Klemmer

Yep, only met John & Shirley once last time we hunted (well, it was a couple days). Although, I think Fossillady & I met at a geocaching event in SoCal before she moved out to Borrego Springs. Didn't we? In any case, I think it it might be "meeting" on line. You get an idea about the person (not appearance, but personality!), and you are more comfortable with each other when you do meet. Hmmmm.... I guess I'm not the first to think of that, huh? I suppose this is the basis for many of the"social networking" websites. Not that I'm on any of them. See you guys in April!

Be sure to DISABLE WAAS if you are outside the "Coverage Area" which actually related to the ground portion of the system's coverage. For example, if you are in South America, you could still receive the WAAS signal (from the geostationary WAAS satellites), but the ground portion of the system will be WRONG, and may make your position worse. Some GPS receivers know this, some don't. Turn it off outside North America to be sure. (Note: Yes, other countries (Europe, Japan, others) will soon have operational WAAS-like systems, but unless you know what you are doing, are sure about their operational status, better turn WAAS off.)

With Delorme Topo USA and for a $30 annual subscription to Delorme's database, you can get all the USGS DOQQ, Color DOQQ and HI-Res 133 City aerial maps. Best deal in town. Oh yeah, also all the USGS Topographic 1:24K Quads and NOAA Nautical charts. I use a lot of them.

So Cal = No EOS (just a little rain once a week or so) P.S. I grew up in Buffalo NY. Now I live here. Enough said.

Here's a few more picture from up on Pleasanton Ridge (just a few miles Southwest of the I680 / I580 intersection) taken a while after finding HS3913: Nice old gnarly live oak branch This is looking across I680 at the hills to the Southeast of Pleasanton / Livermore:

While out Benchmark Hunting with Wintertime the day after Thanksgiving, we spotted this HUGE flock of Wild Turkeys. I have hunted them back east (saw a couple, never shot one). This just blew me away! Wide area View. We carefully counted 35 birds (plus or minus a couple - they didn't stand still for us!): Medium Range View: Close Up View (10X Optical, 8MP Canon, cropped & resolution cut for GC website). I believe these are young males (?). Spotted one or two old Toms, but didn't get a good picture of one:

Drove up to the Pleasanton CA area (Northern CA) for Thanksgiving with relatives (fun!), from our home area in Southern CA (about a 7 hour drive at ummm.... usually legal speeds). Spent an afternoon Benchmark hunting with friend Wintertime. Here's one in the hills south of Livermore, and a pretty old barn. It was a little hazy / drizzly on & off all afternoon. The mark is in the white curb, bottom center, Here's one a few days later, of a beautiful old steel truss bridge near Pleasanton CA. The disc is in the curb near the very lower left of the picture. Check out the "non BM" picture thread for our flock of about 35 Wild Turkeys (on the day after Thanksgiving!)

Yep, yep, I'm in. So that's the same 3 of us as last time. Aren't there more Benchmark hunters in the Southwest who could use a little "vacation" in Laughlin? Benchmark hunting by day, fun hunting --- whatever.... at night. Or it could be. Although unless I'm mistaken, the current crew is a bit ..... uh..., um.... "daytime oriented"?

Here's another one! Same area. Not a typo, but interesting anyway. HS3995: "....6.6 FEET NORTHWEST OF ELECTROLIER NUMBER 1149...." Luckily, good ol' wikipedia came through on the "ELECTROLIER". I certainly didn't have a clue! I'll post a picture, if I get there, and if it's still there (a bit doubtful).

OK, this one is just for fun. No finger pointing. It's a tough job. But - sometimes a datasheet just tickles the funny bone, right? Browsing the Pleasanton CA area for an upcoming Thanksgiving trip to visit relatives, friends, geocache, benchmark hunt. Saw this, just had to share: HS3987: "....A 5/8-INCH COPPER COATED ROAD DRIVEN TO GRADUAL REFUSAL AT A DEPTH OF 83 FEET." Amazing what one little extra letter can do.

April in Laughlin works for me! I'll put it on the calender. Sounds like it's time for a Spring in Laughlin benchmark hunting event! Everyone welcome.

Yes indeed, nice going oldfarts. You guys sure are an awesome team!. The terrain looks about like the areas we worked together around Laughlin last year, with the turn of the century drill holes. Next time John has some time off, let me know, maybe we can get together again! Another Delorme Topo USA / USGS Quads / PN-40 / 4WD Hemi user here. Can't be beat for benchmark hunting in our part of the country!

Another opinion / experience: I always assumed those type measurements were to the center of the object. Not sure why, just seemed logical. It hasn't ever made a difference in any recovery for me, that I can recall. In the future, I'll be more specific if new measurements to an object are needed. -- Klemmer

Matneys: All good suggestions. I had the problem once with my Meriplat some years ago, and I believe clearing all the memory worked. Also, be aware that if you do get the normal GPS sats working, that now you will not have WAAS anymore. If you are up for some reasonably simple firmware tweaking, you could get it back. You are on the right forum etc to find the info. Or send a PM to trainlove.

It's an oldie but a goodie. Mine from many years ago is still working, and I use it for some things, even though I have two newer units now (from Delorme). One problem: Magellan's support was never great, and I've read somewhere they do not support (repair) this unit at all anymore.

We had honeysuckle just about take over a portion of our yard. In SoCal, it grows all year around (probably 24/7 also). Nasty stuff (although pretty flowers). You know those tree & branch shredder machines (big, noisy, chews up whole pieces of trees)? The honeysuckle just about destroyed one. It was very "stringy", and got stuck in all the works, and the whole thing ground to a stop, smoking and coughing out stuff in all directions. Funny as heck. They gave up shredding it, and just stuffed it in the truck. Just going by memory, I tend to agree with TillaMurphs on some sort of honeysuckle.

Nice work, LSUfan! From experience, I can tell you the arrows on the RM's are not accurate at all. I have seen a couple in solid mounting (undisturbed) that were easily 20 degrees off the mark. On the other hand, the azimuth numbers in the box score (if any) are quite exact (within survey grade tolerances). More exact than you will be with a handheld compass. Keep up the good work. Send some of that rain back this way (SoCal). We could really use it! Our water table is non-existent! --Klemmer

LSU: I've got one of those from Harbor Freight also. It seems a bit stretchy, so don't go too tight on it. Otherwise, pretty good piece of gear for the price. Good luck! -- Klemmer

In California, maybe I've just been lucky or observant, but caching since 2001, I've seen lots of critters, here's an assortment I keep updating: http://www.theklems.com/gallery/KlemmersCritters?page=1 The scariest was this guy, because he was about 3 inches from my nose as I looked into the cache (a not very well closed can): I almost needed some TP from my pack.

On the other hand (maybe what the OP really meant, but wrote poorly?), there are lots of caches on shore where cruise ships stop. We have grabbed many around the world.

I don't have any problem with logging it as a find if you personally saw it prior to GC Benchmarking existing. Or, even if you just recently discovered benchmark hunting. BUT, one big Proviso (as we call it in one of my fields of work): You need to be SURE you have the right marker (disc or intersection object). Of course, the best way to be sure is to have and post a picture. There are many logs on many benchmarks on GC that have no pictures, and we know there are many flat wrong logs. In this forum, I think we strive for (and encourage) accuracy of our reports, and correction of errors. Historical note: Back before the Benchmarking Database existed on GC, several enterprising non-surveyor geocachers (myself included) "discovered" NGS benchmarks. I was logging survey markers on NGS (as an individual) before the GC database existed. Some of us also started creating virtual geocaches out of survey markers (several interesting triangulation stations, in my case). I think GC was getting flooded with those "benchmark virtuals", and they got hold of the NGS database in 2002 (on a set of CD's in those days) and put it up on the GC website, pretty much as you see it today. They then asked us "virtual benchmarkers" to check it out, see what we thought (beta test?), and eventually (with our OK), took down all the benchmark virtuals. Wish those were just archived, so we could se ethem, but they are hard deleted. Luckily, I either had pictures (on film!) of my pre-GC finds, or went back and got some. So, my "oldies" (3 or 4?) were "backed in" eventually (I think) with pictures and / or re-visits. And they lived happily ever after.... End bedtime story, kiddies.......

I'm not a surveyor, but am quite familiar with the GPS satellite constellation and related military & space issues. I do not think anyone would advocate putting all our eggs in one basket (GPS). There are many sorts of things that can go wrong with GPS, for potentially years at a time (political, man-made & natural). The military is keeping back-up systems available (INS, TACAN, NDB, others). I believe that the FAA will also keep backups also (anyone hear any talk of taking down the US VORTAC system? - I haven't). No reason NGS shouldn't keep a backup as well. Survey Markers (of all sorts) are the backup. BTW: Keep those street signs also!

"Survey Marker Stamping 101" engineering course?

Actually, I believe Patty has created her own database of all known USGS benchmarks (and others) in Yosemite, including this one, known to us Wintertime elves as BM6810. As I recall, she "reverse scaled" them all off the USGS topos. My experience doing that from a high quality mapping program (such as Delorme's Topo USA (with N.Cal USGS Topos, in this case) is very good. MUCH better (more reliable) than Google, for example. But not as good as an in-person visit with a good GPS & some averaging time. However, I'm not going to advise the coordinates here. In my opinion, one should actually go to the location before creating a Waymark. Just my opinion.

Another one down. Darn shame, and such a historic one at that. There are very few Fire Lookouts ("firetowers") left in Southern California. I guess with more modern fire detection methods (from satellites to helicopters...), they seem almost relegated to museum status (at least around here). The only existing Fire Lookout I know of personally is DX5124 on Tahquitz Peak in the San Bernardino National Forest, east of Idyllwild, CA. Very nice, pretty serious hike up there. Been there at least three times. It is very nicely preserved as it was back "in the day" when it was in regular use.