| Turkey O' at St. Francois. By making course too short for Eric and Dave, Dave gave the rest of us 'thoughts of sweeping'. Knowing St. Francois climb and my lack of shape, I chose cautious route (skip #33, #34) without even measuring 'hope of sweep'. Scrambled to get prepped 'just in time'.
Smooth start, fell on trail at 20 minutes - broke Compass! This should be interesting! Lack of compass placed much more importance on Map Contact - good training! Lack of compass allowed 3 90 degree errors (leaving #35 and #9 and approaching #31 (misread obvious reentrant). Lack of compass frequently caused hesitancy or extra caution - using handrails more blatantly. Much harder to relocate without 'fine' directions of trails and reentrants.
Even with one error, very pleased with 51:24 at 5K (#36). I liked my 'stay high' route from #32 to #38, but first disturbed by hunter with orange vest and gun. He claimed I was on private land (NOT!) and it bothered me. Stayed right, trying to get 'back onto' SP land. Turns out, he was on SP park land (wrong side of signs!). Turned right one reentrant too soon (compass may have helped. Long trail run west (I sure hoped it was west!). Very uncertain, narrowed options only from 4 to 3, maybe 2 trails. Finally went past saddle then knoll and trail were distinctive - 1 spur north of desired spur, now 400 m too far west. Down spur to rentrant junciton - yes! Nearing trail to 20, saw Eric running trail - followed him off trail - that helped! Eric pulled me left, but I read trail well - saw #9 from trail. Left 9 S, not W - hit #8, not #22 as planned - that's okay! 12, 13, 21 clean. Still 50 minutes, but 16 seemed risky without compass and I still had 2.5K and lots of controls left - skipped 16. 22, saw Anna, 6, 23, 5, 4, 2, 3, 11 worried about this one, 15, F clean.
Finished about 8th place. Not bad for lack of legs and broken compass on mostly a 'runners' course'. I guess I should have 'planned for sweep' - but odds were against it - but possible :)
8 minutes to spare - I rarely have that luxury on Turkey O's. Summary - it was good to focus on map reading and map contact - but a compass sure is useful! |
Saint Louis, MO
33 F
30%
48 F
10%
48 F
40%