logging/acquiring information for benchmarks.

[+crazypig88]

I just recently found out abut benchmarks and I looked in the help Center and read about them, but I am still a bit confuzzled on how you log and find them.

Edited November 28, 2014 by crazypig88

[+MountainWoods]

The coordinates are listed for them just like a regular GC, but finding them does not go toward your GC Found It count. The ones that I've found, I just took a photo to show that I found it, then submitted an on-line log entry with the photo. Unlike GCs, there is nothing to sign there, and a photo isn't a spoiler, it's a proof of visit. Many of them are also listed as Waymarks in an appropriate category.

 

The disappointing thing about a lot of the benchmarks around here is that they are buried. Yes, buried. Remember that we are not talking about normal GCs that are not allowed to be buried. You'll usually find a Witness Post around, or 2 or 3; and if you're lucky, the benchmark will be visible as a disc afixed to a concrete block (not preform). The disc actually has a long rod sticking off of the back of it, and that rod helps to anchor the disc to the block via mortar.

 

In a discussion with another Waymarker, it turns out that it is a regional thing. Some regions have the survey markers in plain sight near the witness post(s). In other areas, like my area, most of them require a metal detector and some digging, which I didn't feel like doing. Also, if you look at the past activity on the benchmark from the appropriate government agency, even their worker could not find the bloomin' marker!

 

Still, it there is a feeling of satisfaction if/when I find one. Some of the original descriptions are funny: 100 feet southwest of large barn, etc. etc. Of course the barn burnt down back in 1953, but ....

 

Oh, BTW, you'll notice that I used the term survey marker. In actuality, the term benchmark originally meant a very specific type of survey marker. There are different types, such as triangulation points, elevation markers, and so on. But somehow the term bench mark has entered general use for survey marker, even if the latter is not really a form of the former.

 

Good luck. Maybe you live in an area where the survey markers as not buried. Have fun!

[+palmetto]

the intro page on Geocaching.com has quite a bit of info - more than the Help Center article. Linky Thingy

 

One of the links on every cache page is "nearby Benchmarks". You might want to start with some that have already been logged, it helps to know that they've been seen by someone. they can go missing, and as MountainWoods mentioned, they can be buried, under the dirt, under asphalt. A surveyor might dig for one, but you probably shouldn't ;-)

[+dprovan]

The coordinates are listed for them just like a regular GC...

Well, actually the coordinates only point to the correct location if they are "adjusted" coordinates. Most benchmarks have coordinates that are "scaled", meaning they're just an approximation. Scaled coordinates can be a significant fraction of a mile off, so you need to read the description to figure out where to look. This is yet another reason to look for ones that have already been found, since previous finders might have posted accurate coordinates or pictures to help you find them.

[+MountainWoods]

I didn't realize that. Though I do also read the descriptions. But sometimes that isn't even enough.

 

For example, one of them says that the survey marker is on the edge of a ledge of rock. If I took a photo of the location, you'd be laughing in your soup, like I did! I never found the marker, and I suspect it was because there is a significant layer of dirt on all of the half-mile's worth of ledges in that 200 foot wide area, and I didn't feel like peeling the dirt off of all of that, right along a major highway (MO route 37 by Seligman).

 

In this case, the "burial" that I referred to earlier was just an inch or less of soil. But ....

[+BCandMsKitty]

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Edited November 30, 2014 by BC & MsKitty