so i hit the library to make the topo prints
foolishly neglecting to copy the amkesh aerial pic as
well
&
soon pulled in at the farmhouse shown just northwest
of the mysterious ctny marker 24
it being the only suspected classmate of amkesh aka
ctny marker 32
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4635788&e=624333&s=25&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
where i chanced to meet the resident quarryman &
farmer of the dell
his spread is actually named border valley stone &
mulch
rather poetically i thought
& i immediately gifted him the topo of his property
since i no longer needed it
& after his questioning & my presenting my bona fides
as a tripointing & state line nut
we continued to hit it off
& he soon realized & explained he knew this marker
well
& helped me to it
it turned out to be a perfectly ordinary 1909 model
numbered only 1909
& with nowhere a 24 on it nor any other clue to its
purported 24ness
albeit partially hidden by the state line hedgerow
so no wonder i missed seeing it from the road on the
previous pass btw
& what a rude awakening it was also
from any exotic dreams of finding an 1860 or 1731
model there
as well as from any hope of solving the numbering
aspect of the amkesh puzzle with its help
& no encouragement to think the amkesh marker any
different
or any more special
even if it was one of the few known ctny tritown
markers
but this border valley guy soon also revealed he also
knows & loves an older monument nearby too
which he explained he had personally replanted as best
he could after it fell out of a stone wall he was
removing at the time
& offered to show this one to me too
which he soon did
in the cow pasture on the other side of the stone
works
it is not shown on the topo
& is about halfway back toward the roadstone on route
343
& sure enough an 1860 model
voila & eureka
just like the fragments scattered about the ctmany
tristate marker
but entire & standing nearly erect in the pasture
very likely the last survivor of its class in the
world
a simply elegant 2 to 3 foot tall rough marble
obeliskoid inscribed only ny in serify caps on one
side & ct in same style but upper & lower case on the
other side
numbering as well as everything else conspicuously
absent
worth returning for a pic some day
but again no help solving the amkesh mystery
& far from being a show stopper
this extraordinary find only catapulted me back or
onward toward amkesh again
which was actually only a few miles farther south from
there
but this time with the topo actually in hand
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4627724&e=624018&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
& no matter that i had forgotten the aerial pic &
still didnt have gps
for how could i miss now
& how hard could this be anyway
when i pulled back into my regular parking spot on
clark hill road
i found the amazing portent of a whole herd of deer
mixing with a whole flock of turkeys
all just grazing & waiting for me there in the meadow
& i snuck back in thru my customary holes in the fence
& bushes
inching my way toward them all
funny how returning for a retry helps you feel like
you own the place
which of course you do
seeing as the world really is equally free for all
or so they all seemed to be saying
but i found having the topo actually in hand &
available for checking every detail this time
& the sun actually visible in the sky for navigation
really were a great help & reassurance
the foregathered multitude eventually caught wind or
sight of me
& soon scattered in all directions
rather many of them actually leading the way for me
toward amkesh
as honor guard
quite a sight & a treat
soon after i passed the second brook again
i realized that my earlier try without navigation aid
had indeed gone seriously awry at about that point
& my straying so badly from the mental map just there
in the final few hundred feet of the approach
which had then actually caused me to veer a good deal
too far east & straight up the hill i had actually
needed to skirt at that point
was owing to the fact that the trail was actually
heavily intersected & braided in that area
& as i had really had no clear recollection of the
topography at that point
i had simply picked up & followed the wrong thread
the 15 year old sky pic is misleading too in so
clearly showing only a single trail
& in not at all suggesting the present state of
reality
which is that it is necessary to pick ones way from
among many trails
but i congratulated myself for having come so far &
gotten so close on so little anyway
& rejoiced to think i still had good prospects for
scoring class a
but again when i came to retry the now somewhat
revised target area
based on the now visible topo & my recollection of the
sky pic
& i scoured the neighborhood for any of the above rock
styles among possibly others
there was again nothing to be found
i checked my bearings & measurements from both the
point where the gas pipeline crosses the creek & the
point where its next cresting to the south is depicted
then doublechecked my measurements & topography
& finally even triple checked them
after success proved elusive again & again at 550 foot
range
& yikes did i feel silly for neglecting to bring the
sky pic again this time
bewilderment set in once again
& at length a decision to suspend the try & head back
to the truck
but
at the final extremity of my one last foray to the
south
which i made impulsively just in case & for good
measure
as i said to myself
& at a point i well knew was already 150 or 200 feet
too far south
based on my several careful measurements from the topo
there i finally found what i concluded must be the
amkesh marker
hiding in a clump of larger rocks
unexpectedly it looked nothing like either a 1909 nor
an 1860 model
but in fact a moss covered concrete obeliskoid
somewhat midway between these 2 styles
& probably somewhat midway between these dates too
with a dimple at the apex into which i could & did
stick a pinky halfway
no inscription apparent at first
closer scrutiny revealed a single 2 digit number high
on the south face
great excitement
but i couldnt read it with my eyes
& only with my fingertips did i realize the first
digit was indeed a 3
greater excitement as i groped to fill in the expected
deuce to its right
& the second digit was
my fingers soon realized
not a 2
tho i was by then almost certain it would be
but a 5
yikes
no doubt about it
a 35 rather than a 32
hahahahaha
of no known style
hahaha
& on the state line ok but clearly not quite in the
right place
so a mixture of exultation & renewed befuddlement
at this point all i can think of is that this most
gratifying & special find might actually be a kesh
marker rather than any ctny marker per se
so to test that possible explanation
i will try for another kesh marker somewhere else next
most likely at the other terminus
or rather on the riverbank just beside the tripoint
cokesh
aka cornwall kent sharon
in the middle of the housatonic here
http://topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4627488&e=632090&s=25&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
since no other kesh rocks but the amkesh baby are
shown on the topo
& since kesh is evidently a single geodesic line with
perhaps as few as just these 2 markers to find it by
but that
& my notification of the kent & sharon tax assessors
offices that their entire border demarcation is very
likely seriously screwed up
will have to wait for book v
on my way back out i was overtaken by a local
landowner on an orv with a shotgun mounted on front
who was fortunately not at all bothered by my
tresspassing & who had just seen a 6 foot bear a few
hundred yards still farther to the south
a few minutes later as i reached the jumpoff area once
again
one last vine stretched out & detained me for a moment
longer before i could extricate myself & get back to
the van
as if to say thanx again for the visits & memories on
behalf of all of us veggies brooks clouds rocks &
other critters
--- aletheia kallos <aletheiak@...> wrote:
> but actually in reverse order since the latter may
> be
> a show stopper
>
> especially seeing as i havent yet procured gps
> anyway
>
>
> have also realized they both might be neither 4foot
> tall 1909 models nor 2 to 3foot tall 1860 models
> but yikes 1731 models
>
> this is a very low to the ground style
> & thus highly elusive
> as we have seen at the former ctmany tripoint
> aka the missing pointy tip of the sw corner of
> massachusetts
> where the only known 1731 example nevertheless
> survives
> & which is today entirely in ny
>
> but first to the cornwall free library to print the
> topos
>
> beeps
>
>
>
>
>
> Re: out looking for us2ctny3duli4amkesh
>
> many thanxxx mike
> glad you liked it
> & am encouraged by your interesting convergence of
> dates there too
>
> i guess the whole neighborhood got a burst of
> development during this period
>
>
> also
> after posting the full color google satpic
> i recalled the black & white terraserver images are
> actually much better
>
http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=12&Z=18&X=779&Y=5784&W=1&qs=%7ckent%\
> 7cct%7c
> & this one clearly indicates the tripoint location
> some 50 yards east of the pipeline trail rather than
> in the middle of the imaginary clearcut
> & a similarly short distance south of a distinctive
> sharp bend in the trail
>
> so with these improved data i ought to be able to
> zero
> in better
> even without necessarily resorting to gps
> & will retry both markers 32 & 24 & report back soon
>
> --- spookymike@... wrote:
>
> > Mike: Nice writeup. I entered the coords of
> the
> > marker you were seeking
> > on the USGS benchmark site
> > (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_radius.prl)
> > using a radius of 2.0 miles and found writeups for
> > several markers, some of 1860s
> > vintage. Unfortunately, there was no listing at
> > the coords of your marker.
> > Three markers, namely Clarks, Hitchcock, and
> Lambert
> > all date to the 1860s,
> > and from the descriptions, may be recoverable even
> > today. Good hunting.
> >
> > Mike Schwartz
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 5/15/06 12:22:09 PM,
> > BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com writes:
> >
> >
> > > Message 1
> > > From: "aletheia kallos" aletheiak@...
> > > Date: Sun May 14, 2006 7:15pm(PDT)
> > > Subject: Re: out looking for us2ctny3duli4amkesh
> > >
> > > in a nutshell
> > > the prize was elusive & i am still recuperating
> a
> > day
> > > later
> > >
> > > but the full report & retry plan may be of some
> > > interest
> > > so i will proceed with that or them below also
> > >
> > >
> > > the only thing is
> > > having multiplied myself in earnest by at least
> > 2006
> > > as you may already know
> > > i find i am enjoying simultaneous enthusiasms at
> > the
> > > moment for several other things as well
> > > so i will give only a foreshortened complete
> > report
> > > for now
> > >
> > > but will of course add more detail if it is
> indeed
> > of
> > > any interest to anyone but me
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > tho my approach to the jumpoff point less than a
> > dozen
> > > miles from home was complicated by getting lost
> on
> > > back roads en route to it
> > > as well as by my decision to make the try
> without
> > any
> > > navigation aids
> > > i did finally reach & recognize the preselected
> > > parking place
> > > where clark hill road crosses the state line
> > > as shown on the topo that may still be linked to
> > the
> > > original post here near the bottom
> > >
> > > the large clearing depicted was in reality
> fenced
> > &
> > > posted but deserted
> > >
> > > & the underground gas pipeline was indicated &
> > signed
> > > with additional warnings
> > >
> > > i parked on the road just east of the standard
> > 1909
> > > ctny roadstone that i was not at all surprised
> to
> > find
> > > there protruding about 4 feet above the ground
> as
> > is
> > > typical
> > >
> > > the driveway that is depicted heading southeast
> > from
> > > clark hill road alongside the pipeline was gated
> &
> > > locked
> > >
> > > but thru an unexpected break in the barbed wire
> &
> > > bushes
> > > i managed to pick my way into the broad clearing
> > > which i took to be or to include the pipeline
> > clearcut
> > > & which led me easily southward just inside
> > > connecticut toward where the topo shows the
> > clearcut
> > > narrowing & starting its descent & zigzag course
> > > across the state line
> > >
> > > but in fact the clearing doesnt narrow there
> into
> > > anything remotely like the deforested cut
> depicted
> > on
> > > the topo
> > >
> > > for the topo is flat wrong about that
> > > as a later peek i got at the google satpic also
> > > confirmed
> > >
> >
>
http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.799343,-73.498278&spn=0.031417,0.058537&t=h&
> > > om=1
> > >
> > > but instead of leading to any such narrow
> clearcut
> > > the cleared area simply ends at about that point
> &
> > > feeds there into a woodland trail that does
> > however
> > > pretty much follow the depicted pipeline route
> > >
> > > & tho it zigzags a good deal more than the
> > pipeline
> > > depiction does
> > > i could follow it without difficulty across both
> > of
> > > the brooks shown
> > > exactly as i had expected to be able to follow
> the
>
=== message truncated ===
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