Jump to content

Spoo

+Premium Members
  • Posts

    406
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Spoo

  1. 1. 75% of the time by myself. 2. It depends on the mark. Long hikes and mountain climbs, I prefer the company. 3. Four others. And yes, they continue to a small degree. 4. The old marks found on mountain tops that I have found have always been with others (except one). It is far more enjoyable to share it with others. 5. YOU, Shirley ! Oh....we can bring John too......if we have to......I guess. As for most spectacular view......good idea....but very much a personal type of view point will always be a bias in the decision.
  2. Just recently, I went to look for a BM on a near by Mountain top. The original NGS directions were easy to follow and I ended up in front of a very remote farm house, at least a mile from any other dwelling. I walked up the driveway to ask permission to cross the property. A woman came out and asked if she could help me. I explained that I was looking for some survey Benchmarks .......and she stopped me there and told me I could not cross her property. To make a long story short, she eventually understood who I was and what I was doing and allowed me access. She thought I was a surveyor for a near-by housing project going in...... It seems she had just gone through a nasty divorce and her husband got about 400 acres of land. He was now building a housing project (20 or so places) all abutting her land. She of course, was trying to make things as difficult as she could for the myriad of contractors involved. I guess I don't blame her.
  3. Take the amount of currently recovered Benchmarks and divide that number by the amount of active Benchmark Hunters. That is how many different ways there are of getting to the mark. Seriously: I never knowingly go on Private Property without owner permission. One case, I had to return to the place three times before locating the owner. It may be a pain, but I have never been denied permission and have always been thanked for my consideration. In some cases, the owner even wants to help find it or point it out. On Public Property like a park or common, I would never get my shovel out and start digging. Alongside roads and abandoned RR's, I just help myself. It helps alot to wear an orange vest and carry NGS data sheets (not just GC.com)on a cliboard. I often leave the data sheets and topo maps with Private owners. They get a real thrill out of seeing their property on a map and the write up that goes along with it. As for looking in cities: I try to look like I know what I am doing and not be suspicious. If someone does ask what you are doing, tell them "I am trying to determine which of these buildings are going to have to come down during next years road widening project."
  4. Probably you all know this but I did not. I'll put it up here anyways in case someone else has missed this. When you find a Benchmark description on the GC.com site, it gives you the option to click on the original data sheet. When you do this, it DOES NOT transport you to the data sheet that is currently on the NGS site. It is the original data sheet from NGS as procured from them by GC.com several years ago. As such, you will not be getting the latest NGS info.
  5. K-C4 Welcome aboard! Look, some of my most exciting finds were marks that were reported as NOT FOUND. I have also had my share of, "Yeah I cannot find either", but the thrill of finding a mark that someone else did not is fantastic. My advice is to look for them. It may seem like a disappointment, if you do not find the mark, but your time and effort to the Benchmark community is always appreciated. Just make sure you log your results on GC.com, A NOT FOUND is not a bad thing !
  6. ArtMan: I have been trying to find the disk that you showed a picture of above. Maybe I am an idiot, but I cannot find anything in the system that defines that disk. (ART'S BENCH MARK) Is it just a very clever computer-art done by you?
  7. Jeremy: Thank you very much for your answer. Not only were you helpful and responsive but you did so in a way that an idiot like me could follow! Excelsior!
  8. To: TPTB at GC.com I am computer illiterate, so I beg that you keep your answers simple for me. I am just curious how you folks handle the large amount of traffic that we generate. There are THOUSANDS of us using your system, and besides your own programs you are storing untold amounts of our logs and pictures. Can you explain your system to a dummy like me with a mere 100 words? How much memory do you folks have available to you? How much physical space does your system(s) take up? How many incoming data lines do you have to have to run an empire like this? Just curious.
  9. seventhings: You mean like this? H 33 EDIT NOTE: With permission of Deb Brown, this is now worn as a belt buckle!
  10. StripeMark: Speaking only for myself.......My above stated disk that was snapped off from the stem, I left lying in place and put the rock back on top. I then reported 'the facts' and pix to Deb Brown to let her make the call. In this case, I was not interested in owning the disk. In two case where disks rotted out or were pulled out and I did want them, I reported the facts and pix to Deb and then asked for the disks BEFORE taking them. In both case she told me to go ahead and take them. Let's see what our peers have to say...........
  11. Never mind.....I see what my error was.
  12. See OC2772 for details. On top of Whales Back Mountain, at the very peak, the Maine- New Hampshire border occurs. This is one of my favorite finds of all time. The main station was found under a Cairn: And the view was magnificent! Spoo
  13. Benchmark Cachers ? Am I missing something here? I am not familiar with this use of terms. EDIT NOTE: Cacher, by definition, is someone that hides things. I do not know of anyone that hides Benchmarks.
  14. I am as quick to log a DNF as a FOUND. A DNF may be as important to someone as a FOUND. I think I have three documented Destroyed's listed. I am equally quick when I have a DNF to put down whether I think the mark is really here or not and why I have that opinion. I am always the first to assume that I may not be looking in the right place but will spell out why I think I might be. I do not think anyone here accuses me of cheating. If I was, I would not have a 169 FOUND for my 235 logs. (A mere 72% success rate) I do have my share of unphotographed logs. I just trust people will recogonize from my logs whether I have been there or not. In fact, on a one week vacation in August, I went out of my way to look for three PID's that are kinda hopless. Each was a nail in the root of a tree from the 1920's. I listed all of them as a DNF. (Of ourse, they would have been a real feather in my cap if I found them.) Maybe someone with a metal detector will have better luck ! I acknowledge that they may still be there. As for listing the numbers.....I do like looking at them. I am not a #1 in any category nor will I ever be. But it is immense fun to watch my peers climb up and down the charts and see the kind of effort they give. Please keep it up, holograph. (By the way, does anyone know what has happened to Colorado Papa?)
  15. In June of this year in one of the threads in this forum, I reported my recovery of OC0051 and its mysterious recovery by the DoD in 1978. I may now have the rest of the story. Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, located in Wiscasset, ME had to have a steady way of receiving nuclear material and disposing of nuclear waste. About 1975, a section of the Canadian National (and St Lawerance and Atlantic RR) was abandoned that basically travelled up the coast of Maine. Two inhabitants of the town of Pownal (where I found the disk) that I have talked with, one a selectman during the 1970's, told me that the nuclear materials for Maine Yankee began to run on this line in the late 70's. They tell me that the DOT and RR officials came into town for a special meeting to assure everyone of the safety that would be involved and that no one need worry. (evidently Nuke symbols were placed on the outside of the cars for all to see). So.....maybe the DoD (and other entities) had surveyed and inspected the abandanoned line for security and integrity before hauling the goods. I have since looked and have been able to find on the NGS site, a string of these DoD inspected marks between Portland and Lewiston and then heading off to the Northeast towards the coast along this RR line. There have never been any military installations in that direction and I doubt that the Bath Iron Works facility has ever done any Nuke business. This RR line once again appears to be inactive although in very good condition.
  16. This is an FYI only, for everyone. In regards to the above mentioned EXTREME station discussion, I happened to remember something. On 18 September 2004, with the permission and assitance of the Airport Commissioner, I looked for all the marks associated with the Eastern Slopes Regional Airport in Fryeburg, Maine. Some were found but all the recently placed rod types are not at their reported sites. This includes AJ8134 known as B20 C. It is listed as the newest mark in the state of Maine. The Commissioner informed me that due to airport expansion, the rod marks had all been either buried or pulled. They were located directly off both ends of the runway. Since AJ8134 does not exist on the GC.com site, I was not able to post a note or DNF. Not knowing enough about the actual details (buried or lost or destroyed or maybe we weren't looking in the right spot) I did not file a report with NGS. It is possible that this mark does not exist.
  17. What a great find, overrover! BRAVO ZULU ! (and by the way, I hope your enthusiasm is NEVER quashed.) As for filing with NGS, I will defer my remarks to that of others here. I am not sure that I do it correctly myself. Keep up the good work!
  18. Like Harry......I am sure I have already bragged every time I have a GREAT FIND..............my mountain top finds: the 1853 brass pin, 1858 drilled hole and 1876 chiseled triangle that wasn't recovered since the day it was put in. I have lost track of the amount of 1930's marks I have recovered but am especially fond of the one that neither NGS nor USPSQD could find, or the mark along with the entire bridge that the ME DOT could not find. But lets be honest......that mark we have all found that was just down the street but took 6 attempts over 12 months to find........that is also a GREAT FIND !
  19. My second cache found on my very first day of caching, had been flooded and wet. I alerted the owner via e-mail. 1.7 years later, people are still recovering the cache and complaining that it is wet. Evidently, the reviewers do not watch every retrieval. Evidently not enough of us have complained to the owner. Evidently other cachers do not read the logs about it being wet. It just keeps getting found. So I am not sure how much of a problem it is that a cache is wet and its owner does not take care of it.
  20. Today, I went looking for two Mountain top Triangulation Stations and an associated Azimuth Mark. (Found all three.....YAYYYYY!) I have found many brass, copper and bronze marks......no known aluminum or Titanium.......but what is this disk material? OC2706 It is very black and I do not think the black is associated with age. Could it be Anodized Aluminum or a form of Black Oxide finish? Just curious.
  21. DaveD and Bill93........thank you for the corrections. Once you pointed out my error, I think I recall this coming up on the forums before. ArtMan, thanks for the simple and easy conversion reminder. I guess what I was really getting at was could I assume that if I am standing at a point that my GPS says is correct, could I assume that I am within a 6 foot radius of the correct spot. It sounds like the answer is yes. (yeah, I know.....I have all 12 satellites locked in, one WAAS, stood there for 15 minutes without tree cover, had the correct tail wind, and the Zodiac is in my favor) (those assumptions were a given also)
  22. Please let me know if my assumptions here are correct. I have been working under the following: If travelling straight East-West on the equator, or if travelling true North-South on any line, then the following rules apply: One Minute = One Nautical Mile = 6,076 feet. One degree = 60 Nautical Miles. Therefore using NAD 83: X1 XX.XXX = 364,560 feet XX X1.XXX = 6,076 feet XX XX.1XX = 607.6 feet XX XX.X1X = 60.76 feet XX XX.XX1 = 6.076 feet
  23. Spoo

    Ngs Server Down?

    Friday, September 02, 1600 hrs EST. I agree. I seem to have been able to download my data.
  24. I just got back from a 76 mile round trip hunt. (Looked for 7 PID's, found 4). My 10 year old Jeep gets about 22 MPG. But this was a special day. A Geocacher by the name of Stonedust contacted me and asked if I could show him some of the ins and outs of BM hunting. We need someone besides me in this area! We had a great and typical time. Five Tri-stations all with AZ marks but only two of them having their own PID's. We found 3 of the Stations and 1 of the AZ's. Hopefully we will start seeing Stonedust as a regular contributor to the BM site and to this forum.
×
×
  • Create New...