Guess the spot: Utah Edition

[RyanP]

I haven't made it that far down the canyon yet, but it's on my list.

This photo isn't of the highest quality, but it was hard capturing these majestic towers in one shot:

 

[Udink]

Unsurveyed Protracted Section 05, Township 26 South, Range 17 East, Salt Lake Principal Meridian, Utah?

 

[RyanP]

Unsurveyed Protracted Section 05, Township 26 South, Range 17 East, Salt Lake Principal Meridian, Utah?

You're up!

 

[regehr]

Unsurveyed Protracted Section 05, Township 26 South, Range 17 East, Salt Lake Principal Meridian, Utah?

is this system common knowledge???? I had to look it up

 

[RyanP]

is this system common knowledge???? I had to look it up

I admit I had to look it up too... but I kind of liked it

 

[regehr]

I admit I had to look it up too... but I kind of liked it

Dennis definitely wins some sort of award for "most oblique way to point someone to the Bowknot Bend area"

 

[Bob]

Crocodile Rock ..............

 

[RyanP]

Crocodile Rock ..............

Yeah, apparently my "majestic towers" comment didn't throw anyone off, since both Udink and you got it right away

 

[John Morrow]

A legal description/land description is the method of locating or describing land in relation to the public land survey system, which was established by law in 1785, under the Articles of Confederation.

Land is broken down into areas called townships. Townships are for the most part 36 square miles or 6 miles square. Each township is broken down into 3 6 sections; each section is usually 640 acres.

Sections in each township are numbered consecutively beginning with number 1 in the northeast corner of the township, and counting right to left then left to right and so on weaving back and forth through the sections of the township, and ending with number 36 in the southeast corner.

Surprised it is so unfamiliar. W/O electronics it is still an excellent way to establish a coord. A section can further be reduced to quarter sections and those to quarters (1/4, 1/4 thus 1/16th). We forget but satellite coords were still scrambled by military as late as 1995. Hand held GPS units were quite inaccurate then and often struggled to reach enough satellites for good triangulation. It will burn me someday but I still don't own a GPS unit or personal smart phone.

The red lines and numbers. Bold red is a change in Township or Range. A section is exactly one square mile (except when adjusted for the fact that the earth is round). Which is also one inch on a 15 minute map.

 

[Jackson]

is this system common knowledge???? I had to look it up

As you'd suspect, we use it in the legal system so we have a precise way to refer to tracts of land, usually when they're being transferred. I've never met anyone who knew the legal description for their own real estate though. Haha.

 

[Bob]

Lol.... I have used that system forever, work and play.... Ne er the newer utm crap.

 

[Udink]

Name any feature in the photo, bonus points if you can say where I was when I took the photo.

 

[Jackson]

Wish I knew it at a glance because I'd have come in with the legal description.

 

[gnwatts]

It looks kinda like the San Rafael Swell.

 

[Udink]

It is in the San Rafael Swell, just about smack-dab in the middle.

 

[gnwatts]

From Jackass Flat?

 

[Udink]

From Jackass Flat?

No, but you're in the right general area...

 

[Rockskipper]

I see maybe Bottleneck Peak, Mexican Mtn, the Books, and some of the Tavaputs in the far distance. Are you on Limestone Bench?

 

[Udink]

I see maybe Bottleneck Peak, Mexican Mtn, the Books, and some of the Tavaputs in the far distance. Are you on Limestone Bench?

Exactly! This was taken on the far eastern end of Limestone Bench, above Oil Well Draw and looking toward Mexican Mountain.

 

[Rockskipper]