Training Log Archive: wwk

EMPO's annual Scout-O event, where the scouts pull leaders along in every direction around the course. I gave instructions most of the time, but after a couple hours of that, I ran around the yellow course.

It rained all day. Lock 7 is a great place for new orienteers, since it is a small park with some great views and fun, hilly terrain. The kids even liked the mud, rushing streams, and little foot bridges.

And I even learned that you have to look at your map, even when doing yellow in a park you know almost by heart.

Hike to "Snow Hole" from Route 2 near NY/MA state line. Maybe 5 miles round trip, stopped to eat lunch and play in the snow hole. There was no snow in it. However the views were pretty and the day's weather perfect.

Local meet at Peebles Island State Park, a small island at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. It has high bluffs along most of its shore which make for some dramatic control sites.

I did well overall -- the scale is so small (big? 1:7500) and enough distinct trails that you can't really do more than an "orange" difficulty control, but some technically tougher route choices might yield a faster split. I only really messed up #1 when I overshot it (internal scale adjustment period), backtracked, and found it hung in what was probably marked as the river inlet, which was partially dry, when it should be in a nearby ditch. The rest of the course went without a hitch, and was rather fun with the nice park, nice weather, and woods that were mostly easy to push through.

Stacey went out on her first solo course, and did pretty good, too!

Columbus day meet at Grafton Lakes State Park. It started raining just as I began, and made for super--fogged-in-vision slowdowns while I rubbed my eyes and looked at my map over my useless glasses. Vegetation caused low visiblity, too. Pine trees in the rain look like big boulders through fogging glasses. Grafton is almost entirely one large rock feature with many details.

Decent course overall, especially considering our choices for technical orienteering are limited in EMPO-land. There were some very tough choices to make and execute upon, especially from controls 7 through 13. The map needs to be updated with some new private property development on the 13-14 leg.

My map didn't have a scale (!) but I think it was 1:15000

C • 1

C • Trail running 5