Skyboy01

The retirement of Benchmarks is intentional and has been in the works for years. When I first began Geoing nearly 20 years ago, Benchmarks were easy to search. After a while, they were displayed in a way that made them less visible or searchable. I think Benchmarks should be kept as an option and the tab made more visible on the cache page.

On May 25, 2016 we cached this series. Wore old shoes and shorts, some ditch water was just over my knees. Most were dry or only a few inches of water. Typically, December is a more dry month, however this is a wet area so expect some water year round.

I am using a 3/16" dia 8" long screwdriver. I saw that Harbor Freight sells a pair of 22" long screwdrivers for $4.99 that I may purchase. Longer sounds better but when I was using a 10" long 1/4" dia screwdriver, often I couldn't penetrate the soil to that depth. Rocks and roots do make probing more dfficult. When my garden trowel doesn't do the job, I have a small 2 foot shovel that is great for digging.

I appreciate the stats on MY page as I can verify the accuracy of those numbers. The numbers I happen to see on other cachers pages mean little to nothing to me because I know nothing of their accuracy or validity. My numbers are just an indicator of the fun and adventure that I have had.

In my opinion, the cheating going on within Geocaching pales in comparison with that going on in Benchmarking. Maybe, that is why Geocaching.com has just about killed Benchmarking all together. Many BM logs are clearly logged in error. Usually someone sees a BM while out caching and then goes home and logs a find on the "nearest" BM to the cache coords. They almost always fail to post a clear photo of the BM to document the find. Posted photos often clearly document that the BM "find" is not the one being logged. The BM on top of Mt. Mitchell, NC was destroyed over 5 years ago when a new visiting area was constructed but people are still logging a find the BM that is not there. In the past, this behavior got me upset. Now, I just shake my head at the ignorance. Geocaching.com is providing a gaming experience but they are not a policing body. the cheaters are just cheating themselves and at some point will tire of the lie. Happy caching and benchmarking. You get out of it what you put in it.

No. But to some it is a challenge. More power to them.

I have seen a number of caches placed on public right of way directly across from a house or business. Too many cache owners are so intent on placing a cache that they neglect to apply common sense logic about it's location. They fail to think about the number of cachers (strangers to the neighbors) who will show up at all hours doing funny things on the side of the road. Due to events of the last decade or so, everyone is now suspicious of "strangers" doing weird things nearby. Can we blame them? Can't help but think that some of the blame has got to be on the shoulders of the cache owner.

N35 43.506 means 35 degrees north of the equator plus 43 minutes and 506 thousands of a minute. A degree equals 60 nautical miles. A minute equals 1 nautical mile. A nautical mile is 6080 feet. These distances don't work for E or W longitude because those lines converge as the lines go north or south of the equator. There are many different lat/long formats but this is the one used at Geocaching.com for caching. Most GPS's can be set to any on of several formats.

As a premium member, I have no problems with using c:geo on my Android phone when I am out and decide to do some umplanned caching. I normally use my 60CSX or 62s for my hunting. I tried several other apps including the "official" one but like c:geo best.

Oct 2013, I too was on the ET trail. On day 3, my 62s would start to boot up and then power down after about 15 seconds. Tried everything and had to resort to my backup, 60CSX. Got home and called Garmin, they tried online fix with a no go. So, sent it in with lots of cash and they sent me a new one. It works great. I think that lots of 62's had this problem. I did not use GSAK. I had downloaded all files directly from Geocaching.com.

How long before Benchmap will be available to the rest of us? I am getting excited just thinking about the opportunity to give it a shot.

A while back, geocaching.com had a suggestions area on the forum. I asked that they display nearby Benchmarks on a map as they do geocaches. My suggestion fell on deft ears and the suggestions area disappeared. If a map displaying nearby Benchmarks were available, I think more people would hunt them and it would make my hunting simpler. At one time, I had found more Benchmarks than geocaches.

It looks to me that some people with sour grapes hang around just to gripe. So what if the site is making money. So what if there is a Premium Member option. So what if there is no free lunch. If you don't like the site, go elsewhere and complain about that site for a while.

I like benchmarking as well as geocaching. I do not do Waymarking. Each offers it's own challenge and rewards. After looking for micros, it is a nice change of pace to look for a benchmark. Many of the benchmarks in the 10 year old data base are missing or paved over. It is disappointing to run across benchmarks that are not in the Geocache data base. I do not log on the NGS database. Skyboy01

Go to your last found cache and see if your find is there. If it is, your find number should have been updated accordingly. I have always compared my find numbers with the stats here on site and have never found an error in posting that was not my fault. Usually, I checked "post message" or something instead of "Found". Just had to go back and edit my posting. I keep paper copies and record the find number on the sheet. Good luck. Skyboy01

Your Garmin should have come with a USB cord to connect it to a computer. Ask the owner about it. The gps end of the plug looks like the charging end of my Motorola V3M cell phone.

Florida's 2000 Center of Population is not geographically correct. The stone tablet says the actual center is 10.6 miles away east of Lake Buffum but that point is not easily accessible so it was placed in downtown Fort Meade. Now, to figure out how to post a photo. Skyboy01

Here in Florida, you must contact the designated Parks and Rec person and then comply with the info requested. Even so, it may take as much as 6 weeks to get the required permission. However, I'm told that the local Parks person is slower than most.

I use chalk to highlight the benchmark id letters/numbers. Just rub the piece of chalk across the letters a few times and wipe across the surface with a folded paper towel. Easy to carry, easy to use. Skyboy01