Wheaton - Dec 17, 2011

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Course: Red [19 controls; 7.4 km; 135 m]
Time: 2:21:04 - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Happyland (PWF) - Dec 11, 2011

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I'm not sure what happened. Everything after I got my map is a bit of a blur. I got off to a bad start and from there it just got worse and ended with a DNF. It took me almost an hour to find the first two controls. After finding the first one I had to cross a broad stream that seemed to be at least knee deep. I spent at least 10 minutes looking for a place to cross before I gave up, doubled back and crossed at a bridge.

After that it got a little better until It came time to search for the 7th control. It took me about 35 minutes to find it. I was about ready to give up when I spotted it. I found the 8th control without too much trouble. It was the last control I found.

I gave up and started to head back while looking for the 9th control. It took me roughly 45 minutes to get from the 8th control back to the start.

All in all not a great day for orienteering, for me. I wonder how I would have done on the red course. Possibly no better. I feel as if I just wasn't there mentally. I was going through the motions but that obviously wasn't enough.

Course: Blue [19 controls; 8.4 km; 245 m]
Time: DNF (2:45:55) - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Manassas - Dec 4, 2011

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The red course at Manassas wasn't too difficult navigation-wise but it was one of the longest red courses I've ever done. Still, it wasn't terribly challenging because there are no steep hills to climb. There are a few water hazards and a few thick patches of woods but that's about as difficult as it gets at Manassas.

The weather was unseasonably warm for early December. There was a lot of people there but I didn't run into quite as many as I thought I would when I was in the woods. There were a few times when a whole pack of people seemed to converge on one control at the same time.

For the first time since the Spring I used a Garmin GPS watch to track my movements. In the past I haven't been too impressed with the results. This time the file that the Garmin produced and the digital map lined up quite well, by my estimation, and I didn't see the need to make any adjustments.

Red [19 controls; 9.4 km; 70 m]
Time: 2:39:40 - WinSplits - RouteGadget

Governor Dick Hill - Nov 20, 2011

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I didn't have the easiest time at GD Hill but I finished. The first part of the red course was the most difficult, for me at least. The 6 controls in that section of the course were in an area that was relatively flat and had a number of thorny spots.

1/62 This wasn't a difficult control to find but I took a round-about route to get to it.

4/65 & 5/61 These two controls were fairly close to another. I managed to walk right between them and not see either of them. I eventually realized that I must have passed them and turned around. On my second pass through I found 5/61 And then 4/65

6/79 I wasn't careful enough when looking for this control. I veered off in the wrong direction. Eventually I realized my mistake and headed back towards where I assumed the control must be. I found a control but it wasn't the one I was looking for. I circled around some more, got a better idea of where I was, and eventually found 6/79 It was visible from the other control I found. I dunno why I didn't see it when I found the control that wasn't on the red course.

I had some help finding controls 8-12. They were all fairly close together but I still appreciated the help. After finding 8/69 there was a fair amount of climbing to do to find the rest, first up and then down.

The remaining controls were not difficult to find although I managed to make a number of silly mistakes when looking for the last control and then heading to the finish.

The ride up and back was okay. Nothing too eventful happened. There was a birthday party on the bus, which began while we were still at the park. I missed most of the fun because I was changing clothes. I didn't want to endure a 2.5 - 3 hour bus ride in wet clothes.

The weather was nice and unseasonably mild for mid November in Central PA. There wasn't as much climbing on the red course as I thought there would be. The course was definitely challenging enough.

Time: 3:34:12 - winsplits - routegadget

Great Falls, MD - Nov 13, 2011

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The weather was perfect, much nicer than it has been the past few times I have orienteered at Great Falls.

There was a huge turnout. Over 200 people participated.

For the most part the controls didn't give me too much trouble. To be fair I had some help in the form of other competitors who, one way or another, led me to some of the controls.

When I was looking for control 6/112 I got off course. I was heading down the wrong side of a large reentrant. I thought I was headed in the right direction based on my compass but it felt wrong. So I took a chance and crossed the reentrant and quickly found the control flag. That experience gave me a boost of confidence.

I dropped my map when I was looking for control 12/114. It wasn't long before I realized it was missing. I had a good guess as to where I might have dropped it. In the process of heading back to the spot I found the control.

While looking for control 22/119 I'm pretty sure I wandered into the forbidden zone by accident. I should have headed southwest from the previous control in order to avoid the out of boundaries area but I headed south. The forbidden zone didn't cover a very large area. It was shaped kind of like the letter U. The control was right in the middle of the hollow of the U. I can't have the been only person to mistakenly cross into the forbidden zone. There were no signs of any sort to indicate the boundaries of the zone. It was just marked as such on the map. When I sketched my route on RouteGadget I lied about the actual route I took to get to control 22/119. I made it look as though I skirted the forbidden zone but did not cross into it.

Red [28 controls; 8.5 km; 345 m]
Time: 3:03:46 - winsplits - routegadget

Elk Neck - Nov 6, 2011

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I was unsuccessful in my attempt to complete the short version of the Susquehanna Stumble.

The woods were very thick in places and the map was very old. According to the meet director the map had not aged well. He warned that there were plenty of things on the map (trails for instance) that were not there any more and other things that weren't on the map that are currently there. He was correct.

I didn't give up until after I found all the controls in the second window. I was getting concerned about how long I was taking. If I had just taken the road I probably could have completed the course, although not within the the 3 hour time limit. When I gave up I was worried that I was nearing the 5 hour time limit for the long course. If I had been keeping track of the time then I would have realized that I still had over an hour left at the time I gave up.

Within each of the two windows we had the option to find the controls in whatever order we wanted. Here's the order in which I found them. Control H was the last one that I found before giving up.

Window 1: C-B-D-A
Window 2: E-F-I-G-H

I carpooled to Elk Neck State Park with three other QOC members. The drive up and back was very pleasant. One of the other guys drove. It was nice to not be the one driving for once.

It was a cool day but not cold. Great weather for orienteering.

Susquehanna Stumble Short [16 controls; 8.54 km; 370m]
Time: 4:14 (approx) / DNF - results

Oregon Ridge - Oct 30, 2011

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It was unseasonably cool (40-45 F) at Oregon Ridge this year. There was even a little bit of snow on the ground, here and there. Considering how I felt after my most recent and only other outing at this park I decided to upgrade from red to blue.

For the most part it wasn’t too navigationally challenging. I only made a couple mistakes and neither of them were big errors.

When I was looking for 6/126, I misread the terrain but my error turned out in my favor. I arrived at the open area that the gas lines run along sooner than I thought I would. At that point I was very close to the control. I went past the control when searching for it, realized my mistake and doubled back. I found it fairly quickly on the second pass.

When I was looking for 13/132, I was travelling through an area that had lots of re-entrants. I started to go up the wrong one, heading east instead of north. I didn’t get very far before I decided to check my compass. Realizing my mistake I changed course and got back on track and didn’t have trouble finding the control.

I had one of those weird moments when I was looking for 14/112. I got close to the control but didn’t see it. I paused for a moment and compared the terrain around me to the map. I guessed where I was on the map and pointed to where the control should be, assuming I was reading the map correctly. I looked up from my map in the direction I was pointing and saw the control, not more than 30 meters away exactly where I was pointing.

The last five controls weren’t difficult to find but it took me about an hour to get to them. The longest leg was from 14 to 15, probably over 1 km.

Blue [19 controls; 10 km; 350 m]
Time: 3:27:43 - winsplits - routegadget

Hemlock Overlook - Oct 16, 2011

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Hemlock Overlook is far from my favorite place to go orienteering, primarily because the map is uneven and inaccurate in more than one place. I’ve been to 4 or 5 orienteering meets at Hemlock over the past 6 years. I decided this time to try something different. Instead of doing the red or blue course I attempted the three easiest courses.

The white course was very easy, navigationally speaking. All the controls were along trails. There was only one control that wasn’t right on the trail; it was visible from the trail and easy to reach. I made decent time. Due to a dearth of serious competition I managed to finish 2nd on the white course.

The yellow course was longer than the white course. It was also a little more navigationally challenging but for someone like me who is used to advanced courses it wasn’t difficult at all. Two of the six controls on the yellow course were off the trail, but both were easy to find once I left the trail. There was definitely more climb in the yellow course than there was in the white. The competition was a little stiffer on the yellow than on the white. I finished 7th on the yellow course.

The orange course was longer than the two easy courses, involved more climbing and a little more navigationally challenging. There was only one control (8/116) that I had a hard time finding, and that was because I trusted the map too much. I was following a trail which just kind of petered out. I was waiting for it to turn to the right, at which point I was going to turn to the left. I wound up walking too far before I turned to the left. For a while I wandered around the wrong area looking for the control. Eventually I came to my senses and realized the mistake I had made. When I did find the control I was headed in the right direction but I also got some help from a couple other people who found it just before me. I was in 6th place on the orange course before I took over 30 minutes to find control 8/118. I wound up in 21st place.

All in all it was a great day for orienteering, notwithstanding the blisters and insect bites I brought home with me. The weather was perfect. I probably covered as much ground as I would have on the red course alone. Doing 3 courses instead of 1 worked out nicely for me, despite my one stumble. If I was to do it over again I think I would have had a bar to eat around the beginning of the orange course. I think that would have helped to keep me sharper and maybe I would have realized sooner that I had made a mistake and finished the orange course more quickly.

I hung around for a while after the meet was over, helped a little bit with cleanup and chatted with first the Onksts and then Dan and Jon. Once everything was cleaned up I went to dinner with Dan and Jon at Myanmar Restaurant in Falls Church, where the food was very good but the service was slow.

Course 1: White [6 controls; 1.8 km; 65 m]
Time: 20:26 - winsplits




Course 2: Yellow [6 controls; 2.9 km; 115 m]
Time: 37:09 - winsplits



Course 3: Orange [10 controls; 3.3 km; 185 m]
Time: 1:36:43 - winsplits - routegadget

Swanson Road - Oct 1, 2011

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For the first time I didn't do any orienteering at an orienteering meet because I was the meet director. It wasn't anywhere near as labor intensive as I feared it might be, at least not on the day of the meet. During the week leading up to this meet I did spent most of my free time gathering volunteers and communicating with others who were going to be there. Still, it was a long day. I got there at 9:20 and didn't leave until 17:30 or 18:00.

Swanson Road 1001, a set on Flickr.

Lake Needwood - Sep 18, 2011

Course: Red [7.3 km; 228m; 28 controls]
Time: 2:53:55 - winsplits - routegadget


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Meadowood - Jul 4, 2011

Course: Short [3.7 km; 200m; 10 controls]


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Not a great day of orienteering for me. I found the first six (of ten) controls without too much trouble. I could not find the seventh control. I'm not sure exactly why. I'm pretty sure that I was in the right area and I circled around a few times before giving up on it. I was also unable to find the eighth control. I suspect that the course setter (Nadim) may have already picked up those controls. He did say he was going to give us a 20 minute head start before heading out to start picking up controls. Another possibility is that the map is deficient.

After looking for #8 I decided to pack it in. I set my compass for the general direction that I thought I needed to head in, west, and started walking. Roughly 10 minutes later I realized I was headed in the wrong direction. I should have been heading east. I backtracked and eventually made my way back to my car, without finishing the course.

Cabin John - Jun 18, 2011

Course: Short [4.3 km; 90m; 11 controls]


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This was a training exercise. To make it a little more challenging than usual the course setter, Nadim, removed the trails from the map. There was an unedited version of the map on the flip side but I didn't use it.

I chose to do the short version because I knew that there was a smaller window of time (1.5 hrs as opposed to 3-4 hrs) than for a regular o-meet. It took me close to 2 hrs to finish the course, long enough that one of the controls was being picked up as I approached the location where it had been placed.

Between the 3rd and 4th controls the contact lens on my left eye slid out of place. I finished the course only being able to see with one eye. Not the first time I've done that but it still increased the level of difficulty for me.

Only one of the controls was difficult to find, the 6th one. I was thrown off by the terrain which was filled with lots of thick vegetation. I was also found that distances seemed longer on the ground than I thought they would be when reading the map. The first mistake I made when navigating from 5 to 6 was that I followed the wrong stream for a couple minutes before realizing I was headed in the wrong direction. My second mistake was to double back when I hadn't gone far enough. Eventually, when I was about ready to give up looking, I found it.

The rest of the controls weren't difficult to find. One of them (#8) was picked up just before I reached it. Lucky for me the person who picked it up, Eddie, spotted me and let me know which control he had just picked up.

After orienteering and changing into some cleaner clothes we went to the Corner Bakery for dinner.

Balls Bluff - May 22, 2011

Course: Red [7.1 km; 390m; 17 controls]
Time: 2:47:23 - winsplits - routegadget


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McKeldin - Apr 17, 2011

Course: Blue [8.3 km; 430m; 20 controls]
Time:2:17:05 - winsplits - routegadget


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Westmoreland - Apr 10, 2011

Course: Line-O/Score-O [8 controls/15 controls]
Time: 2:52:00 (24/25 points) - results


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Once again the weather was damn near perfect. It was cool but not too cool but I heated up pretty quickly even though up top I was just wearing a t-shirt and a jacket.

The line-o portion of the course was hilly but not too difficult. A good deal of the line-o was along trails or well defined train features. I was completely unfamiliar with line-o prior to this event; I hadn’t even heard of it. I tried not to take that portion of the course too seriously. I focused on staying on course and didn’t worry too much about missing controls. I found them all even though I misplaced one of them (by 10 or 20 meters) on my map.

The score-o portion of the course was more challenging. The controls weren’t difficult to find, but the terrain was physically challenging; in other words, there were lots of steep hills. There was also a fair amount of mud and a swampy area that had to be crossed to get to most of the score-o controls. I was ankle deep in mud on a few occasions.

There was no e-punching. Very few people, just 11, attempted the advanced (line-o/score-o) course.

Little Bennett North - Mar 27, 2011

Course: Green [6.1 km; 200m; 16 controls]
Time: 1:52:56 - winsplits - routegadget


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The weather was perfect: cool, a little breezy, no rain or snow.

I arrived at 12:30. I helped out at the registration table from 1-1:45, after which I walked the green course. I would have preferred to attempt the red course but I was fairly certain that I didn't have enough time to finish it before 4:00.

Overall the course wasn't too difficult. I have orienteered in Little Bennett before but there was very little overlap between the section we used this time and the section used on my previous visits to the park. I probably could have done a better job with route selection, especially towards the end of the course. On the whole I am happy with my performance.

Pohick Bay - Mar 13, 2011

Course: Red [6.0 km; 190m; 12 controls]
Time: 1:50:31 - winsplits - routegadget


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The weather was perfect, not too cool and not too warm. I worked up a bit of a sweat. I didn’t get my feet wet, although I did walk through plenty of mud and marshy ground.

None of the controls gave me very much trouble. There were a lot of people in the woods, which made finding most of the controls that much easier. Could I have done a better job with route selection? Probably but I think I did a decent job. Next time I orienteer at Pohick Bay I should attempt the blue course.

Manassas - Feb 13, 2011

Course: Red [8.1 km; 170m; 17 controls]
Time: 2:28:27 - winsplits - routegadget


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Happyland (PWF) - Jan 30, 2011

Course: Blue [8.5 km; 380m; 13 controls]
Time: 3:35:50 - winsplits - routegadget


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I should have known better than to attempt the blue course, mainly I am thinking of the snow and ice, which were everywhere. I only orienteered at Happyland once before, March 2010. That time I did the red course and did not finish the course. So, I had no business trying the blue course, even though I did find all the controls.

Not all of the controls were easy to find. One control that was easy to find was the 4th control. It was right on the road at a bridge. For some reason I decided to try and cross the stream elsewhere. I probably cost myself 5 to 10 minutes with that brain fart.

The 5th control didn’t control didn’t give me too much trouble but I did not take the direct route. I took a trail most of the way there and then cut cross country. When I got near the control I looked around and found it very quickly. It was a long walk and I probably could have done a better job with route selection but I found it on the first attempt, which pleases me.

I think I lucked into finding the 6th control. The terrain was very repetitive in the area around the control. I was in the right general area when another individual who was also looking for it showed up. I took a quick look at the map, the direction he was heading in, my compass, took a few steps in the same direction he was headed in and there it was. I was very close to it, already but his appearance helped prevent me from wandering off in the wrong direction.

After the 9th control there was a lot of climbing; a lot of up and down steep gorges. The ice and snow didn’t make climbing, especially climbing up, any easier. On more than one occasion I had to put my map in my cargo pocket so that I could use both hands to climb.

The 12th control gave me the most trouble. There was a lot of ground to cover between 11 and 12. When I got to where I thought the control should be I couldn’t find it. I found another control that wasn’t on my course. I studied the map a little bit and decided that I must not be exactly where I thought I was, but I also knew that I couldn’t be too far off. So I circled around some more and eventually found it.

The 13th and final control gave more trouble than it should have. I think I was pretty worn out at that point. There was a lot of bushes and trees close together. I needed to head north-northwest but I kept veering west. Eventually I got to the control but it took me probably 5 minutes longer than it should have.

My feet were wet for much of the course. Not fun. After orienteering I took off my boots and socks, dried my feet and put on dry socks and shoes. Still, it wasn’t until I had driven 45 miles back to my apartment that my feet started to feel normal again. Just for the record, I didn’t wade through any streams. My boots are defective and melting snow and ice was leaking into them. I need to buy new boots.

Before orienteering I performed my good deed for the day. There wasn't much space to park. I arrived just behind a small pickup truck. We had to drove down a road, turn around, and then park on the side of the road. When turning around the truck got stuck.

After watching his wheels spin for about 30 seconds I got out and offered to give him a push. He didn't think it would work. I wasn't so sure myself. I did my best to push, when that didn't work I tried rocking the truck. That did the trick. I was a little annoyed that several people walked past without offering to help.

After orienteering I grabbed a bite to eat at the winter meeting. I was in the woods for so long that the meeting had already begun and most people had already had their fill. I picked and chose from what was left. I'm not sure what I had to eat but it was filling.

Greenbelt - Jan 23, 2011

Course: Blue [8.2 km; 220m; 19 controls]
Time: 2:27:28 - winsplits - routegadget


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It was cold at Greenbelt but not quite as cold as it was a couple weeks before at Wheaton. Still, I wore long underwear and didn’t feel too warm wearing it. There was a breeze blowing but it wasn’t blowing very hard and there were lots of places in the park where I didn’t feel it at all.

I walked the blue course, which is a step up for me. It was my first time attempting a blue course. It felt more like a long red than it did a blue. The size of the park probably had something to do with that. I don’t expect that I will be attempting the blue course at all meets from here on out but hopefully some of them.

None of the controls were extremely difficult to find. The 17th control gave me the most trouble and even that one wasn’t impossible to find. It just took a little bit of time for me to reorient myself to the terrain and approach the control from a different direction. There were a few controls that were more or less out in the open, which didn’t seem right to me for a blue course.

The only other thing to slow me down was an elderly couple that stopped me to ask for directions back to the Sweetgum Parking Lot. I tried to direct them using my map. They weren’t too far from the lot. I’m not sure I was entirely successful since the o-map didn’t have the name of roads or trails on it. The husband asked me a couple times if the trail I was suggesting they take was the Azalea Trail. I finally had to tell him I didn’t know because it wasn’t marked as such on my map.

I decided not to use a Garmin 205 gps watch. I thought about it but was still feeling a bit silly about what happened last week with the device. Maybe next time I will.

The best thing to come out of this meet was the prepay addition to the online preregistration. I was able to pay for the meet with my PayPal account. I hope they use this from now on. I hate having to bring cash to pay for the meet. This is a monumental improvement. Of course, now I’m wondering how much it costs the club in fees to have this option available.

Wheaton - Jan 9, 2011

Course: Red [6.6 km; 170m; 18 controls]
Time: 2:14:45 - winsplits - routegadget


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It was very chilly in the DC area and Wheaton Regional Park was no exception. The temperature was right around the freezing mark and the wind was blowing at 20-30 mph.

I arrived a little early. I had my heart set on using a Garmin 205 gps watch to track my orienteering. After registering I waited for Jon to arrive. I didn't have long to wait but maybe I should have taken the fact that I arrived before him as a sign.

The first mistake I made with the 205 was forgetting to hit the start/stop button after punching the START control. It wasn't until after I punched the 1st control that I noticed. I hit the start/stop button and went on my merry way. At some point, 11 minutes and 47 seconds after I started the timer I hit the start/stop button again, by accident this time.

I didn't notice until I was between the 6th and 7th controls. I didn't bother starting the timer again. Because I was so close to the registration table I detoured and dropped off the 205, which probably added a couple minutes to my time.

The only control that gave me a lot of touble was the 5th one. I went right past it on my first attempt to find it. I thought it would be to my right but it was to my left. It took about three sweeps through the area and a little help from another person to find it.

The 15th control also gave me a little trouble. I knew it was just across a stream. When I crossed the stream and didn't see it I turned right and walked a ways without finding the control until I found a trail. That helped me to reorient myself and realize the I should have turned left after crossing the stream. I walked back along the stream, past the point where I crossed it and found the control without much trouble.

I wore long underwear for the first time this season, and I'm glad I did. It was certainly cold enough. I've gone without when the temperature was lower but the wind was the deciding factor for me. After I finished orienteering I could feel myself getting colder, probably due to lack of movement. It wasn't until after I got out of my sweaty t-shirts and socks and put on some dry, clean replacements that I started to feel warm again.