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Post by arfcomhkr on Dec 16, 2014 16:57:43 GMT -5
The one on the canyon rim is a usfs boundary marker not a usgs benchmark. There are a couple usgs benchmarks in the roaring plains area. One is on Mount Porte Crayon. And a couple more in dolly sods. There common along roads and railroads but I mainly hunt for the ones on peaks. That makes sense. I see them now and then, but really don't pay all that much attention other than that. Now that you mention railroads, I think there's one embedded in a bridge abutment over the Shavers Fork between Beaver Creek and Spruce. I would have never noticed, but there was a survey crew there when I was hiking back down the tracks.
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Post by dunkard on Dec 16, 2014 18:35:28 GMT -5
Yep your right It looks like there was about a dozen between beaver creek and spruce. I have no idea how many are still there. I've found two. The one on the bridge at spruce and one at twin trestles. The ones that are fun to find are the ones on peaks like Mozark mnt and pointy knob. It's a challenge to get to them in all that thick stuff. And it gives you a reason to explore areas you normally wouldn't get to. You can log your finds through the geocache website. It'll keep track of where you've been and what else is near you.
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Post by arfcomhkr on Dec 16, 2014 18:56:13 GMT -5
It was at the twin trestles where the river makes that hairpin turn under the railroad. It was pretty obvious since they had a Trimble GPS unit sitting over it. Anyway, back on topic. Good luck with 150 getting back in there. You never know about that road in the winter. I went backpacking with another guy back there over MLK weekend years back. It was pretty bad getting into the trailhead. When we came out two days later the snow was all melted.
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Post by countryroads on Dec 18, 2014 19:02:30 GMT -5
There's one of those out on the canyon rim in Roaring Plains, just inside the woods from the pipeline. Interesting hike to the one on Porte Crayon: Don't wear shorts! My legs looked like cat scratch fever! Another one in Dolly Sods North is on a rock near where Dobbin Grade crosses the Left fork of red creek. It is on a rock about 20 feet or so off of where the grade continues straight ahead (the trail makes a sharp left turn coming from the east). Rock is on the left. I found it because I wanted a nice place to sit and watch the sunset. Found the one on Mozark mountain by accident. My hiking buddy needed to "do some business" and stumbled on the survey summit marker. Nice way to check your altimeter.
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Post by dunkard on Dec 19, 2014 6:52:23 GMT -5
There's one of those out on the canyon rim in Roaring Plains, just inside the woods from the pipeline. Interesting hike to the one on Porte Crayon: Don't wear shorts! My legs looked like cat scratch fever! Another one in Dolly Sods North is on a rock near where Dobbin Grade crosses the Left fork of red creek. It is on a rock about 20 feet or so off of where the grade continues straight ahead (the trail makes a sharp left turn coming from the east). Rock is on the left. I found it because I wanted a nice place to sit and watch the sunset. Found the one on Mozark mountain by accident. My hiking buddy needed to "do some business" and stumbled on the survey summit marker. Nice way to check your altimeter. Countryroads do you recall the markings on the disc off Dobbins Grade trail? It's not a USGS disc and I don't think it would have been a boundary mark. Just curious if it had any writing on it? Maybe a county survey point or possibly some connection with the military training that took place up there.
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Dec 19, 2014 8:48:02 GMT -5
dunkard,
You may want to check your topos. There indeed is a benchmark where Dobbin Grade crosses the Left Fork. USGS topo maps show a benchmark right there with an elevation of 3801'.
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Post by dunkard on Dec 19, 2014 12:39:41 GMT -5
I see it on the quad however its not archived by the usgs here geodesy.noaa.gov/NGSDataExplorer/Therefore it has no official PID and cannot be "recovered". There are a few BM designations on QUADS that are not true USGS benchmarks I was just curious what this disc said
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Post by dunkard on Dec 19, 2014 12:48:50 GMT -5
Did a quick search and apparently only "bluebooked" benchmarks are in the database. This has to do with the measure of accuracy of the BM. It appears that mark was a usgs mark but the NGS did not consider it accurate enough to include in the database. Thats all new to me, I kinda figured all usgs marks would have been included in the database.
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vdeal
Forum Elder
Posts: 616
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Post by vdeal on Dec 19, 2014 14:34:29 GMT -5
Well, I think we're splitting hairs here on technicalities and semantics. Topo map shows it, Countryroads has seen it so I'm going out on a limb and saying it's there or was when she saw it.
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Post by dunkard on Dec 19, 2014 15:26:54 GMT -5
I'm not saying its not there just wanting to know if it can be tracked and recorded. It's kinda like geocaching, people go out looking for the benchmarks that are in the NGS database and then you can keep track of the ones you've found but they only count the ones in the NGS database. Sorry I didn't mean to come off argumentitive or seem like I was doubting the existence of a mark I was just curious what kind of a mark it was and why it wasn't in the database. In hindsight I should have explained why I hunt for the marks its a pretty nerdy hobby but I enjoy finding them. Sorry for any confusion and Hope I didn't ruffle yours or countryroads feathers too much.
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Post by countryroads on Dec 19, 2014 17:49:48 GMT -5
As Dobbin Grade makes the almost 90 degree turn before crossing the left fork, continue straight on the grade along the spruces. Marker is on top of a flat rock about 30 or so feet off the grade, on the left side as you are facing cabin Mtn, and about 100 feet or so from Dobbin Grade. Marker does give the elevation. I will have to check my archived photos to see if I have a picture of it. I usually take pics of the markers when I find them. I was surprised to find the marker; not sure of its significance, Just take a walk in the area along the grade continuation: in the rough triangle formed by the old grade, Dobbin grade trail and the left fork and check out the larger, flat-topped rocks.
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Post by dunkard on Dec 19, 2014 18:16:28 GMT -5
Thank for the description countryroads
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Post by countryroads on Dec 20, 2014 14:36:26 GMT -5
You are welcome. Have not turned up picture yet. Might be in my ancient archives.
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