Gungadoy

This looks like a fun one to find, especially since the mark is 18" below the surface. It looks like you've already visited the old railroad tracks in the treeline back in 2006. I've added the Property Appraisal pic linked to BM page log. It looks like lots 7 & 8 belong to the neighbors to the west, The Jennings. Funny, the property lines don't back-up to eachother on this image. Who owns the property between the property lines? Maybe properties in IA have easements between properties? Post some good pics when you find it!

The Traverse Station disk, seldom seen but often mentioned. I was making my way from Florida City to the Flamingo Everglades National Park visitor center and was fortunate to find this traverse station disk along my route. PID AC1157 Have you ever noticed that this USC&GS disk has the lettering, Traverse Station, facing outward, unlike most of the other CGS disks? The visitor center in this park is at the end of a scenic 38 mile drive. Lot's of benchmarks and also Virtual Geocache in the park. GC5694 Cool place to visit but bring bug spray just in case. Flamingo Visitor Center View

I put this BM on my to-do-list after reviewing my country wide datasheets seach for this type of disk. On my visit-the-family up north trip, I made my way to GZ in west central NJ, driving in a light snow storm; I don't get to see much snow down here in S. Florida. This rare new style Gravity Reference Mark from 1937 was definitely one of the easiest BM's I've recovered, right on the side of the road. It looks like a couple of the forum regulars also visited this site a few years back. PID KV1610. A nice find for anyone Benchmarking or Geocaching in the area.

I had an interesting find earlier this year while benchmarking along Tamiami Trail. It stretches from Miami to the west coast of S. Florida. If you wanted to see alligators in the wild, this would be the roadway to travel. Check out the pics at this adventure: Big Cypress Nat'l Preserve Has anyone seen one of these or have some info about their use? An Aerial Survey Target along the shoulder of the road. In fact there were several along the road in this stretch of roadway. You can see it on Google Earth on the SW side of the road near N 25 46 39.83902 W 080 50 40.33139 or by PID AJ7752; Only viewable on NGS site.

Recently I bought some of the bright orange marking paint and have been painting the concrete monuments on a bunch of recovered BM's. My question is, do my fellow benchmarkers out there do this or not? PID AB7782 Please share your thoughts, experiences or concerns?

Nice, can't beat that price on the long screw driver.....Also checked out the tile probes; nice 40" probes sounds easy on the back, but with a hefty price tag. Still, better to keep your back in good shape then skimp on the tools.

Thx Kayakbird... A bit off-topic: Florida has some seriously hardcore wilderness Geocaches. I've done a few of the easier one's and one day maybe the heavy duty adventures. Ghost Orchid Lemmings Loop Christmas Cache My Log Loki-an Urban Wilderness Geocache

Nicely done. Now that's an awesome adventure in the wilderness and you don't see mountainous views like that in Florida! Who says persistence doesn't pay-off? I've not yet had any similar benchmark adventures, but Geocaching I went back 5 or 6+ times to find a difficult cache. Looked here & there, climbed a nearby tree, several times, and in the end the cache wasn't even up the tree. Did I ever feel like a sap!

Story Time: Had a fun day yesterday benchmarking along the Tamiani Trail in the S. Florida Everglades. If you're ever in the area a must visit drive. Tamiani trail is a scenic road from about the year 1915 that stretches from Florida's east coast to the west coast. The 1st BM of the day was supposed to be a Triangulation Station. PID AC0483. The mark was last logged by NGS in 1992 as next to a 'track road'. Well, since then the Florida vegetation moved in leaving no signs of any road; just heavy overgrowth. The GPS did a good job of keeping contact with the satellites as I bushwacked my way to GZ. Located the concrete monument fairly quickly, however the disk was missing; only the disk stem remained. Still a success story in my eyes... Posting a pic of monument and surrounding overgrowth. At least I didn't see any nearby alligators this round.

Share your favorite tools or thoughts! Besides my economy metal detector, let me share with my fellow benchmarkers what I believe could be the best probe tool out there; maybe or maybe not? If you're looking for a new probe, you need to check it out. Technically, it's called by Sears, a Craftsman Rolling Wedge Bar, but I call it the 'emancipator'! It won't bend, so it easily pry's rocks out of the way. It penetrates deep into the dirt, like going into butter, and when it hits concrete it makes a distinctive sound, 'clink'; that's the best sound to hear when probing for benchmarks. Then I blurt out to myself, found it! Also, works great if you need to hammer it deeper into tougher ground or secure one end of a measuring tape. For Geocaching, an awesome probe for tree's and sketchy holes. And 'no', I don't work at Sears!

If it's any consolation, there's a couple of these logged in Texas as shown in the NGS and Geocaching site. CX1571 & CX1690. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=cx1571 http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=cx1690

As an amateur bench marker, is it just me or do others get excited when they recover a benchmark that hasn't been found in a bunch of years? The effects get multiplied when it's a Triangulation Station with its Reference Marks and Azimuth Mark. I recently recovered down here in S. Florida, AD7219. The surrounding landmarks described in the NGS datasheet were pretty sketchy. I started my search with the GPS and then turned to my economy metal detector and probe. Soon I had found the Triangulation Station. Then with the measuring tape and compass I was able to find the two nearby Reference Marks. The Azimuth Mark for this one turned out to be an easy find down the levee road. I like it when a plan comes together. This certainly can't compare to finding Buttermilk, but not bad for low budget tools and lots of persistance. Anyone have any good stories?

State Survey markers, also another favorite of mine. I think I've recovered 2 or 3 of these. Check out AC0482 on Tamiami Trail in S. Florida. If you should visit this BM, stop at the popular BBQ joint across the street. Farther west you can visit the Ochopee Post Office. The smallest in the U.S.; it's about the size of a backyard garden shed.

Oh yes, the Magnetic Station disk is also one of the coolest of the cool. I recovered one Magnetic in Florida, AR1564 and also in New Jersey, JU0950. I've accomplished two of my benchmark goals, 1. to find each type of the old USC&GS disks and 2. to find one USC&GS disk in each of the 67 Florida counties. Both have been a lot of fun. Looks like we can't do anything with Groundspeak not updating the info but at least NGS does a good job with their datasheets updating. The Bottles, Pots & Pans? Report/Article was partly responsible for my inspiration to find these disks.

Bummer, I wish I would have recovered that AZ disk; Maybe on a future visit to the area. Thanks for sharing.

The coolest and must visit of all the USC&GS disks, the Gravity Station disk. Took a trip to Las Vegas and made the short trip to Death Valley, CA to see this one. GS0206. Took the rental down the 35 mile gravel road recovering a bunch of CGS benchmarks along the way until reaching the Dayton-Harris BM. You need a GPS for this area. It was a mild 113 degrees at 200+ ft below sea level. An awesome day trip to consider if your in the Las Vegas area. Does anyone know where else one of these has been found?

Ofcourse everyone has their own preference. I'm very satisfied with my Garmin GPSMAP 62S, the newer model being the 64S. It's been great. Good memory w/SD card, rugged, waterproof and great satellite coverage. I use rechargeable lithium ion batteries that last for a good amount of time. Check out GPSCity.com. I load my benchmarks via GSAK, but I admit I don't know anything about writing my own code. I wish I did.

I agree, the lack of updating is frustrating. I first found out about Benchmarking not from reading a link, but working on geocache, GC44RA6; this led me to investigate further and over time I've gotten hooked on benchmarks. At least they still have a benchmark link in the Quick View area on your profile page. The NGS site has a map query area. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/datasheets/ Check out cell phone app, search for FindMarkers, but will display on phone as HuntMarkers. Benchmark On!

Kayakbird: Good question. The monument looks in good shape and at the posted coords. Due to someone waiting for me at the roadside I only had time to also find RM 4. You can see the other pics on the geocaching site. http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=AA0183 Some folks at NGS also thought it could have been a disk from the bottom of the tools bucket. I'm hoping to check out several other disks in the Florida Keys to see if they're Hydrographic Station disks. Some require a boat to reach the outer islands. AA1030, AA1132, AA1614, AA1553 & AA1562. Many Mark Types are listed as, 'unspecified disk type (see text). . Papa Bear NYC: Cool reused disk. I few weeks ago I recovered a couple of CGS bench marks disks at the end of Dyckman St., under the tracks that you've previously visited, KU0906 & KU0907. You may not recall this, but you recovered a Hydrographic Station disk a few years back, KU0897, along the railroad tracks south of the GWB. That's on my list to visit as I didn't have enough time during my previous NE whirlwind trip; hopefully, when I make my yearly visit to NJ for Thanksgiving in a few weeks. I also would like to visit one of those bolts in Central Park.

I wasn't sure whether the first forum post was the best place to continue to place USC&GS disk pictures or start a thread just for pics? So I started one. If you have suggestions let me know? Post rare, interesting or your own special recovered USC&GS recovered disks. Last year I found this rare USC&GS Hydrographic Station disk (AA0183 - SUMMER 2). I expecting to find a topographic station disk at this location and as you can imagine I was pretty excited to find this hydrographic disk. Does anyone know where else one of these has been found?

I wonder what happened to the other 48 states in the project? And too bad the Florida benchmark never made it into the NGS database. I'm going to contact the geocache CO and see what they say.

Someone just told me about this geocache and the Florida Geocac Benchmark Project. Apparently it's been around for a few years but I can't seem to find it in the NGS database for Florida or several states I checked. Maybe the plans never moved forward. I'll have to make a road trip from S. Florida to visit this one. The waymark code is WM5W84. Has anyone else heard of or seen these benchmarks in their state?

I've been using the 8511 paper for 2+ years now in my caches and when I replace logs for other Geocachers. In Florida, with all the rain in the summer the paper makes a big difference. It still gets wets but maintains its strength and signability for a long time. The names signed in pen may get blurry but the logs stays strong. For me, it was worth spending a few dollars for this paper.

Welcome....Wow, you weren't kidding; that's one big benchmark and a very interesting one at that. I can see why you've decided to cave-in with the lawn problem and see what it's about. This website has some great reading material about the origins of benchmarks: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/web/about_ngs/history/Survey_Mark_Art.pdf

Amen!