Hey community, I might possibly be doing a little event in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee next month. It's a navigation and ultrarunning event that one might approach from an orienteering mindset.
Does anyone know if Frozen Head State Park has been mapped and/or if there is a local club near Knoxville that would have resources?
Thanks!
Josh
If my employer approves, yes
The park map looks almost good enough to use for a rogaine, especially since you can get it geo-referenced. Has there ever been an orienteering club in Tennessee?
https://tnstateparks.com/about/park-trail-maps/#fr...
Western North Carolina Orienteering held an event in Johnson City, TN a few years back.
I assume you know what you are in for....there a few people on here who have survived it.
Long ago, there was enough of an orienteering club in Tennessee that there was an A-meet in the state. Much later, there was a woman who had gotten enthusiastically into orienteering (Meg Garrett?) who moved to TN and said she'd be starting a club there, but AFAIK she was never heard from again. Maybe the saw briers got her.
There is no O-map of Frozen Head, but there are various Barkley maps online based on USGS that look decent.
The park map with 20 foot contours is good enough. I have toyed with the idea of grabbing the lidar and kartapullautin but it's not worth the effort. A couple of laps is pretty easy, gets a bit harder after that.
Love that HidingControls is part of the BM lore!
See this article, which includes a mention of MB (HidingControls)...
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/07/ba...If you are looking for good reads, almost all articles about the BM are good, or even better.
Also, if you've got time, there is
this documentary about Gary Robbins's experience at the BM which is
definitely worth a watch. I believe Gary is a member of one of the Canadian O clubs as well?
Barkley is definitely a running race with a defined course and course markings and you're told exactly where the books are. It's pretty easy to get around. Nav is about the level expected by a competent 14 year old :D
CalTopo works well for seamless USGS
Gary Robbins is a former adventure racer who has done a number of O events in the Vancouver area to improve his nav skills for the Barkley. Agree - great film. I also recommend this one.
https://barkleymovie.com/
No club in Knoxville so the closest club would be WNOC run by Chris Gkikas. Chris also runs a side mapping company and he has made some maps in Eastern TN. I am not sure if he did any work at Frozen Head as that is about 3 hours away from Ashville, NC.
Barkley Marathons started at 3:04AM EDT this morning. No press allowed this year, best update source looks like
https://twitter.com/keithdunn. Goooo Nicolay!! Out on loop 2. Apparently pretty rainy.
It's down to 10 runners including Nicolay. Three of the remaining runners are women: the incomparable Courtney Dauwalter, Big's Backyard Ultra winner Maggie Guterl and elite ultrarunner Liz Canty.
Nicolay and three others dropped out on loop two. Only two runners (Jared Campbell and Luke Nelson) went out on loop three; four others (including the three women) missed the time cutoff (the women were 12 minutes over at 26:52, but if they had been 12 minutes faster they would have had to start loop three with no break). Fog is said to have been a major issue.
Yup, looks like
brutal weather this year. Three-time finisher Jared Campbell coming in at 24:32:34 for lap 2 speaks volumes. I'll bet he and Luke Nelson get the Fun Run, but wow.
Further reading.
If I understand the tweet correctly, I think the last two bailed out partway through loop 3.
Nope, I misread it. They finished loop three slightly over 39 hours, fast enough for an official Fun Run result but too late (by three hours) to go out on a fourth loop.