ddnutzy
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Posts posted by ddnutzy
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Ok, what is the consensus on the best way to handle this? I went searching for benchmark RD2022, and all that remains of the station is reference mark #1, which many gc loggers have photographed and proclaimed that they found it. Should I leave it be, or send them all a polite note that the only found the reference mark?
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.
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Last Sunday I found a 1877 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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I've noticed that many geocachers don't hunt benchmarks at all, and many benchmark hunters don't geocache. Is there anyone else out there besides myself who has logged at least 100 geocache finds and 100 benchmark finds?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>I'm new, and I'm not interested in caches, but in the week that I've been banging around the web site, I've seen lots of people who have logged over 100 benchmarks.<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>There are six people that I know of that have at least 100 benchmark finds. Four of them also have 100 cache finds. There are three more that have over 100 caches and are in the 90s for benchmarks.<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>From what I've seen browsing, I think if we could make the database give us a report, you'd see that there are many more than six with over 100 benchmarks.<BR><BR><BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Just out of curiosity, who are some of the others?<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=82664" TARGET=_blank>370</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=25945" TARGET=_blank>156</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=46190" TARGET=_blank>266</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=68663" TARGET=_blank>110</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=18523" TARGET=_blank>134</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=53052&u=1266060431" TARGET=_blank>136</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=80148" TARGET=_blank>281</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=62165" TARGET=_blank>171</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=113456" TARGET=_blank>210</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=118612" TARGET=_blank>103</A><BR><BR><A HREF="http://www.geocaching.com/profile/default.aspx?A=25021&u=4576069331" TARGET=_blank>150</A><BR><BR>Those I found just browsing the last 500 pictures posted in the gallery, and from this thread. <BR><BR>While it's fun to play the numbers game, you have to always remember to keep it in perspective. A count of benchmarks found is in no way a good perspective of how interested or dedicated a hunter is. Too many extranious factors, like:<BR><BR>How much time do you have to spend hunting? Obviously, old retired guys (like me) have more time than young working guys with kids....<BR><BR>Where do you live? Some parts of the country are loaded with benchmarks. Others are not. If you live in Iowa, you might have to drive 75 miles to the closest one to you. If you live in Florida, you'll find two on any of 10,000 bridges....<BR><BR>What are your physical capabilites? I wouldn't do very well in the desert if I had to hike 5 miles up a hill to find a benchmark in a boulder - two bad knees and too many old bones. But I do fine looking for roadside benchmarks from an air conditioned truck.<BR><BR>What are you looking for? Obviously it's much harder to find a marker that's buried in the middle of a field with no witness post then it is to find a water tower or a church steeple.<BR><BR>How dedicated are you? Do you spend 10 minutes and give up, or do you go back to the same spot and keep looking as many times as it takes to convince yourself it's no longer there or to find it?<BR><BR>We all set our own standards. I don't like to look for markers that somebody else already found, I like to find one that have been MIA for a long time - the longer the better. Water towers aren't much fun, but if I see one I'll log it because maybe other people like water towers. I've found 43 benchmarks my first week, so I don't think 100 will be a major milestone for me. And I don't think I'm a better hunter than someone who has found 40 in thier first year. I think my first milestone might be 500, or maybe even a thousand. Just depends on how much time I have to take off for real life....<BR><BR>Shouldn't take the web site guys more than 15 minutes to write some code to generate a report, how many over 100, 200, 300, etc. Be fun to look at but it's not an indication of much. <BR><BR>Keep the numbers game fun. Let's hunt together and not against each other.<BR><BR>BeachBum22<BR>In the land of many bridges.
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.
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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.
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I'm new here in the forum and I haven't figured out how to upload pictures. Need some help. thnx, ddnutzy
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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.
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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
Below The Pavement?
in Benchmarking
Posted
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.