New to Benchmark Hunting - help!

[+JeepFreak81]

Hello everyone, so I've just discovered benchmark hunting and am very excited about it. I've been Geocaching for a little over a month now and stumbled across the benchmarking part of this website. Anyhow, it interests me especially in my area because of the history attached to some of these benchmarks.

 

I went looking for a few today, 3 of them with the same coordinates and the other very near by. I had no luck even though I did find 1 witness post. The descriptions are hard to go on because for example in the area I was today many of the directions are based off from buildings that are no longer there. Old RR station and pump house to be specific.

 

I just wondered if there were some tips and or tricks or other things to help me learn how to be the most efficient at this. I know there will be many that I can't find but at least one I was looking for the last person said it was an easy find.

[+EdrickV]

Only found one benchmark so far, but I did learn a couple things.

1. That disk was a lot smaller then I would have thought it would be.

2. For benchmark disks in the ground, the grass can easily hide it.

3. If there is a witness post, then in theory the benchmark should be very near it, probably hidden by the ground cover.

4. Remember that benchmarks with scaled coordinates (or possibly no_check coordinates) may be off quite a bit. Adjusted coordinates should be more accurate then your hand held GPS, so if the GPS has a good lock it should be pretty accurate. HH_GPS coordinates were made with a hand-held GPS, and thus may suffer the same accuracy issues as Geocaches.

[TillaMurphs]

Welcome JeepFreak,

 

You will find many helpful people here.

 

Why don't you tell us which marks you were looking for and then maybe we can give you some tips to help locate them?

 

In the meantime, you might also give the Benchmark FAQ a read through. (Don't worry if you don't comprehend everything in it the first time - I certainly had to read it through quite a few times, and find some marks, before it began to be totally comprehensible).

 

(Could you have possibly been looking for PF0611, PF0612, PF0613 and PF0547?)

 

Good luck,

 

The TillaMurphs

[+JeepFreak81]

Welcome JeepFreak,

 

You will find many helpful people here.

 

Why don't you tell us which marks you were looking for and then maybe we can give you some tips to help locate them?

 

In the meantime, you might also give the Benchmark FAQ a read through. (Don't worry if you don't comprehend everything in it the first time - I certainly had to read it through quite a few times, and find some marks, before it began to be totally comprehensible).

 

(Could you have possibly been looking for PF0611, PF0612, PF0613 and PF0547?)

 

Good luck,

 

The TillaMurphs

 

I have read through the FAQ, it does help. I think I just need some practice. Also I had no idea how big the discs are. In my mind I was thinking a small paperplate size, but now I'm thinking smaller.

 

Also, those are the exact benchmarks I was looking for. At least 1 or 2 of those are likely gone, buried, or destroyed based on the dam where they should be. It's in pretty rough shape with some large trees that had fallen on it.

 

Thanks for the tips so far!

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

First thing to do for these marks is to get a Topo (7 1/2 min or 15 min size) map for the area and see what buildings are shown on the map. The map may even have BM X where the benchmarks are supposed to be located. Also check the found it log for PF0547 and the accompanying picture. Note that the finder says he found it on the left side of the dam while looking on the right side. Most disk are about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

 

If you can locate PF0547 then you can use it to determine where the pump house, rails, and station were located and then use that information to find the other marks.

 

John

[+billwallace]

This Benchmark Viewer is a handy tool - as mentioned previously the actual location of a mark with scaled coordinates can be quite different.

 

For marks where the landmarks mentioned in the description are not there anymore, sometimes you can find an old map (online) that will help you get your bearings to existing features in the area.

[+EdrickV]

You could try doing PF0546, which is just up the tracks a bit and should be easy to find as it apparently has a witness post. That would give you a better idea what you're looking for.

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=PF0546

[+JeepFreak81]

Thanks for all the tips! That Scaredy Cat link is great!! Just need to get out and find some now!!

[+frex3wv]

Jeep -

 

Welcome to benchmark hunting - I think you will love it. The folks on this forum are VERY nice and VERY smart - so ask specific questions with detail for best results!

 

My advice is - go find a few you KNOW are there - ones found by others very recently - THEN find one with no recent recovery and try your hand at it - once you get a "FTF" on an old mark - you will REALLY be hooked.

 

I just got an FTF on a mark placed in the early 50's - totally awesome!

 

Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing!

 

(and one another thing - when in doubt about how to log a mark you found/or didn't find - ask here - or simply post a note)