Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Robbs Hill, etc., In The Dark. Icy in spots. Made a couple of wrong turns, so I ended up going longer than I had initially intended.

C • It seems like you've been t... 5

Groton Town Forest, In The Dark. A little icy, and I was a bit overdressed for the high 30s F.

Through the Lane to the Holman bridge, into the Peabody and around the Stonebridge Loop, and back, In The Dark. Icy in spots.

Climbing the Oak Island lighthouse (with Nancy, natch), and after a bit, back down. The GPS track on this is not particularly meaningful, of course, so I estimated the distance and climb. This lighthouse has a series of ship ladders inside, rather than the more common spiral stairs. It's pretty tall as these things go.

C • Because you just know someo... 2

We took the ferry out to Bald Head Island, to see Old Baldy Lighthouse (which was unfortunately closed for the season, so we didn't get to climb it), but Nancy also wanted to see the foundations of the former Cape Fear Lighthouse. So we rented a couple of beach cruiser bikes and rode out there (on paved paths). Interesting little island, half occuoied by a golf course and otherwise packed with houses that I assume are outrageously expensive, but that aren't overly ostentatious, and the only motor vehicles are golf carts of varying sizes.

Cape Lookout National Seashore, Red, 6.6km. This trip had appeal on several fronts, one of which was the opportunity to orienteer in coastal sand dunes. It wasn't as excellent as I dreamed it might be, but it was fine, no complaints from me. The map was advertised as a mostly unimproved lidar product, and I went into it knowing what to expect. There was quite a bit of thick vegetation (planted pines with scruffy undergrowth, or in other places wet areas with thigh-high reeds hiding the ground), and the sand topography was a bit limited. The most intricate area was a mixture of yellow and dark green, and it turned out to be a dump with quite a bit of broken glass on the ground. I kept my head about me and I was pretty clean. Not perfect through the maze of fight, but very close. The next control (#10) was just hanging on... nothing... in an area of motley vegetation that the map did not reflect well. #13 was supposedly on a hill, but it just looked like a clump of scrubby trees, and there was another control nearby that was visible and that drew some people off. A couple of other small hesitations, or route choices that weren't quite perfect, but they didn't amount to too much. Nancy and I took off after we finished to check out the lighthouse (which was inside one of the control circles!) and to go for a walk on the beach, so I didn't nose around the finish computer to see what place I got, I'll have to wait for results to be published. I think I did pretty well, and it's fun to be the out-of-towner who turns up and shows the locals how it's done.

First time orienteering on February 1.

results
splits

Down to the bridge and back through the Lane property, In The (morning) Dim. Wore a headlamp, but didn't need it to see where I was going, just had it on when I was on Northfield and Gilchrist to make myself a little more conspicuous. I was smart enough to wear spikes, and the trail was in fact much more treacherous ice than I had encountered last night. Not much of a run, but I had to get something done in the morning and get to work early so I can bug out in the afternoon and catch a plane.

WBW, In The Dark. Pearl Hill campground loop, once CCW and once CW. I envisioned this as a pavement run, but although things are pretty well melted out down south in Lunenburg, up north in the wilds of Townsend there's still an inch or so of white stuff left, which was compressed down to ice in a lot of places. I would have been much better off with spikes; I had a few slips but no falls. Temperature in the mid 20s F, I dressed pretty warmly, but took off my gloves about 2/3 of the way around.

I think I may have noticed this before, but it's pretty clear that Google Maps has a pretty glaring error in terms of the location of this road down at the SE part.