Discussion: 17-18

I went direct on 17-18 as well. Can confirm. Was slow. I spent some time cobbling together an ice crossing so avoided contusions. But lost a surprising amount of time on that leg. It would be the right route choice for me, in summer and in daylight! but not in those conditions.

It's good to hear I wasn't the only one.

Sorry to have to pint this out, however the black line around the feature means impassable aka illegal to cross; a much debated topic on AP! The course setter correctly showed the leg line as bent around the water feature.

Correct. I didn't go through the marsh, but went around it (through the light green). When I blundered into the tall grass, I got back out of it right away. I'm not sure what Todd did.

No rule violations occurred. Rules were well enforced by thin ice and threat of hypothermia.

:-) very pleased to see that you both returned safely from that excursion.
And I can now see the route choice intent!

On another note, there is a surprising amount of buckthorn in the park and without it, the woods are very runnable. Anyhow some map upgrades coming my way I think!

Buckthorn can definitely take woods from beautiful white to horrendous green.