WHERE DO I LOG A BENCHMARK?

[kathy88]

It says that if we find a benchmark to take pictures of it and/or log it for others to read.

Where do we do that?

I have found one that does not show up on the list.

Kathy88

 

Kathy in WV

[azog]

Do a search based on the coordinates of the benchmark you found. if it doesn't come up in the list, then it may have been placed by another agency.

 

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One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

The benchmarks that are in the Geocache.com database came from the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) database. If the NGS has a record of it, you'll be able to find it, and log a find. If it is from another agency, Geocache.com may not have info on it.

 

There are many different agencies that have survey monuments that you may come across. The NGS is on of many. Along with any local surveyor's monuments and local government & State government agency caps you may find when you are out and about, the USGS (United States Geological Survey), the USACE (United States Army Corps of Engineers), the USC&GS (US Coast & Geodetic Survey), the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), even the FAA has survey benchmarks that you may physically find, but not find in the NGS database on the Geocaching website. I was on top of Mount Whitney a few years ago and saw at 7 or 8 brass caps. Each from a different agency and with a different elevation! (If I remember right, one of them was even tagged by the National Geographic Society!)

 

As far as logging a find of a non listed benchmark: as far as I know, it can't be done. At least not like you would log a find on a cache. When I find a Benchmark that I think may be in the database, I take a reading on it and write down a description of any markings and its placement (ie. in the road, on a post, etc.) Then put the coordinates you took into the benchmark search engine and see if anything turns up nearby. If the nearest mark is half a mile away from your coordinate, you've got nothing. If on shows up within a few hundred feet, you might have something. Read the official history, and if the description matches what you found, log it as a find.

 

Keep on Caching!

- Kewaneh