Pine Grove Furnace - Nov 11, 2012

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For the third consecutive year I participated in the Susquehanna Stumble. As usual I opted to "run" the short version of the stumble. I wanted to try the long version but the short is long enough, almost 10k, and I don't move fast enough to finish the long within the 5 hour time limit. At most I probably could have finished a third to a half of the second loop before I would have had to give up.

For the most part I didn't have any trouble finding the controls. In the first "window" I got a lot of help with the first control I was looking for, C. After I circled around once, lower on the hill than I should have been, I ran into Kathleen and Heidi and they pointed me in the right direction.

In a couple cases (7,14) I drifted off course and wound up 100 meters or more to the left or right of the control. In both cases I was able to figure out what I did wrong and find the control in the second attempt. I found the controls in the second window in alphabetical order but most people did not. Finding them in alphabetical order meant I had a very long walk from H to 14. It took me over 40 minutes.

It was a beautiful day. It was cool but not too cool. The sun helped to keep it warm even when the breeze was blowing.

After the stumble most of the QOC contingent met in Gettysburg, PA at the Allegheny Brewing Company for dinner.

I obtained my unofficial splits from my Garmin Forerunner 110 because e-punching was not used for this event.

Course: Short [Controls 15; 9.6 km; 385 m]

Time: 3:27:50 - Results
Actual Distance: 12.9 km / 8.01 miles

SPLITS
# Time Time (C) 1 13:08 13:08 2 10:38 33:46 C 14:21 48:07 A 5:07 53:14 B 3:52 57:06 6 11:34 1:08:40 7 19:39 1:28:19 8 16:03 1:44:22	# Time Time (C) D 13:08 1:57:30 E 5:09 2:02:39 F 7:32 2:10:11 G 7:30 2:17:41 H 10:03 2:27:44 14 41:28 3:09:12 15 11:35 3:20:47 Fin 7:03 3:27:50

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