Benchmark hunting

Spring is around the corner and soon the geo-hunts will be in full swing. Here is an alternative to geocaching that offers some variety and fun to your quests.

Benchmark disk




Good hunting… Boris and Natasha

4 thoughts on “Benchmark hunting

  1. Good job on the post. Benchmark hunting and benchmarks in general can always use additional “press” as you say.

    If I can ad a few points of clarification. The term “benchmark” is used on to identify any survey mark listed by the NGS, however many of the marks listed are not true benchmarks. A true benchmark, as used by surveyors, is a mark that is used to identify elevation; a vertical elevation or height based on sea-level or another vertical reference position. The vertical component of their location is the primary purpose of the station. Triangulation stations often look like benchmarks (and are called benchmarks on, however the horizontal position of the station is its primary purpose. There may be a vertical component attached to a triangulation station, however, many times there isn’t. Church steeples and water tanks are true triangulation stations with no vertical component.

    Every benchmark (or survey mark for that matter) does have a written description somewhere. That description may, or may not be held, recorded, mapped, or otherwise catalogued by a government agency, though. Many benchmarks are set by private surveyors, engineers, or scientists for private purposes. The written description and purpose of these marks may be held by the person that set the mark, the persons or group that paid for the mark to be set, or the land owner. got their benchmark list from only one government agency, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), but there are many other Federal, State, and local agencies that have benchmark networks.

    If you’re interested, some of my benchmark finds can be seen on my blog, the Calfornia Benchmark Hunter at


    1. Hi Kevin,

      Thanks for the post and the information. I learned a few things and hope future readers will too.

      We did a geotrip through the Paw Paw Tunnel in West Virginia last summer. It was a tunnel on the old C&O Canal, which is now a bike trail. Inside were 28 metal benchmark disks from the National Park Service. They were imbedded in the brickwork next to the towpath. We took a picture of every one. We thought we’d hit the jackpot for logging them on geocaching, but they weren’t listed. Now I know why.

      Thanks for your interest in the article. I’m going to link to your blog.

      Good hunting …. Dan Lawson


    1. Hi,

      Thanks for the post. Yes, the image is a benchmark disk. A little worse for wear but the Army Corps of Engineers is the real deal. That’s one of the challenges of benchmark hunting. It might not be there and nobody knows it. In general though we’ve found that if you hunt them on natural or man made features that are in use, they’ll be there.

      There’s another comment on the post that has some useful information in it. You might want to check it out.

      Good hunting …… Dan Lawson




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