Several Internet sites can give you an areal view of Double Star Ranch and the surrounding areas. Because of the somewhat remote location, most will not take you to the proper location by simply typing in the address of the property. But with a little manipulating, it is not too hard to move to where the actual property is located.
Google Maps
Google Maps is the first service to recently get it right, and show the proper approximate location of Double Star Ranch when the address is typed in. The physical address can be typed in Google Maps and will take you to a pretty close match, as follows:
"10737 E. McKellips Road, Mesa, AZ"
The location it gives will be the far east end of the property, and the Red Brick House is not on the farthest east lot, as is marked by Google, but is on the lot just to the west of it. A picture of what you'll originally see is below, after clicking "Satellite."
It shows a dirt road going along the north line of the property that is no longer there, that is identified as McKellips Road. There is no McKellips Road at this location (living on a non existent street does have it problems), but Google finally just identified that former dirt road as being McKellips so addresses would come out right.
The areal view on Google is very old, and only shows the Wooden Cabin Home and the Modular Guest House on the far west end of the property, against the block wall that makes the south and west borders. Just to the east of those homes is the Big Barn and Corral, that is still there and is a part of the Red Brick House and its equestrian facilities. However, just east of that on Google maps is bare land and a riding arena, that are no longer there, and have been replaced with the Red Brick House and its back yard.
Sadly, the little "man" on Google that walks the streets and gives a street view, doesn't work up on the Ranch. Sorry, he doesn't seem to want to go on dirt roads.
Bing
Typing in that same address in Bing.com gives a wrong location, and shows a location on McKellips Road (where McKellips Road really does exist) between 103rd and 105th Streets.You'll need to grab the map and make it go further to the right, directly east, following along the bottom of the county park (Usery Park), past 106th Place, until you see a little hook of a road, that is labeled "N Signal Butte Rd" a little south of the south border of Usery Park (Usery Park shows up on the top of the map as just a gray park symbol.)
That is where you want to stop and go ahead and click the "Aerial" link, and choose "Birds Eye." This is a beautiful view of the property, and lets you see how it touches the trails of the adjoining park. You'll see trails going right to the fence of the property, and you can follow horse trails through the park, and see how they lead to the property.
It also shows that the Park has no horse entrance on the property - that's a good thing. You just take your horses south down the dirt road (Signal Butte) to where the dirt road meets the paved road (where Signal Butte Road meets Jensen Road), and there is an entrance for horses right there on the east. You never have to ride on pavement - just dirt roads and trails.
Again, this is an old picture, not showing the Red Brick House in it. But it does give a great view of the Big Barn and Corral, and the hot walker to the north. That is the red dirt ring you see right up against the Park to the north.
Maricopa County Plat Maps - Aerial Views
The most accurate aerial view is found by going to the county recorder satellite maps, and seeing the property as it currently stands.
Go to http://www.maricopa.gov/, and go to the 11th "Quick Links" down from the top, on the list on the left hand side. The 11th one down is labeled "GIS Maps and Services." Click it, and then go to the section in the middle called "ASSESSOR" and the first link under it called, "Parcel Maps." Click it, and the first time you use this service, it will need to install a MapGuide plug in for your browser (see the ** comment there, if you have questions.)
Once the installation is done (if needed), you can then click the "Parcel Maps" link, and you will see the aerial map view of Maricopa County. To get right to Double Star Ranch, go to the boxes on the right side, labeled: Book, Map, Parcel, Split. Just enter in the following numbers, including the zeros in front, and you'll get right to the Red Brick House:
Book: 220
Map: 03
Parcel: 049
Split: (leave blank)
After clicking "submit" then click "Zoom Selected." Then, to see the latest areal view, go to the left hand menu list, and scroll down until you see "Aerial Photos 2010" and click on that box. You can then zoom in by using the "+" and magnifying glass icon up top, and clicking it on the highlighted property, just once is about right. To get rid of the highlighting on the selected parcel, go to the hand and red "X" icon (second from the left) up top, and click on it.
Once zoomed in, you'll see the following, which are the two parcels that make up the available property.
Description of "What You See" at Marcopa.gov
These two parcels, shown at Maricopa.gov, and above, make up the Red Brick House (the black roof on the right) and the Big Barn and Corral (on the left) which are the land being offered for lease. The barn is the brown and light roofed building on the left going approximately north to south. The barn includes the metal roofing (the light roofing) the wood sections (on the south) and the block building sections (on the north). The west border of the leased land only goes as far as the west border of the Corral, and straight north from its upper west corner, and straight south from its lower west corner. If you count the undeeded county land that the property uses, the total land is about 375 feet north to south, by about 315 feet east to west, give or take a little, which is approximately 2.7 acres.
North of the house are several features that can be seen in this view:
- The sand play area, with play equipment, is the light gray rectangles that touch the right top end (the northeast corner) of the house. You can see the trampoline as a black circle near the house, and the other black circle to the north is not in the play area - it is a big dish satellite dish and its shadow.
- The slightly pink dirt area in the upper left corner of parcel 049, is the firepit area. It has a large deep firepit and seating with logs and wooden benches around it, and of course, a stack of firewood to the east of it. On any night, the stars over you in that area are clear and beautiful and make the firepit area one of the most beautiful spots on the property.
- The outdoor bathroom and washdown area are the little building, that looks like a shed, just north of the border between the two parcels. To the left of it (off the picture above, but viewable on the intenet site) is the hot walker. It has four speeds by way of a car transmission rigged to it (ingenious, to say the least, and installed by a former owner.) For our use, it always has swing seats on it so children can ride it like a roller coaster ride.
You can also see:
- The hay storage area is the upper right corner of the Big Barn. You can see that the roof sticks out a little at that point - it is a carport that is open for bringing the hay in and unloading it there inside the Big Barn.
- To the far northeast straight up from the east border of parcel 049, by the county fence, is the beginning of a raised floor telescope observatory. A large cement column has been poured there and goes up through the raised floor to provide solid mounting of larger telescopes. Night sky viewing is excellent at the Ranch, especially to the north and northeast.
You can get rid of the parcel numbers and lines that clutter the picture by going to the check list on the left side, up top, and unchecking boxes. Before you do, recognize that the little small strips with parcel numbers are definitely part of the deeded property. It turns out having one nice simple parcel number for property tax purposes is not going to happen - for property tax purposes, the land has been divided into different parcel numbers. Also, where the parcels with parcel numbers end, the legal deeded land ends, and the land north of the parcel numbers, up to the county park fence, though used by the home as if part of it, is not deeded (and better yet, you do not have to pay property tax on it.)
Other Possible Maps
Feel free to try yahoo maps, and any others you like. Just remember that they regularly get the address wrong. I would suggest using the Google Maps map to get your bearings and steer you right with those other map services.
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