When we bought our country land a year ago, we had just a vague idea of where our land boundaries lay. There were some crude markers still standing at our property corners with bright pink tape tied around it, but most were knocked down by wind, deer, and tractor. As months went by, grass, weeds and dirt covered them—it’s amazing how fast Mother Nature swallows up what is left and forgotten.

Since we plan to build a cabin in late spring, I figured it’s time to plan out some ideas on where to place the cabin. I needed to get a general idea of where my boundaries resided before moving forward with a site plan. A professional surveyor will be hired as we get closer to construction time, but for now, I decided to use a combination of Google Earth, Microsoft Bing Maps, a hand held GPS, a metal detector and a plat map to get a pretty good idea of the land borders. Since Google Earth had old outdated satellite imagery for my land, I had to use Microsoft Bing Maps and its “bird’s eye” feature to get a sharp aerial view of the property. I snapped a screenshot of the bird’s eye view and took it to the land. Once there, I used my plat map to find the first marker (my plat map used the old “metes and bounds” surveying method which basically says “from the West bend of the Pedernales River, walk 400ft to the big oak tree. Then, turn left and go 142ft to the ½” bar set in the ground”…yea…this is the old school way of doing surveying, no surprise since my property is part of an original Spanish land grant). The problem is, once I found the first marker I could not find anything else. Using my GPS (Garmin etrex Vista H), I stood over the first marker and flagged my location (the GPS accuracy in these consumer models are accurate only up to about 15-5ft. With Google Earth, I’m able to import these GPS waypoints and overlay it over the satellite image of my property. This helps immensely with pre-visualizing the boundaries of my property—but the problem is that the GPS accuracy is + or – anywhere from 15-5ft. Of course, you would never build a fence or house with that kind of variance in data, but like I said previously, this is just rudimentary for now.  On my printed satellite map, I also marked a dot on my first marker. At home, I will compare the marked dot with the GPS waypoint for even more accuracy. I would do this for all other markers I find along the way.

There was one more problem. I could not find the other markers. I walked over a certain spot about a hundred times and according to the plat map the marker was supposed to be there. I then got out my Garrett ACE 350 metal detector and after a few swings was able to locate an interesting metal contraption I hadn’t seen before. It seemed to be a piece of pipe joint that the surveyor used to mark this spot. I thought that perhaps I was mistaken and found something other than the marker, but I later was able to uncover 2 more of these things on locations identical to the points in my plat map. Some of the markers had steel spike struck in the ground with a colored cap denoting the surveyor’s name. The marker often was laying down next to it. I took my axe, sharpened the edge of the marker and hammered it back in the ground.

Before I knew it, 4hours had passed and being winter, I was losing light. I knew I had to make the long drive back to the city ….and to the rat race.   Soon, that rat race will be no more.

The iPhone compass app came in handy when searching for property boundaries

Armed with a plat map and an iPhone, I was able to find the corners of my property. As a matter of fact, I found the iPhone was more accurate than most consumer level GPS devices when it came to using perhaps the most basic of all navigational tools—the compass!

As mentioned in a previous post, my land originally came with a plat map that showed compass headings and distances between marked points on the property’s boundary. Over the years, many of the original survey markers (steel rebars, spikes, surveyor’s tape, etc) have been covered with weeds and tall grass, blown away, or moved by animals and tractors cutting the grass. Finding the markers again years later turned out to be difficult. But, with a plat map, you have some clues on where they were originally placed.  I learned that ½” rebar were often struck into the ground and marked overhead (usually on a tree branch) with surveyor’s tape that you can view from a distance. Even if the tape blew away you still had the rebar marking the spot. Usually, that rebar is marked on the plat map.

To get from point to point, read the plat map's numbers

To find my boundaries, I had to first find a starting point. According to my plat map’s legend (not shown in example), I learned that 1 rebar was planted near the street and a fence post. Then, to get from that first point to the next point, the surveyor placed some numbers on the boundary line. At first, I had no idea what was meant by 228 00’01″…until it kicked in: 228 is a magnetic compass heading in numerical degrees. We know that West is the same as 270degrees, East is 90degrees, South is 180 and North is 0 (or 360) as shown on a compass. The 228 shown on the map is a compass heading for a South West course (you can ignore the 00’01″ numbers as those are for more precise navigation that is useless with a traditional compass. We’re just trying to get an estimate of where our boundaries lie, so the 228 number is good enough for this purpose).  The 445.06′ means you walk from the first point to the next point at exactly 445.06 feet. You simply stand at the first point, lock in your compass heading (in this case, 228) and walk 445.06 feet. Chances are, that once you get to the end of 445 feet, you can look down and find a marker of some sort. I was able to find mine. Note: In an upcoming post, I’ll talk about how you can use Google Earth to help find your property boundaries, including using the ruler tool to figure out distances between 2 points.

Don’t have a traditional compass? You can use your iPhone! It comes with a compass app under the Utilities icon. Don’t have an iPhone? You can use a GPS…but I found that most of the common entry level GPS systems out there don’t display the compass numbers, only the cardinal directions like N, NW, S, SW, E, etc. What you want are numerical headings like 270, 228, 145, etc. It seems the more expensive and higher end GPS models will get you that, but, there’s no reason to buy a GPS just to use it as a compass when you could just buy a traditional “wet” compass from Walmart or nearly any camping store for next to nothing.

low water crossing

Last weekend I spent a good amount of time surveying the land. The property is part of an old German ranch that was divided into tracts a few years ago. My tract abuts a river on one side and a small ranch on the other.  The remaining boundaries of the tract open into wilderness.

When I surveyed the property’s boundary, I used a plat map provided by the seller to help me locate the steel boundary stakes struck into the ground by the land surveyor.  Never having studied a plat map before, it took me a while to understand how to read it but I got the gist of it. This particular plat map had compass headings with walking distance info from one marker to the other. Furthermore, some stakes had a colored surveyor’s tape to help you spot them from afar. However, not all of my markers could be found. As I got closer to the river, I began to get confused as to where my boundary ended.  With one finger on the plat map and both eyes scanning the ground (watching for snakes was a good idea considering we’ve had no rain for a while), I was on the hunt for my final boundary markers. I did spot a piece of orange tape fluttering on a tree branch overlooking the river. As I walked closer, I began to hear the soothing and peaceful sounds of moving water. I climbed down a small cliff and reached out for the orange tape. Sure enough, according to the plat map, this is my final boundary. I sat there in silence and just took in the sounds of the river. A few small fish can be seen swimming by. On the opposite side of the river was a nice resting spot under a canopy of trees. But, to get there, I’d have to cross the river. I was ill prepared, but rolled up jeans and boots should be enough. Were my boots water proof? I found a few sections of the river that was quite shallow—about half a foot in some parts. To my surprise, the boots kept all the water out and I had dry feet throughout….until I slipped on a large pebble and fell. Next time, I’ll bring an extra pair of dry socks.

I got a good feel for where my boundary was on one side of the tract, but I still needed to find the other side. That’s for another weekend.

80mph texas speed limit on Interstate 10

Texas recently increased her speed limit on some rural roads to 80mph–the fastest speed limit in the nation (Montana and Nevada used to have no limit on certain roads, but it was recently reduced). For approximately thirteen years (1974–1987), no speed limit in the United States exceeded 55mph. According to Wikipedia, the 80mph limit puts it just 1 kilometer less than the recommended speed on the Autobahn.

Have you seen these new signs yet? The one I am familiar with is just outside Comfort on I-10 as you head West. Apparently, Texas is now considering increasing that to 85mph, effectively putting it in Autobahn territory. Since most people tend to drive 5-10mph faster than the speed limit, will we soon be able to drive nearly 100mph on the rural highways? That would put us at the same cruise speed as some small aircraft.

Recently, I began to think of ways to move out and live full time on the property I just purchased in the Texas Hill Country. I have a great job in a bad location–Lackland Air Force Base, the South side of San Antonio. I did some tests and it currently takes me about 1.2 – 1.3hrs to drive from Lackland AFB to the property. My boss is pretty flexible and will eventually allow me to telework some days as well as do the 4 day work week (10hr days), but these new speed limits do make the move more feasible as it would save me around 10+mins of commute time.

I guess I won’t be driving my old Jeep on those 80mph roads–it shakes pretty bad once you hit 75mph….

hills, oaks, and freshly cut grass

It may have taken 4 years, but I finally did it. I found my piece of country land in the Texas Hill Country that I can finally call my own. Not only did I accomplish the dream, but I also fulfilled a few other bucket list items along the way, which I’ll share through future posts on this site. Most importantly, I’m going to share the tricks and experiences I went through, including the lessons learned when searching for rural land.

Now, with the land purchased, a new set of experiences are about to emerge: What can I do with it? What are my plans? How do I read my survey/land plat? What kind of fence should I build? Do I want a small cabin or home? What can I grow out here? What about animals? Power…what about electricity? Rain water harvesting? As you can see…the adventure is just beginning…

Interestingly, quite a bit of this land was purchased on the basis of a “romantic atmosphere” seen only in old cowboy films and serials. A German investor came over to West Texas and fell in love with the desert because there was “nothing like that back at home (in Germany)”. A German author that made a living selling fictional books about the old West and cowboys had never set foot in America! Fortunately, due to the decline of the dollar, this German author was able to buy country property and live the lifestyle he made a living off of.

On the way to Doss, with goat on the backroads

Had a lead on some “cheap” land way out in the Northern region of the Texas Hill Country and I decided to make a run for it yesterday and check it out. The drive was much longer than I thought–nearly 2 hours from Northern San Antonio to my destination of Doss, Texas. The whole drive was beautiful, but nothing could prepare me for the beauty I would see once I got to Doss.

First off, Doss is 19 miles northwest of Fredericksburg–very isolated from any city. It was founded in 1849 on an old gristmill and distillery on a beautiful creek by German immigrants. In 1960s, the population of Doss was estimated to be 22, but today it’s just a little bit bigger. Today, the “town” still only consists of a small post office, a general store, fire station, and a church.

My destination was just a few miles ahead. I was looking for 30 acres for sale according to a real estate catalog I found that deals in rural land tracts. The price was still out of my budget, but what caught my eye was how lower priced it was compared to the going rate that you usually find in this region of Texas. I decided to drive to Doss because I had never been there before, and interestingly, not one person I talked to has ever been to Doss, much less heard about the place! All kinds of creeks were overflowing and I caught a few white horses crossing the them, as well. I was also greeted by goats and loose livestock on the roads. Wow, no fences?

This was truly like how it was back in the old days. The days when animals were still wild and allowed to roam free.

Horses early morning drink

Well, it was sort of like that. there were still all kinds of fences separating tracts of land. Nonetheless, I finally got to the area that I was looking for and had to make the long drive up a hill on a gravel road. I put the truck in low gear–better traction this way. Once I got to the top, I passed a few small dogs snapping at my truck and saw a shack in the back, I guess they are not used to seeing vehicles pass this way. Once I passed the only neighbor in site, I got took a right at the fork of a road and eventually came to the top of a hill that overlooks the Texas hill country. Breathtaking….but a major problem: The land for sale was rugged–very rugged. Apparently the property is being used as a hunting tract. It was very secluded and isolated. I like isolation and being with nature, but this was too much! Pretty area, but way too much work will have to done to make it liveable and worth the 2 hour trip it took to get there.

I headed back home that afternoon and realized that this was a common theme in real estate ads — when a property is described as “good hunting area”, it means that the area is very rugged and isolated.