MnGCA

SirPoonga · Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 11:22 pm Post subject: Benchmarks

Any of you search for benchmarks?
Since there isn;t many caches in central WI, I am thinking of searching for benchmarks too. How ever I notice some are in near impossible locations to get to or are underground. Meaning I will need more than just a gPS for some. But hey, it's something else to look for.

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=PO0540
Ok, that is the closest one to where I am now. THAT one will be tough to find as the completely redid the school a couple of years ago. The school use to just have 3-6 grade but now has k-6. (k-2 use to be in a school in chili WI, this is where I went to grade school). Since the school has changed and been completely rebuilt that leaves out one of the measurements.

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

Something to look for yes. But remember those are placed by the USGS and NGS, so some are on private property. There's one near my place on a private country club golf course. Often been tempted to go talk to someone there to see if I could go photograph it...

SirPoonga · Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 6:09 pm Post subject:

yeah, I noticed. I noticed many here are at places like the electric company, water company, etc... The airport has a couple. Many along the train tracks.

The two closest to me, the one is on school property there, actually it sounds like it is close to the road so it might be on a different branch of the government's property Smile

The other is down the road a quarter mile, possibly next to a field.

There isn't much for intown caches here in Marshfield, WI. I might have to remedy that. I'm also going to try and get one hidden at school forest. My cousin in law is head of that Smile

That's open to the public for most of the year.

fsu*noles · Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 6:53 pm Post subject:

I like benchmarks, but in talking to cachers and benchmarkers it seems like it's rare to find anyone that does both - most benchmarkers have very few cache finds, and vice versa.

I think you'll find that most of the marks are hard to find or gone, due to their age. I don't know how they are out in WI, but one thing's for sure, here in MN don't rely on the coords in the datasheets, they're almost always wrong. The descriptions are much better, but even they are off sometimes as well.

I don't know who did the '91 survey for the State of MN, but I've learned not to trust their claim of "mark not found" - there's plenty that are still there that MNDOT claim are gone, such as this one, this one, and this one that are all in a row on Highway 55.

If you'd rather search for older ones, there are a couple of 101-year old ones I've run across. I love the sense of history on those, with the State of MN only 150-something years old...one's in Shakopee at the Scott County Courthouse, and the other one (pictured below) is in Excelsior. Have fun and happy hunting!

-Ken

Centris · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 7:28 pm Post subject:

I have only found two benchmarks.... one in South West Wyoming and one in West Central Colorado. Both found quite by accident while searching for other caches. It was kind of cool to just find them like that. Like a little cache bonus.

However..... When I went to log them, there was no record of either one in the geo-system so, no credit.
Makes me wonder how many more unknown benchmarks there are out there?

SirPoonga · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 10:46 pm Post subject:

Well, unknown to the NGS database gc.com uses. The old system is still pretty much logged with paper.

towlebooth · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 7:09 am Post subject:

KC0GRN · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1424

Now that I've been wiping my area out of caches I haven't grabbed, I might start picking up Benchmarks, just for the heck of it, still gotta have something to do on the way home.

Pear Head · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 4:20 pm Post subject:

RJ · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

You can score two benchmarks and a cache at this cache.
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team-deadhead · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 8:26 pm Post subject:

You can score two benchmarks and a cache here there are three benchmarks but you can only log two.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=11a6025a-d3a6-4953-994f-516ef1307aa4
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TwentySeven · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 5:14 am Post subject:

Have you seen Candy Apple Green's "Lotsa Hidey Holes"? You have the cache and 4 benchmarks. But one of them is not on the site. I spent too much time looking for the cache that I blew off the benchmarks once I found the cache!
Shane

SirPoonga · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 5:24 pm Post subject:

Stop creating new forums just because of little ole me Smile

Lyverbird · Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:00 pm Post subject:

Due to a long story about a dumb grain suppliar that can't get his order right, I didn't have enough time to pack for my trip to AZ and Vegas. Silly me for my my GPS and my planned list of caches. Embarassed

Neer fear thought I, We'll be going over the Hoover Dam and so benchmarks can be found for cache 100! Well I just logged tem bit the points don't count. Drat Foiled again. Embarassed

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EskoClimber · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 10:54 pm Post subject: Hunting Bench Marks

I hunt benchmarks when I start running low on caches or when there aren't very many caches in an area. For example, today I headed up the north shore and found 12 benchmarks and 2 caches. Of course, I didn't find 13 benchmarks that were on my list. Most benchmarks are placed close to the road. When road construction widens the road, thats the end of those marks.
I particularly enjoy looking for marks that are hard to access, at the top of a cliff for example. But I am a rock and ice climber.