How do find it without being arrested

[+Harry Dolphin]

In my naïveté, two years ago, I went looking for a benchmark, blindly following the GPS. KV1301. I went back last weekend, following the description. The Shell station is now a Sunoco. The intersection has been rebuilt. It is now the intersection of Rte 206 and County Route 513 (though everyone still calls it Rte 24.) Lo and behold! The new traffic island has a four inch plastic pipe (top is level with the concrete.) I cannot think of another reason for that pipe than to provide access to the benchmark. I did not have the proper equipment. Too small for a trowel. I probed and dug with my pocket knife, but could not find the bottom.

So, the question is: Small traffic island in a major intersection... The Chester cops are not noted for being very friendly. Weekends bring a lot of 'cutesy, antique-town' muggles. How do I crouch in a major intersection, on a small traffic island, and dig with a spoon, without getting arrested, or questioned by the local constabulary? (Dolphin hates DNFs!)

[+NorthWes]

I wear a hardhat & orange vest w/reflective stripes (ok - so I wear them at work sometimes too as part of the sign guy job along highways). It's like an invisibility cloak - you become part of the 'expected to be there' landscape & folks (& police too) assume you know what you're doing & belong there. Occasionally someone will ask- and I tell them I'm tasked with locating a benchmark... and they go away...

 

Besides, having just returned from a whirlwind visit to the Dolphin's neck of the woods, I think the Dolphin needs Jersey Barriers to hide behind if he's gonna go play in that traffic. Wow folks drive fast back there on those narrow small streets!

[holograph]

You're a better man than I, Gunga Dolphin. I gave up on the Rte 206 benchmarks long ago. I spent one fruitless afternoon dodging traffic looking for the ones in Mt Olive, Flanders, and points south. The ones I looked for were all sacrificed to road improvements, I fear. The pattern seemed pretty well established, so I never bothered with the ones futher south.

[AZcachemeister]

I wear a hardhat & orange vest w/reflective stripes (ok - so I wear them at work sometimes too as part of the sign guy job along highways). It's like an invisibility cloak - you become part of the 'expected to be there' landscape & folks (& police too) assume you know what you're doing & belong there. Occasionally someone will ask- and I tell them I'm tasked with locating a benchmark... and they go away...

 

DITTO

If you dress for the occasion, you will likely go unnoticed.

[68-eldo]

In my naïveté, two years ago, I went looking for a benchmark, blindly following the GPS. KV1301. I went back last weekend, following the description. The Shell station is now a Sunoco. The intersection has been rebuilt. It is now the intersection of Rte 206 and County Route 513 (though everyone still calls it Rte 24.) Lo and behold! The new traffic island has a four inch plastic pipe (top is level with the concrete.) I cannot think of another reason for that pipe than to provide access to the benchmark. I did not have the proper equipment. Too small for a trowel. I probed and dug with my pocket knife, but could not find the bottom.

So, the question is: Small traffic island in a major intersection... The Chester cops are not noted for being very friendly. Weekends bring a lot of 'cutesy, antique-town' muggles. How do I crouch in a major intersection, on a small traffic island, and dig with a spoon, without getting arrested, or questioned by the local constabulary? (Dolphin hates DNFs!)

 

I call it urban camouflage. Basically you watch what the people that work along the highway wear and do and mimic them. Use safety vest; wear long pants with boots or shoes like the construction workers wear. It also helps to have a utility truck with flashing yellow lights on top. Like NorthWes says if you look like you are supposed to be there; there is less of a chance someone will question you.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

Yup what they said.

 

But then again I have been scrutinized a few times.

Chased off....had the Secret Service ask me questions so just act like you belong there.

It goes a long way.

Along with the Official NGS Data sheet.

 

I got a few of em muddy.

[gpsblake]

I wear a hardhat & orange vest w/reflective stripes

 

What an excellent idea. I've been asked TWICE by law enforcement and once by a curious county employee what I was doing while searching for BM. They were all satisfied with my explaination but it does make sense to "look like you belong there" & certainly it would look like "you know what you are doing".

 

Good advice, I'll certainly be getting some reflective orange vest. Thanks.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

This was discussed quite a bit 3 years ago or something like that. One main point from that discussion was that if you're going to wear 'official looking' garb, make sure that it does not have any particular insignia on it. It would not be fair to the organization/company, indicated by that insignia, to appear to have assigned you to look for the PID.

[+Renegade Knight]

I'll second all the advice. There is NOTHING wrong with location a benchmark. So long as you are not out playing in traffic creating a snarl. I'm sure that could get your some unwanted attention.

 

A good monument will be in a monment vault of some type. They don't spend the money on garden variety benchmarks. If they wanted to do it cheap they may just sleeve it for access like you saw.

 

Good luck.

[gpsblake]

There are some BM's I wouldn't go after. Railroad bridges for one. You can get into some serious trouble with trespassing with those.

[Neos2]

You might try what I used to do when I knew I would be stopped along a roadway doing a study of the bedrock geology of an area. If I just stopped and did my work, I invariably had good samaritans phoning the police to tell them that I may have broken down and officers would come out to check on me. So I started calling the police ahead of time to tell them what I was doing, about when I expected to be there, and what I would be driving. It saved them having to come out to check on me, and completely eradicated the problem of having them tell me that I needed to move along. I never once had a police officer tell me that I could not stop in the area, and the often suggested better places to park than what I had in mind!

[+bicknell]

We have been questioned by police three times. In all cases, showing them the data sheet and explaining what we were looking for made them quickly move on. I honestly belive 99.99% of police are looking for bad things. Show them a print out or two, and that you have the right tools for the job (e.g. GPS receiver with a waymark for the location) and they are so bored they will quickly move on.

 

I'm not sure the legaity of a traffic island. Obviously, the police want you to be safe. To that end, a vest and other "looking the part" materials help. I highly recomend anyone involved in geocaching buy an orange vest (works for traffic and hunters) and take appropriate caution around traffic. A highway patrol personal will likly ignore someone in an orange vest digging, while someone else in an orage vest flags traffic, but will stop someone in the median in all black alone and give them a hard time.