thefourB's

The arrow was big enough that I could not get the entire thing into a picture - plus it was curved to follow the countour of the top of the ridge, so that also kept me from getting into the frame. Google Earth does not have high enough resolution in this area to see it, plus there are a lot of trees/vegetation grown up around the arrow. Maybe Ernmark or gnbrotz will post the dimensions and pics they have so you can get a better idea of the size and how it looks with less stuff growing up around it.

I am a trail overseer for several sections of the Mid State Trail and decided to go out today and paint the blazes on a five mile road section from the top of Tussey Mountain down into the town of Williamsburg, PA. I have been meaning to do this since Spring, but just had not taken the time to do it yet. Since I was going to be right in the area, I decided to do some benchmark hunting and search for KX2220 Instead of trying to go on all the old forest roads described in the datasheet, I decided it would be easier to park at the top of Tussey Mountain where the MST comes off the top of the ridge and starts down the road walk. It was only about 1/3 of a mile from there to KX2220. I walked down the road about 2/10 of a mile and found a good spot to head into the woods to find the benchmark. I had a pretty easy time finding it - my GPS lead me right to it. Here are pictures of the disk and two reference markers: Just before arriving at the benchmark, there is a concrete airway marker on top of the mountain. I had no idea what this was when I read the description of the station's location. I figured that I may not even find it on the way to the benchmark. However, there was no way to miss it. Although the edges were overgrown by weeds a bit, you could make out the entire marker. I took a couple of pictures, but could not get a picture of the entire thing from tip to tail because it arched in the middle to follow the contour of the ridge top and they were generally about 70 feet long. With the sun right overhead, the arrow is kind of hard to make out in the pictures, but you can definitely see it there. When I got home, I did some research on what this arrow was for and really learned quite a bit. I found several old threads on the forum here and some great websites with the history of these things. Had I known there were signal towers over these and sometimes a generator shack, I would have looked more closely to see if I could see where they once stood. Maybe I will have to make a trip back out to check that out sometime. From the websites I looked at, my guess is that this marker was part of the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg route, since a straight line drawn on a map goes within a couple of miles south of this spot. I would love to know if there are other markers around - I know they were usually place about 10 miles apart, but I would need some better idea of where exactly to look. I plan to do some more research to see if I could find the location - I'm pretty sure there are none with a PID that are close to this one. Finding something like this is part of what I really like about benchmark hunting. I went out looking for the benchmark and wound up getting a history lesson on the early days of air travel in the US.

Thanks to everyone who posted. At some point, I might try to get my hands on a metal detector and do some more searching in the rock pile at the bottom of the cliff. I think this will have to wait until later in the fall, as a friend of mine who is familiar with this location said there are lots of rattlesnakes and copperheads around in the summer.

Matt, Thanks for the response. I did have my compass adjusted for declination, so I think that is OK as well. I did not have the chance to find the azimuth mark. It is located a couple of miles away just up from Water Street on Old Route 22. That is a find for another day!

I am new to benchmark hunting and geocaching , but have always enjoyed being outside whether it be bike riding, hiking, or fishing. I'm not sure what it is about benchmark hunting, but there is something about it that fascinates me. When I was a kid, my grandparents lived by the railroad and I used to take walks along the tracks with my grandfather. I can remember how neat it was finding the benchmarks along the tracks near where they lived. It was such a nice day on Sunday, that I decided to go out and try to find KX2181. This is located on the top of a nearby mountain that they used to quarry rocks for use in the brick yards at Alfarata - just outside Alexandria, PA. The quarry is now part of state game lands. The gravel road leading to it is right across from the Alexandria trailhead for the Lower Trail - a Rails-To-Trails that goes approximately 17 miles through Williamsburg and almost to Canoe Creek State Park along the former PA Canal and PA R.R. path. The Mid State Trail (a wilderness hiking trail stretching from MD to NY) also runs right through this area as well. Although the road in the Station Description does go the entire way to the top of the mountain, it is gated off about 2.4 miles after you turn off the paved road. From there, it is about a two mile hike to the site of the station. All along the way, there are side trails which used to be part of the rail system used to bring the rock down the mountain to the brick yards. Once I got to the top of the road, the toughest part was bushwhacking up over the rocks to get the last hundred feet or so to the cliff side and the location of the station. The view from the top was amazing. Here is a shot of the view: I was able to find RM 1 and RM 2 immediately. Although the description says they project only 2-3 inches out of the ground, they were much higher than that. Here are pics of both reference marks: Now comes the interesting part. I got out my tape measure and started to look for the station mark, which should have been about 24.5 feet away from RM 1 and 15 feet from RM 2. The distance measurements took me to near the base of a small tree . I looked all around but did not see the station. Then I saw the azimuth coodinates in the box score and figured I would need to use them. This was my first time trying to locate a station mark by using the reference marks, but I did remember that the azimuth in the box score was always measured from the station mark. After fumbling around trying to remember from reading on this site and my high school geometry class, I finally remembered to add 180 to the RM 1 measurement and subtract 180 from the RM 2 to get the proper azimuth for each. So I got out my compass and stood over RM 1 to sight the azimuth. Here is a picture of the scene: As you can see by the location of the red arrow, the area where the station mark should have been was gone. You can just see RM 2 in the upper right part of the picture - partially obscured by the tree branches. I rechecked my calculations and took a reading from RM 2. Here is a picture from there that shows the area where the station mark should have been much more clearly. Finally, here is a picture standing directly over where the edge of the cliff is now located looking down toward where the station mark used to be. The last reported find was in 1973 by the NGS. I am guessing that since then the cliffside eroded and the station mark either slid down the cliff to the quarry floor below, or someone pulled it out of the ground once the cliff started to give way and before it got to the condition it is now. I even went down to the area below the cliff and made my way about halfway up the slide area to see if by chance the marker was there and sticking up out of a pile of rocks. I was kind of hoping I would find it - although I knew that the chances of that happening were probably extremely small. Even though I did not find exactly what I went looking for, I had a great time and wanted to share it with the forum members here. Since this was my first try at finding a missing station mark by using the reference marks, I was kind of hoping some of the more experienced benchmark hunters would respond to the post and let me know how I did and if my conclusion makes sense. Also if you agree that the station mark is gone, should I make a report to the NGS as "not found" and include some pictures so they can verify? This is a really great forum and I enjoy spending time here reading the posts. I have learned so much in such a short time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Just Testing