Shifts in personal benchmarking patterns

[+BuckBrooke]

Looking back at the last 6 months, I haven't been getting much benchmarking done, due to changes with my dissertation. However, I've noticed that I'm going out for longer runs on fewer days. I think this is due to the fact that I've hit the nearby population centers (need to head up to Santa Fe, an hour away), and so the benchmarks are now strung out along highways.

 

I used to print out 10-20 marks in a quadrant of Albuquerque, and cover those in a morning. Now, I drive 45 minutes to an hour to the start of the run, hit marks for 2-4 hours and then drive back.

 

I have the occasional hot spot when I travel, such as St. Louis, SE Minnesota, Boston, Miami and Dallas/Fort Worth, but those are separate from "day to day" benchmarking.

 

Has anyone else noticed their benchmarking patterns change over the course of time/years?

[ArtMan]

Unfortunately, it's a fact of benchmarking life that the longer you've been at it, the less carbon-neutral it is.

 

I recently ventured a couple of hours south of here to add some NGS reports for counties hitherto unrepresented by GEOCAC recoveries. When I make a full day of it, as I like to do when I'm driving a significant distance, I'll try to leave around 7:00 a.m. and hunt benchmarks until I just get too tired or it gets dark, whichever comes first. (Sometimes, as in the case of GV5432, I'll be out in the boonies at dusk, wondering about maybe how one day I ought to get a life!)

 

On the other hand, this weekend I picked out some marks within a few miles of home that I had somehow missed over the years. Oddly, a couple of them — a prominent intersection station visible for miles and an easy-to-find disk plainly visible on the Georgetown University campus had not previously been logged on Geocaching.com. There are several active benchmarkers in the Washington area, and of course we get tons of tourists, so I'm always surprised to find unlogged marks.

 

-ArtMan-

[+Astro_D]

*sigh* We haven't been out benchmarking very much at all. Between injuries and work, there just hasn't been time. Now that weather is turning colder and the snow will be flying, BMing will not be high on the priority list until spring. I'm looking forward to getting back out there though. I find looking for BMs is a fine way to spend a day - after all I usually travel on country roads and go to places that I would otherwise just pass by.

[+Klemmer]

In Southern California, BM'ing is an all-year around sport / hobby. Just a few days of rain now and then. Come out & join us sometime!

[monkeykat]

In Southern California, BM'ing is an all-year around sport / hobby. Just a few days of rain now and then. Come out & join us sometime!

 

Ahhh, you have my envy. Having just started geocaching and benchmarking this summer, I will be approaching my first winter as a cacher. With Rochester Snowfall Totals regularly exceeding 100 inches, and a 30 year average of 95 inches, I am not planning on a very active winter of caching and disk hunting. I am sure I will get out for some Church Spires and Standpipes though.

[+shorbird]

Ah, benchmarking. As with geocaching, I started close to home and worked my way outwards. There are still plenty yet to find in my area, but I find myself going further afield. A bonanza of sorts awaits those who benchmark along the shores of Lake Erie. For some reason, there is an abundance of marks on or near the breakwalls along the lake. In one breakwall near Westfield, NY, I found five marks within a few yards of each other. It's always fun to get out there and look for benchmarks, as you never know what you will find and where.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

Well my shifts.

Aquired 2 grand daughters to raise,5 and 7.

The closest benchmark is now a 2 hour drive just to get started.

So I get out get started and it is time to be ack for the bus.

 

Gas prices.

Just not worth the raise in my credit card bill.

 

Had to rebuild 4x4 1500.00.

Drought conditions has doubled the price of hay for the critters.

Health has not been all that great lately.

 

I think I will start over at the beginning of the year,there are some I have not reported in 4 years now.

 

But all in all it will come back as soon as winter breaks.