ddnutzy

With all the reference marks in the discription one of them should have a arrow pointing to the station. Use the measurements and bearings in the discription to establish the rm's and line up the direction the arrows point. Where two or more of the line of the arrows cross, that is where the station should be.

I found my first benchmark on 12-3-02 while looking for a virtual cache. I have about a 95% successful find rate. I have found 211 marks, 10 did not find, and 8 destroyed.

I carry a small wire toothbrush, fine steelwool, round scuff pads which work very well, rags and water. None of those leave any scratches on the disks

Quite a few of the old benchmarks here in New Englang are overgrown so I always carry a pair of brush cutters and a folding saw in my bag to clear the area I'm working. I also carry a treasure hunter's tool that will cut roots and dig. I got that from Duluth trading.

That find is what benchmarking is all about. Once you get hooked on the old ones it's hard not to try to go after them. Get a metal detector because after a number of years there's quite a bit of leaves, moss, roots etc. covering them. I've found a couple of them 18 inches underground. Good luck on more great finds.

Got a email from Black Dog Trackers about a old benchmark in N.H. (MY2666.) It looked like a good one to find so I went after it today. Drill holes are tough to find on flat ledge after a number of years. Found it after a little measuring and scratching around. After that I looked for (MY2662) which wasn't to far away and found that one also. Without BDT's help I wouldn't have searched for these marks. Thanks again,

Found this benchmark (MY3840) today. It has nothing recorded since it was put there in 1873. It was under a large pile of rocks on top of a hill about 1900 ft in elevation. It's a two mile hike to the station from the road where I parked. There are three climbs before you get to the station.

Congrats on a great find. The BM's that you really have to work for are the best one's of all. I usually go for the BM's that are off the beaten trail. I'll grab one near the road on my way by but the one's far off the road are the most satisfying.

If the benchmark is in the woods or on a mountain and the land is not posted I don't worry about going in. If it is posted or close to a house I go a knocking. I have never been refused access to the mark. As others have stated quite a few have come looking with me. I always give them the discription and the small topo map of the area that I use.

This is a great find for you. You are the FTF in the Groundspeak benchmarking game so that say's a lot. The marks on top of mountains are the best.

Some discriptions have used the stem of some disks that have been removed as the station so if I find the stem in the right location I log it as a find.

On 4-8-04 I found 2 bm's that were each about 18 inches under the surface. The discription stated them as being under the surface so I decided to go for them. My metal detector just gave some chirps but it was enough to find them. A lot of digging was required to find these two. MY 3795 is in Rutland, Ma. and MY3817 is in Fitchburg, Ma.

I recently looked for a fire tower and a radio tower in Eastford, Ct. Neither of them was there but the benchmark nearby was located. I then went to the Eastford highway dept. to check on them and was told that they had been taken down a number of years ago so I logged them in as destroyed. I then notified the NGS.

Here in New England most of the bm's that are marked flush with ground are usually covered with leaves or mulch. Even a lot of the one's in ledge are covered. I always bring my detector on a search. I have a Whites Classic 3 that I set the discrimination fairly high to get less false signals from trash and the sensitivity on low unless the mark is undergound.

I use a large fannypack to carry the tools that I have found useful. They consist of a 100 ft tape, pin to secure tape to ground, bungee cord to secure tape to trees or poles, clippers to cut roots, folding shovel, scuff pads, brushes, rags, water, compass, gps, white metal detector, and flaggin tape to mark distances and points. A lot of the marks found take quite a bit of time to find. I've found a few that have been 12 to 18 inches below surface. Also if the discrimination is set on high with detector you don't pick up as much trash.

When I started looking for bm's I found some rm's and thought they were the benchmarks. Walden Run picked up on my mistake and emailed me to explain about posting the benchmarks. I went back and found the the stations and uploaded the station pictures. I was glad that he let me know so I wouldn't keep doing everything wrong. Today I was checking my early finds and found a couple more that I have to go back to. If I see that someone has made the same mistake as me I would let them know by email.

Here are the direct links to: MY3686 and MZ1504. This is some of my old stomping ground. Sure wish I was back there to find some of the old ones. I see on MY3686 that in 1939 it was clear in all directions except NW. What is it like now, some 65 years later? Keep up the good work! To the east of waterbug hill it is clear. North, south, and west are wooded now.

Last Sunday I found a 1887 Bm in Millville, Ma. Today Wildbird and myself found one from 1832 in Barre, ma. Waterbug in Millville is my3686 n42 02.190 w 071 33.683. Hawes Hill in Barry, Ma is mz1504 n42 27.437 w072 07.089. Log and photos are posted on my cache page.

As of today I have 152 cache finds and 124 benchmark finds with numerous reference disks documented with photo's. Benchmarking is my favorite of the two as a lot of the coords are off and old reference points have been destroyed or cut down.

As of today I have 152 cache finds and 124 benchmark finds with numerous reference disks all documented with photo's. I find benchmarking more challenging then caches because many of the trees walls and buildings used as references are no longer around.

As of today I have found 152 geocaches and 124 benchmarks with numerous reference disks. All stations and references are documented with photo's. Benchmarking is my favorite hobby although it gets tough with up to 18 inches of snow at times here in new England. The oldest marks found so far were mz1846 mt warner 1885 and mz1847 north mt warner 1885. Both of these are in Massachusetts.

I'm new here in the forum and I haven't figured out how to upload pictures. Need some help. thnx, ddnutzy

Found this benchmark and three references 11-18-03 with wildbird. MZ1646 in Hampshire county, Ma. Mt .Warner 1885 with a last recovery 1937. This is the oldest one that I've found. We also found MZ1847 in Hampshire county, Ma. North Warner with a recovery 1934 . This one might be older then Mt. Warner.

Go to the one's on mountain tops, deep woods etc. Places where you need a hundred foot tape, compass, metal detector, shovel, water and rags to clean the marks off so you can take a picture of them. Sometimes you spend a day or more and still don't find the mark. I also have to drive a long way to find the marks so I try to get a least four to make the trip worthwhile.This kind of benchmarking is fun. ddnutzy