rogbarn

I recently setup the SLAGA County Challenge. It is patterned after the various state county challenges but designed for the St. Louis area (SLAGA = St. Louis Area Geocachers Assoc.) There are 76 counties in the SLAGA area and the point is to find a cache in each county. I included the option to find benchmarks as an alternative to finding a cache. I couldn't allow too many because it is a cache hunt but I liked the idea and made sure it stayed in there. I know that benchmarks have been used for multi-caches. Does anyone know if this has been done before for larger challenge type caches? THe cache listing is here: SLAGA County Challenge

It looks like what I call cane. I don't know it's real name. We have some bordering our yard and it has to be cut back or it takes over.

I found this very interesting because a very similar thing just happened to me. I found Barnes State Park in southern Washington state, immediately west of I-5. I was curious about it because my name is also Barnes. But when I went to the Washington State Parks wesite, there was nary a word about it. I wonder if it got caught in some budget axe.

Thanks. I guess I should change my avatar sometime.

The spot he is particularly interested in is on the Washington side at about the 55 mile marker. I think this is about 5 miles (very roughly) downstream (west) of Hood River, OR. I did download all current datasheets from the NGS, so I have that. I was wondering if nonpublished datasheets are still available? Or whatever else you think of.

Hi all you old friends and new. I was active in this forum when benchmark hunting was fairly new but haven’t been here in quite a while. I got a query from someone who found my chart of airway beacons out on the internet. Remember when we had a long discussion about them, trying to understand what they were? He is doing some research on airway beacons in the Columbia River basin and wanted to know if I could help find some locations that were not in my chart. So, I’m in here asking if anyone here remembers any of the resources that might be available to help him track down what he’s looking for.

Go ahead and sign me up. Hopefully I'll do better than last year's score (zero).

It's been a while, so bear with me. I recently found several marks but made only a superficial, if any, search for the reference markers without success. I will be logging them on GC of course, but are they loggable to the NGS? Should I just allow the standard "Recovered as described" or should I put in something that indicates my search or lack thereof for the reference markers?

With all of my new presents surrounding me this afternoon (including a new PDA!), I sat in a comfy chair and read this book. What wonderful stories and great history highlighting an interesting hobby (for us at least).

They are made by Benchmark Coins International. They have also made various other benchmark coins, mostly in the western US. The Hawaii ones are not trackable but most (all?) of the others are. I have several (not the Hawaii ones though) and they are good products.

I made a trip to get NEW BARNES, my last name. There are other Barnes markers nearby but they are either lost or behind posted signs. I have a list somewhere of stations that include one of my names (first, middle or last). I could find one almost anywhere in the country.

I seem to remember that many of the AA thru AL or so combinations have been used in scattered places in the country for newer stations, resets, etc. It would depend on what kind of challenge you want to do, a PID challenge or degree box challenge? If you choose a PID challenge, you would have to only accept Ax PID from their appropriate squares. Or maybe not, depending on how you want to setup your challenge.

Does someone realize that on the atgeocoin web site, the December coin is listed as New Hampshire, says New Hampshire on the coin but is really Vermont? It would make sense that it is Vermont, the AT goes from Massachusetts north into Vermont to follow the Green Trail before turning east into New Hampshire. I just thought someone might like to know before you go striking the coins.

I'll take a stab at this, I'm sure others will have further comments. FIrst, the fact that it is scaled means that you should not depend on the coordinates to lead you directly to the mark. It may be off by as much as 1 second in latitude and/or longitude or 660 feet. So, follow the directions, which is what you did. However, the stamping and mounted vertically are more worrisome. I tried to blow up your picture and there seems to be a smudge on the left side of the disk. Could something have been stamped there, possibly in front of the word "feet"? The numbers in the stamping match the elevation at the time the disk was placed. May bench marks, i.e. an elevation markers, are mounted vertically but by no means all of them. I'm not sure what to make of that problem.

Very interesting. A quick check of Missouri shows 35 pairs of stations with the same designation in the same county and 2 sets of 3 stations with the same designation in the same county. One of the 3s is local to me although I (or anyone else on GC) has visited. A visual checks shows that JC1652, JC1653 and JC1654 appear to be different markers although trying to compare the various descriptions this late at night is difficult.

According to this thread, Jeremy stated that the CDs were purchased in January 2001, so, the data is almost 6 years out of date. Despite on and off discussions about getting the database updated, it has never happened.

I recently asked the same question. That thread is "A visitor to the Seattle area, caches, meetings, coins, etc", especially WeightMan's suggestions.

Glad to see someone else is still COBOLing. I'm still using COBOL on several VAXx (and anything else that comes along). If anyone needs COBOL programming, I'm the one people are coming to! Of course COBOL and VAX is another combination that is disappearing fast.

wow, this brings back memories. I asked the exact same question exactly 4 years ago. Here is the thread. In short, 30 something feet, but there is not a standard length.

I have been in the Tacoma area twice now since July. The first to mostly to work and a bit to see my kids. The second time mostly to see my kids and a bit to work. Kids are in Tumwater and Seattle. Work is in Tacoma. I know my way around enough to know where this is. I want to visit. Alas, no more trips appear in my near future. Have fun and if there are any coins left over, let me know!

For the record, Kubota Garden was great. It's the type of cache that makes caching wonderful, a nice area in an unusual area that a visitor would not normal visit. Quiet during the week so we could enjoy a bit of solitude. The final was fairly straight forward without being out where the muggles are. Anyone who happens across this forum is hearby encouraged to visit. Thanks WeightMan! Sorry, we didn't have time to get the Lake Washington Blvd caches.

I have found a few cases where a typo created a similar problem. Either the latitude or longitude was off by one degree. Estimate the best you can what the coordinates should be and compare them to the listed coordinates and see if that is the problem. If so, email details to Deb Brown and it will get fixed.

My wife and I will be visiting our kids in the Olympia area from Sat thru Tues and in Seattle from Tues thru Sat. If anyone has suggestions for good, local caches, I'd love to hear them. I'm not a good cacher, I need the easy ones, so be nice to me! I have a couple of TBs and a small Kansas sunflower coin to drop. I'll be at the Tumwater Harvest Festival on Sunday working near the Hungarian food. Stop by and visit if you want.

Caution! Be aware of the weather as we go thru the next couple of days. If you care about your vehicle, park it where it is protected from hail. Tonight (Friday night) Thunderstorms likely. Storms may be severe with damaging winds...large hail and tornadoes. Low in the mid 60s. South wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70 percent. Saturday Occasional showers and thunderstorms. High in the upper 70s. Southwest wind 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80 percent.

I saw coverage of the placing of the new statue on the news last night. It looks really wonderful, with Clark and his dog looking up and obviously glad to be back in civilization. The placement is right along the riverfront, in front of the large parking garage that looms several stories over the immediate riverfront area. Also, the weather is iffy, so be aware: Saturday Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. High in the lower 70s. edit to add: I wouldn't worry about t-storms too much or an all day rain. More likely, we will have a period of showers but no way to know when or how heavy.