French Creek East - Jul 14, 2013

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I drove up the day before the meet and camped in French Creek State Park. My camping gear consisted of a 2-person tent and a bed roll that I bought from REI in early June. It took me a half hour to get the tent set up. The instructions on the bag were clear enough, but it took me a little while to figure out what was what. It took me almost as long to break the tent down on Sunday morning.

I had originally intended to stop in Lancaster for dinner on Saturday night but it was only 4:30 when I reached Lancaster and I wasn't very hungry so I kept driving. I ended up dining on a kashi bar and a mix of almonds and raisins on Saturday night. For breakfast the next morning I had some fresh fruit (that I bought at Whole Foods on Saturday), some more almonds and raisins, and a blueberry flavored pro bar.

Early Arrival, Late Start

I arrived early (9:20) and expected to be one of the first people to start. Unfortunately the meet director was a little overwhelmed and short on help so everything was not ready to go at 10 when the meet was supposed to begin. I helped carry some gear from the parking area up to the registration area, a couple hundred yards away. After that I stood around and waited for a while.

More and more people started to show up and things weren't ready to go. The e-punch set up was still in the process of getting set up when the meet director asked if someone would carry 3 gallons of water up to the start, which was a good kilometer or more uphill from the registration area. Nobody responded to his request so I picked up the box and lugged it up to the start.

Slow Start, Small Map

I expected that after I got to the start I would have to turn around, go back to the registration area, and register my e-punch. Instead they told me I could go ahead and start. I was a bit out of breath and sweating profusely but I accepted the challenge. My eyes almost popped out of my head when they handed me the map. It was tiny, considering the area it covered. the contour lines were printed in yellow and hard to read.

It took me a minute to get my bearings and figure out in which direction I need to head in order to find the first control. It took me about 15 minutes to find it, even though it wasn't very far from the start.

It took me over 30 minutes to find the second control. My search for it began with much bushwhacking. Once I got though all the under growth and out on a trail I thought I was in good shape. I would have been if I hadn't mistaken one trail junction for another and turned off onto a trail that didn't lead me where I needed to go. Once i figured out what I had done wrong, which took a while, I was able to find the control 2/77 without too much trouble.

The next 9 controls (3 through 11) didn't give me any trouble at all. I used my compass quite a bit while searching for them. I was most concerned when looking for 3/xx because other than having a bearing I wasn't sure what terrain features to look for. I followed the bearing and nailed the control. I didn't nail all the other controls I found but once I got close enough and was in the area of them by looking around me I was able to spot them once I got close enough.

I was sold on the compass approach after finding the first 11 controls. I tried using that approach for the 12th one and wound up in a sea of thorns. I kept pressing through the thorns until it got so bad that I had to turn back and find the nearest trail. I spent a long time amid the thorns. I didn't think they would be that thick or last for that long. Even after I turned back and started heading for a trail it took me a long time to get free of the thorns.

I did not emerge from the thorns unscathed. I came home with with many scrapes and cuts on my legs and arms. In some places there are so many marks from the thorns that it looks like I have lots of new freckles. I spent a little bit of time looking for 12, unsuccessfully. I was starting to run short on time and eventually I gave up.

I had a long walk back to the finish. It gave me plenty of time to contemplate my decision to attempt the red course. I was torn between the green and red courses. I had my doubts about my ability to finish the red. I definitely overreached. Under better circumstances I might have finished the red course successfully.

Course: Red [18 controls; 7.1 km; 205m]
Time: 3:24:49
DNF (gave up after finding the first 11 controls)
Actual Distance: 10.3 km / 6.4 miles

Mason Neck - May 19, 2013

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The weather was warm but nice at Mason Neck. I was supposed to volunteer but I was relieved of that duty earlier than expected because of the low initial turnout. Because I had a lot of time on my hands I decided to try the blue course, even though I was warned that it was long and difficult. For the most part I didn't find it to be too difficult, but I had enough trouble finding two of the controls to cause me to decide to skip a couple of the controls.

Finding 3/125

Traveling from the 2/108 to 3/125 was a bit of trial for me. The straight line distance according to the map is roughly 1.73 km (1.1 miles). I walked in circles and squares, up down and all around before I finally found it. According to my Garmin I walked 6.9 km (4.3 miles) from 2/108 to 3/125. It took me 1:49:50 to cover that distance. That's almost half of the distance and half the time that I spent on the blue course.

My initial mistake was not traveling far enough to the east. I was headed towards the control but the lack of terrain features made it difficult for me to tell if I had gone far enough. I thought I had overshot the control so I circled around and headed back the way I came. When that didn't work I assumed that I was too far to the south so I headed north. I wandered here and there. Eventually I wound up back at the road. By then I had been walking for 1:22:35 (since leaving 2/108) and covered 3 miles.

I was about ready to give up at that point. Then I recalled a handrail that I used the last time I was at Mason Neck, a line of old telephone poles. They seemed to lead almost directly to 4/126 which wasn't too far from 3/125. I followed a trail to the line of poles and approximately 28 minutes and 1.3 miles later I found 3/125.

Finding 11/124

I didn't have much trouble finding the next 4 controls. After reaching 8/122 I decided to skip 9/129 and 10/130. Doing so cut almost 2 km out of the remainder of the course. Instead I headed for 11/124. According to the map it looked like I needed to head north northeast, which according to my Garmin I did.

When I didn't find it I assumed that I might have headed northeast instead of north northeast. So I turned west for about 50 meters and then proceeded to head south southwest. Still no success. I was about ready to give up at this point. I started to head northwest toward the road. I hadn't gone too far when I spotted a couple people 100 meters away to my right. They were standing right on 11/124.

In looking at my track after I got home it looks like 11/124 was actually due north of 8/122. I'm not sure if the problem is with the map or the placement of the control but I feel somewhat vindicated in that at least this time I adopted a sound approach based on the information I had. The straight line distance from 8/122 to 11/124 according to the map was 0.43 km (0.26 miles). I ended up walking 1.45 km (0.90 miles) in 29:43 before I found it.

I was running out of time quickly but I decided to try and find the remaining 4 controls, which I did with out much trouble. It is difficult to say if I would have had much trouble in finding 9/129 and 10/130 if I had looked for them. I like to think that I would have found them with out much trouble because both controls are close to the line of telephone poles that I used when I was searching for 3/125.


Thumb Compass

I used a thumb compass (left-handed) for the first time at Mason Neck. I borrowed it from the course setter. A few days prior to Mason Neck I watched an instructional video on thumb compasses on YouTube  As with most things I needed more than just instruction to make the leap from using a baseplate compass to a thumb compass; I needed practical experience.

I wasn't entirely successful when it came to holding the map and compass in the same hand. Turning the map to line it up with the compass in theory should have been fairly simple but for some reason it was a difficult adjustment for me to make.

I also had to be careful about how I held the compass. I occasionally caught myself drifting to the left of the direction I wanted to head because I wasn't holding the compass directly in front of my body.

The biggest advantage I found to using the thumb compass was the speed and ease with which I could check the direction I was headed.


Blue Course (Modified)

Because it took me too long to find 3/125 I skipped 9/129 and 10/130. By my calculations that shortened the course from 9.3 km to 7.4 km.

Skipped: 8 - 9 (1100 m); 9 - 10 (250 m); 10 - 11 (940 m)
Added: 8 - 11 (430 m)
Net Change: 430 - 2290 = -1860
Adjusted Total Distance: 9.3 km - 1.86 km = 7.44 km

Course: Blue Modified [13 controls; 7.4 km; 210 m]
Time: 3:58:14 - AttackPoint - WinSplits
Actuals: 14.97 km (distance); 303 m (climb)
Track: Garmin Adventures

Rosaryville - Apr 28, 2012

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In one sense this was probably my least productive orienteering experience ever. I arrived on time. I registered for the blue course and within 10 minutes was on my way. The first two controls were fairly easy to find. They were more or less out in the open and people led me directly to them.
The third control was in a wooded area. To avoid following the person who led me to the first two controls I took a more interesting but less optimal route than I otherwise might have tried. In the process of finding the third control I had to cross a couple deep re-entrants. When I got to the third control I realized that my e-punch had slipped off my finger. I felt like I was just getting started. I was just starting to work up a sweat. My boots were still fairly clean. If I was in a NASCAR race the equivalent would have been wiping out in the first few laps. That's how I felt. I could have finished the course without my e-punch but at the time it felt like that would be a pointless exercise. I tried retracing my path from 2 to 3, unsuccessfully; I did not find my missing e-punch. After searching for about 20 minutes I gave up and headed back to the start. I checked in and let Valerie know I was done and that I had lost my e-punch. I changed my shoes, got in my car, and drove home. That night I got an e-mail from Valerie telling me that someone had found my e-punch.


The weird part is the calm way in which I took it all. I was disappointed but I didn't beat myself up over it. Course: Blue [19 controls; 8.6 km; 220 m] Time: DNF - 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