I FOUND ONE!

[JustWannaCache]

So last week, I went fishing, and as I was walking back down the trail after fishing for a couple of hours, I happened to see a survey marker on the side of the trail. I've seeked out a couple of benchmarks previously, but it's been a couple of years. I knew right away what this was. I didn't have my GPS with me, so I couldn't take a reading, but I did take a photo of it with my iPhone. Had I been thinking, I could have taken a crappy reading with that, but oh well.

 

So anyhow, I just tried to log this, but I can't find it in the database. THe number is SRD3146, which I can't even enter in the SEARCH PID field as that will only take 6 characters. I tried a couple variations, but to no avail. I also attempted a search via zip code in the area, but that didn't reveal anything either. It is also marked CADASTRAL SURVEY on it.

 

Anyone have any ideas as to how I may find and log this particular benchmark? It is along the Russian River Trail, near Cooper Landing, Alaska.

[Wintertime]

PIDs are indeed only six characters, but you can search by designation, which is what "SRD3146" would be. However, don't be surprised if you don't find it. Read the "Me First" thread in this forum for more information.

 

Patty

[+billwallace]

Use this Benchmark Viewer to find the location you were fishing and see if there is an "NGS" benchmark there - if its not on that viewer it probably won't be in the GC database.

[JustWannaCache]

Well, it's not on that page, Bill. Next time I'm up there, I'll have to take a reading with my GPS.

[+NorthWes]

Well, it's not on that page, Bill. Next time I'm up there, I'll have to take a reading with my GPS.

 

Howdy! I suspect that cadastral mark isn't in the database at all, as most Alaskan disks with that stamp are simply land boundary markers placed during a survey. Along the Russian River trail there's four different major land owners in the first three miles of the trail (each managing their massive parcels to a slightly different outcome), so I suspect this was set sometime after the 1980 passage of ANILCA (Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act). ANILCA in part changed over 100 million acres of land designation to wilderness or conservation use in Alaska, which of course meant it had to be surveyed so as to protect the land out to its very boundaries. While that means the average Alaskan now has a crazy quilt pattern of land ownership/land usage regulations to deal with, it also means there's a need to delineate the borders and boundaries of that 100 million plus acres - thus, the profusion of cadastral survey marks set across the landscape here in Alaska in the mid-80s (this, in addition to the already existing sets of cadastral markers outlining prior land usage/ownership boundaries).

 

If you'd like to learn more about ''benchmarking' (with a special focus on Alaska), be sure to attend GC2AJN "Benchmarking FUNdamentals - Central Kenai Peninsula Event" on July 22nd. It's one of GeocacheAlaska Inc's ongoing series of 'EduVents' - education events designed to present a particular aspect of the geocaching game in a 30 minute fast-paced presentation, followed by a question/answer session. The events have thus far been hosted out of the Anchorage site and simultaneously webcast into local events in the central Kenai Peninsula, Homer, the Matanuska/Susitna Valley and Valdez. This particular event seeks to equip geocachers with basic knowledge about geodetic survey marks, mostly using the outline presented on geocaching.com's Introduction to Benchmark Hunting - arguably the best place to start learning about this aspect of the great 'game of location' geocachers are playing. Hope to hear you 'log in' on July 22nd!