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Improvised Traverse Points

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mccracker
(@mccracker)
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I'm sure most of you have been on a job, far from the truck when you realize you didn't bring enough stuff. We were staking a wetland delineation line on a new little project outside of town. After quite a bit of cutting and staking we traversed farther than anticipated. We use the 1x2 hubs for traverse points all the time for jobs like this because they're not permanent but last long enough to return to, but today we ran out.

A couple of cut tree branches go a long way.

Attached files

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 7:44 pm
party-chef
(@party-chef)
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Looks like some dense brush.

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 7:54 pm
rj-schneider
(@rj-schneider)
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:good:

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 8:12 pm
Beer Legs
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I believe Perry uses this method.

Speaking of Perry, where has he been lately? I imagine it's maple syrup time....

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 8:21 pm
Williwaw
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What? No RTK?!?!

Pretty much what I do in the woods. 7d nails and stobs.

Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 8:28 pm

smitty
(@smitty)
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looks like skeeter country. nice improvise.

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 8:30 pm
Surveyor Dean
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I've used penny's and dimes as well as a ink pin stuck in the ground before when out of nails.

 
Posted : March 8, 2016 9:24 pm
a-harris
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A place like that you are actually cutting tunnels thru the woods because the overhead growth won't fall down.
enjoy

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 12:23 am
hlbennettpls
(@hlbennettpls)
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A Harris, post: 361276, member: 81 wrote: A place like that you are actually cutting tunnels thru the woods because the overhead growth won't fall down.
enjoy

Welcome to the "Real Florida"...lol.

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 4:11 am
Timberwolf
(@timberwolf)
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I have done that exact thing. I have also used marker dots on a hard surface such as a rock.

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 5:53 am

RFB
 RFB
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Oh yeah,
Cut your own stakes in the field and use strips of your shirt as ribbon.

That's how it used to be done.:stakeout:

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 5:58 am
FL/GA PLS
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Looks like Y'all are getting further and further into the Glades. I imagine by now SR 80 looks like Military Trail. 😉

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 6:05 am
paden-cash
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I was with another surveyor a few years back and we had hoofed a half mile of fence to root around at quarter corner on a closed section line. We had with us a roll-up steel tape, two plumb bobs, a pin-finder, shovel, a roll of flagging and a field book.

Finding a pin there was unexpected, and he wanted to reference the pin himself rather than leave the task up to his crew when they came back to locate it. We were able to come up with several references from the fences and pull posts that were adjacent to the pin but needed something a bit further away in case the fences were wiped out or replaced. There was a good sized elm about 25 yards away, but neither had a nail with us to drive in the tree...let alone a hammer.

I "blazed" the bark with the shovel and he took an old house key off his key ring and drove it 3/4 of the way into the trunk with a brick we found at the fence corners. He left the word "SCHLAGE" facing up and visible on the key...and noted as such on the filed reference.

Like Sgt. Gunny Highway told us...overcome, improvise and adapt...

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 6:13 am
paul-in-pa
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paden cash, post: 361295, member: 20 wrote: I was with another surveyor a few years back and we had hoofed a half mile of fence to root around at quarter corner on a closed section line. We had with us a roll-up steel tape, two plumb bobs, a pin-finder, shovel, a roll of flagging and a field book.

Paden, what no compass?

Paul in PA

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 7:02 am
nate-the-surveyor
(@nate-the-surveyor)
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I'd suggest the following: Cut them off at around 40" tall. Depends on how tall you set your tripod. Tie flagging around the COT (Cut Off Tree) top. about an inch down from the top. Place a finish nail, with an accordion of flagging on it, and a Pinch of DOT reflector tape. Now, you have a Foresight, Backsite, and traverse station.
I've run miles of these. And, often, the tree will still grow.... If you need a more permanent traverse station, make a sideshot to a 60d spike, some 20-70 ft away, with... you guessed it. DOT tape.
This is why a narrow beam reflectorless gun is the way to go.

Now, this is TOP SECRET information. Don't waste it! 🙂

N

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 7:05 am

Mark Mayer
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When I started in this business, in the late '80's in Canada, hubs of this sort for rural traverses were the rule, not the exception.

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 7:15 am
rj-schneider
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RFB, post: 361293, member: 142 wrote: Oh yeah,
Cut your own stakes in the field and use strips of your shirt as ribbon.

That's how it used to be done.:stakeout:

[sarcasm]Okay, so on a long enough traverse the often derided MLB look was a bit more ubiquitous than was let on ??[/sarcasm]

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 8:19 am
paden-cash
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Paul in PA, post: 361304, member: 236 wrote: Paden, what no compass?

Paul in PA

no compass....probably should have been stripped of my Boy Scout "Mapping" Merit Badge...:-(

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 9:52 am
Geezer
(@geezer)
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I read in one of the old county field books, that the crew needed to improvise a traverse point and used "frozen dog turd". 🙁

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 10:37 am
nate-the-surveyor
(@nate-the-surveyor)
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I once had to set a traverse point in a field. Farmer did not approve. NO METAL. I wound up setting a locust stick, with a carved hole in the end, to hold the pole, and flagging around it. Buried.
"Traverse must go on". Is my motto.

N

 
Posted : March 9, 2016 10:42 am

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