Getting Started

[+fireman121]

I don’t know if this has been covered before but I thought I would ask it anyway. With the fuel cost around three bucks a gallon, and the lack of new gouaches in the area I was thinking about checking out benchmark hunting, I have hunted a few elevated water tanks in my travels but I think I want to try and find one of those disc.

 

I know you need a GPS for this and even a PDA to download the information about the benchmark and a camera to take a picture of it, but what else do you recommend for a newbie at this, or what do you use when you go hunting?

 

Thanks for any help.

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

I don’t know if this has been covered before but I thought I would ask it anyway. With the fuel cost around three bucks a gallon, and the lack of new gouaches in the area I was thinking about checking out benchmark hunting, I have hunted a few elevated water tanks in my travels but I think I want to try and find one of those disc.

 

I know you need a GPS for this and even a PDA to download the information about the benchmark and a camera to take a picture of it, but what else do you recommend for a newbie at this, or what do you use when you go hunting?

 

Thanks for any help.

Actually you do not need a GPS. The descriptions on the datasheets are intended to help you find the bench mark (rather than teasing you a little as the Geocache hiders often do). I have found upwards of 300 benchmarks without ever using a GPS. That said, a GPS will help you get to the right neighborhood (and perhaps a bit closer for horizontal control stations), so if you have one, feel free to use it. Remember for vertical control stations, the location given is just approximate and is sometime far off.

 

A PDA can be a help, but I usually just take along some datasheets on a clip board. A PDA would be useful (or even a lap top) for long trips (like vacations) where you have an open-ended itinerary.

 

When you get out your camera, make sure you practice using close up mode (sometimes called macro-zoom mode).

 

My "tool kit" is a clip-board with datasheets, a little wisk broom, and garden trowel, a screw driver for probing, a tape measure and my camera.

 

Remember, benchmarks were being set and recovered well over a hundred years before anyone even heard of a GPS, PDA or Digital Camera.

 

But however you do it. Keep it fun. (and yeah - I just bought a metal detector - but have not hunted with it yet.)

[+Ernmark]

..if you're in a rural area, you'll find a metal detector very helpful !

[+Klemmer]

To answer another part of your question: If it is an Intersection Station, there will not normally be a disc or bolt or anything like that. The object IS the mark. That's not to say there couldn't ALSO be a disc in the tank foundation, which might have a different PID number, or be just local, not in the GC or NGS database. I've even seen some towers (an aiport control tower) that have a disc on an outside catwalk near the top. All sorts of possibilities. Like PB says, GPSr often optional. If the mark is SCALED, the GPSr might get you in the right neighborhood, is all. But SOMETIMES, when the mark is ADJUSTED, it can be very handy. Plus they are fun toys!

[Team Fawlty]

I haven't been doing this that long, but agree with the others. I only use the GPSr to store the waypoints so as I travel I know one is coming up. I then look up the PID on my PDA or laptop or printouts if I am only looking for a few. As far as using the GPSr to find them, it is really an optional tool - not a necessity. As PB stated - I find a measuring tape, prod, garden trowel, camera, and metal detector more valuable. I have found that it is good to take copious notes when you find them (or not) because it is easy to mix them all up when you get back home and go to log them on GC (as I did on MF0209).

 

Brendan

Edited June 14, 2006 by Team Fawlty