over  & braved canadian customs & immigration<br/>
where we were indeed badgered & searched for an hour before being allowed<br/>
to continue our multipopper<br/>
but i was laughing inwardly the whole time to realize we were so clean as<br/>
well as so prescient<br/>
& i even managed in the end to smuggle rather than forfeit my declared<br/>
liter & a half of bourbon past the objections of one customs official<br/>
citing canadian law<br/>
<br/>
the class d photo op retry of akcausw was a pleasant ramble & a romp<br/>
& we were back in the usa at mon 760 next hour recovering the stash &<br/>
planning the final push toward what had by then become  with 5 basically<br/>
down now & 1 to go  the potential & beyond quintessential hexappoper point<br/>
<br/>
jc in her wisdom handed the camera over to me & opted for the bugproof<br/>
quietude & coolth of the truck<br/>
while i bounded out due west thru the buzzing apiary & miscellaniary &<br/>
toward a cattle pasture & distant thicket on the american side<br/>
since the canadian side was densest woods all the way<br/>
<br/>
i had made perhaps 800 of the roughly 3200 feet necessary to reach the tripoint<br/>
which was located according to delorme not far beyond the green wall of<br/>
that distant american thicket<br/>
when i was absolutely stopped by an electrified fence & a probable bull to<br/>
the west  & a very dense indeed surprisingly overgrown as well as barbed<br/>
wire fenced international boundary to the north<br/>
<br/>
i fired off what could only be called a  class f plus  photo try<br/>
meaning it had lots of wishful thinking english on it<br/>
since impenetrable woods almost certainly hid the tripoint position from view<br/>
as they almost certainly also precluded a close encounter anyway<br/>
not to mention any hope of finding an actual tripoint marker at this our<br/>
only possibly dry  & possibly marked  tripoint of the day<br/>
<br/>
& immediately i ran for cover swatting my cap at honey bees & gadflies alike<br/>
my 6 point star try at any rate  however one may call it  as jewish as<br/>
could be hoped<br/>
<br/>
m</div>