Seems Like Fun But......

[+gas4cache]

Benchmark hunting seems like fun. But, besides "collecting" them, or seeing the sights around them.... what's the purpose of it.. Or is that it? I ask, because I can see one from my front yard... could walk to another, and know where about 5 others are in my county. But I don't have a GPSr yet, so should I log those when I actually, physically go to them, or wait till I get my gpsr or what?

 

Sorry to be such a newb....lol

 

Ron

[Bill93]

What's the reason? See the recent thread "When People Ask" for several answers.

 

Should you log them without a GPS? Sure. Just go by the descriptions. The GPS is very useful to get you to the general vicinity if you aren't familiar with the area. But once you get within a hundred yards of the typical vertical benchmark disk that has SCALED coordinates, put away the GPS and follow the words. This is not true for a mark which has ADJUSTED horizontal position (latitude and longitude coordinates), which will be more accurate than your handheld unit and will take you within a few feet on a good day.

 

Be sure to note anything that is no longer true about the description, the condition of the disk, and any other information that will make it easier for others to find it. In contrast to caches, a goal in benchmark hunting is to improve the data base and not be secretive.

 

Make sure the stamping on the disk matches what is on the data sheet so you got the right one. There are a lot of disks out there that aren't loggable on the benchmark site, but are now candidates for the new Groundspeak Waymarking list just started.

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

For now forget the GPS and follow the directions given in the data sheets. You'll learn a lot about how the directions were written.

 

Nothing against GPS use, but remember the vertical control points (probably more than half of what is there) don't have accurate locations anyway (that is accurate Lat/Lon). Someone got those locations by looking at the directions in the data sheets and plotting them on a topo map. You can do the same thing. For horizontal control points, the locations will be very accurate - unless someone made a mistake, which can happen.

 

My suggestion is to learn to get the most out of the directions and then use your GPS when you really have to. I've found over a hundred in the last few months including a few tricky ones, and haven't used a GPS yet.

 

Then again I use a map and compass, not a GPS, to find my way to mountains without trails (bushwhacking). I guess I'm old school. Oh yes, and I can tell time using those old round clocks with the big and little hands.

 

But whatever else, have fun!

[itchytweed]

I have more old BM's around my place than I can shake a stick at. I found one that is older than me and that felt good. This may seem weird but when I lived in California for 14 years, I felt a bit detatched. Being back here in the midwest and doing the looking kind of puts me back into perspective and grounds me (ouch!). Finding some marks are easy - they are out in broad daylight. Others, you have to scrounge around for - I still am recovering from my last foray into the weeds...burrs all over my pants and socks.

 

The descriptions are fun and some of the texts are a great history lesson as well. It a way, we are writing about out society and its history in terms of geospacial relationships and how our society is moving. Keep looking...there is history out there waiting to be discovered.

[+seventhings]

gas4cache -

 

Another part of the "..purpose for it" is the problem-solving; the detective work. Many benchmarks are fall-off-a-log easy to find. Many take a little work, both physical and mental. And some are like complex riddles. With a description that may not have been very well written in the first place and/or a change in the environmental references and/or the fact that there is no documentation that the mark has been visited or used for 60 years, the challenge of finding the darned things is quite motivating. And the hunt is fun. And the emotional reward is substantial.

 

And here's another thing about it: there is actually a pretty steep learning-curve. You can actually get good at it. With experience, you become better organized and better prepared; you begin to accurately envision where the mark will be long before you approach its location. Often, you can spot the things from great distances - just where you knew they would be. And then, when you think the next one is going to be a piece of cake, it's not there, and the description doesn't make sense, and you know exactly where is supposed to be but you just can find it. And if you just knew what a "curb return" was and what the original writer really meant by "southwesterly", you're sure you could find the darned thing. That's when the "it" gets good.

 

Beware, though: as simple (and, maybe, pointless) as this activity seems to be, it is wickedly addictive. Once you start, you'll need a real good 12-step program to stop.

 

Good hunting.

Will

 

edited in vain attempt to conform to Standard English.

Edited December 6, 2005 by seventhings

[+gas4cache]

I did see one near me that I definitely want to check out. The last time USGS checked it they said the building had been remodelled and the mark was no longer there. Only problem is, the building they are talking about being remodelled isn't the building that the earlier descriptions put it on. I'd like to find one that they couldn't lol....

 

I'll go find a couple, log them on here and see if I have a remote CLUE as to what I'm doing.

 

Ron

[+seventhings]

gas -

 

By George, I think you've got it!!!

 

Will

[Bill93]

Got it incurably, I'd say. I always get the biggest kick out of proving some previous report (or the original data) wrong. Sounds like he's of a similar mind.

[+gas4cache]

Hey how would it be for a total newb, to go out and find a BM that the pros couldn't... (It doesn't hurt that I know the town pretty well, and I could be wrong.....but I don't think so)

 

But yeah, I quickly picked up the point.

 

Ron

[Photobuff]

IMO, the GPSr may be the least useful tool. Benchmarks with adjusted coordinates are usually recently recovered and easy to find, at least around here. It's the vertical ones with scaled coordinates that can be tough, and the tape measure, probe rod, metal detector, and mind, are the most important tools. A friendly manner to extract local information from people who've lived in the area a while doesn't hurt, either. It's a darned disease- near impossible to shake once you've got it.

[+PFF]

Photobuff wrote:

A friendly manner to extract local information from people who've lived in the area a while doesn't hurt, either. It's a darned disease- near impossible to shake once you've got it.

 

Well said!

 

This afternoon, I'm making an expedition to a small town 20 miles away to look for a 1918 mark described as being "82 feet north of the railway station". I was in the area on business, yesterday, but it was raining pretty hard. From the car, I was able to determine that the station no longer is there--just some old wood piled up. (And I found the old black-letters-on-white-background city name that used to hang over the end of the building--a CLUE!)

 

I spoke to a long-time resident who confirmed that this was the station's location. He said someone recently bought the building and hauled it away. But here's an interesting twist:

 

*The building is visible in 1992 and 1998 aerial photos, and the location matches the rubble and the resident's description.

 

*The Railroad Historical Society website shows that the building was constructed about 1930, and the location is confirmed by a 1930's map of the town.

 

*The last recovery of the benchmark was in 1930.

 

*BUT: The mark was set in 1918--well before the depot was built.

 

Conclusion: There had to be a previous train depot. Back to the research......

 

Okay....here's a map of the town, dated 1887 (Plat Book 2, Page 89, Chatham County Registry). And on this old map, the depot is shown in a different location--about 60-70 feet east of the 1930's building.

 

So, when I return to the site, where will I be searching? North of the ORIGINAL building!

 

Opps....I got off topic. What was the original question? Oh, yeah. Why do we hunt benchmarks? History? Exercise?

 

Or, perhaps for the same reason people climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there!"

 

-Paul-

[+gas4cache]

I hadn't even thought really about the History aspect. And I'm a local history nut.. Now I gotta try it darnit..lol

 

Ron

[+Klemmer]

All the above is sure true. I'm guilty of most of it.... But - in defense of GPS receivers: They sure are handy little things to have around to find the trailhead parking, to get on the trail to the mountain top....... where there are benchmarks, too, that you probably won't need the GPSr to find..... and off the trail, handy as well. Yes, a compass and good map work also, but I'm a "be prepared" sort of guy.

[+PFF]

Good point about GPS receivers. Some days, I am forced to rely on them. Sometimes I make extended use of a metal detector. I'm working on one tomorrow where the 100-foot tape measure will be the tool-of-the-day.

 

And some days, nothing helps! [grin]

 

I just posted the photos for EZ-1181, the mark where they moved the train depot--several times. No luck, but I had fun trying. And I successfully located a nearby triangulation station which was monumented in 1918 and last recovered in 1957.

 

-Paul-