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Pre-Rogaine
I drove down with Dan and Jon the night before. We stopped at a Thai restaurant (Bangkok 56) in Harrisburg for dinner. We arrived at Camp Shehaqua after dark. We stayed the night in a small cabin. It was much colder that night than I thought it was going to be. The cabin was not heated and the "mattresses" were just plywood boards. I didn't bring anything with me other than a twin-size comforter and and a pillow.
The temperature dropped down into the low-40s, I'm guessing. I slept fully dressed under the comforter. I did my best to stay under the comforter but I woke up on a number of occasions to find that my nose was cold because it was sticking out into the cold night air. I have no idea how long I slept. I know that I was awake for long periods of time. I must have slept some because I was not dead-on-my-feet the next day and I have a vague memory of at least one dream.
6-hour Rogaine
I got off to a decent start (by my standards) but lost a lot of time (1:37:03 by my estimate) looking for two controls that I never found. Best case scenario I might have scored a couple hundred more points than I actually did. I am satisfied with my performance considering that it was my first 6-hour rogaine.
Map A
My initial strategy was to get all the controls in one section of the map. I started with the eastern section of the map. First I swept south and then east. It took me 21 minutes to find the first three controls (63, 75, 65) as I swept south. It took me 29 minutes to find the eastern-most control on the map (35). In retrospect, considering how few points it was worth and the amount of time I spent looking for it I probably should have skipped it and headed west instead after finding 65.
The next three controls (45, 77, 67) challenged me but I found them all. I was unable to find the 8th control (47) I looked for. I circled around in the general vicinity of it, probably passed close to it, but never found it. In retrospect I am torn as to whether I should have skipped it altogether or just approached it from a different angle. I spent almost 55 minutes looking for it.
Having found (or at least looked) for all the controls in the eastern section of the map. I didn't have a plan of attack for this portion other than to wrap it up by getting the controls closest to the finish. I found the first control (73) I searched for in the western portion of the map without too much trouble.
At that point I probably should have reversed course and headed back to the trail I left when I was approaching 73. Instead I did much fruitless bushwhacking in an attempt to find 61. I finally gave up on finding it after 43 minutes. At that point I was getting frustrated. In a little over two hours since finding 67 I had only found one more control, 73.
Having a little less than an hour and 45 minutes to go I decided to play it safe and look for the low hanging fruit. I found 31 without too much trouble. I probably played it a little safer than I otherwise might have due to my experiences with 61 and 47.
I made a colossal mistake when it came to finding the next control (53): I headed south when I should have headed north. Not only did I head in the wrong direction but I ignored two clear indications that I was headed the wrong way: I crossed a creek that shouldn't have been there and I didn't cross a string telephone poles. It wasn't until I got back to a control I been to before I that I realized I was headed in the wrong direction. I probably lost 20 minutes thanks to his mistake.
I found the last two controls (53, 51) that I looked for without too much trouble. I got back to the finish with a little over 15 minutes to spare.
Map B
The only control I found on this map (80) was 50 feet from the finish.
Post-Rogaine
We hung around for almost two hours after the rogaine. There was food and an awards ceremony. Jon finished in first place. No one found all of the controls, Jon came closest (47/50). All participants received a commemorative towel.
We stopped on the way back for dinner at an Indian restaurant (Taste of India) in Harrisburg.
I was determined to make it as far as I could on the drive back without refueling. I almost made it to the gas station I intended to stop at when my car ran out of gas. Lucky for me I was able to coast downhill to the gas station.
Course
The distance is the straight line distance of the route I walked, jogged, and crawled. I included the controls in the measurement. I only searched for 14 of 50 controls.
Course: 6 Hr Rogaine [14 controls; 8.1 km]
Score: 715 points (Map A: 635; Map B: 80)
Time: 5:43:29 - Results
Actuals: 14.81 (distance); 415 (climb)
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