Training Log Archive: GlenT

Laramie Daze 3 on Telephone Song map (1:15000). Mass start and wide open means lots of hard running and just enough orienteering to make sure others aren't screwing up. Had people leading the way into every control. Flip-flopped with Soupbone the whole way. I had him with a different route choice to #9 but then missed in the control circle and he caught back up. He had more left than I did on the climb up to the last control so there was no death sprint to the finish. Fun times. Another fine day of orienteering in Laramie. Straight line distance 5.3km.

Telephone Song - Splits

Laramie Daze - Day 2 (although we weren't here for Day 1 or the Pre-Daze). On Yellow Pine map, a new map at 1:10000. Mass start from near the Yellow Pine Campground. First 5 controls were in generally open area, followed by eight with more woods, hills and rock. 5.3 km straight line distance with about 185m of climb. Following a train for the first 5, then did some navigating for the rest. Got off line going to #10 and missed the obvious attack point (the campground) - lost less than a minute. Lost 10 - 15 seconds at each of 6 and 7 in the circle just determining exactly which piece of rock the bag was on. A fine day weatherwise, low 70's and sunny when we ran. And a fine map and course!

Training on Happy Jack map. SF had hung streamers so we could go out and play. Worked on map to terrain matching. Visited 7 controls (controls 1 and 6 - 11 of the Green course shown on the map). Features were mostly contours and vegetation. This map has some of the heavier vegetation of the Laramie maps, so it was good practice in lower visibility. Overshot one control (on 1:15000!). Found the streamer for #7 one reentrant earlier than expected. Jogged some of the time but didn't push at all (especially going up hills).

Yellow Pine - Splits

Event: 2011 Laramie Daze
 

Hike in Theodore Roosevelt National Park on Jones Creek Trail, a fairly flat trail through badlands terrain. Got started mid-morning to try to beat the heat (forecast was for mid-90's) but it was still quite warm since it was sunny and no shade. Some interesting scenery, but things are more impressive in other areas of the Park.

TNRP - Wind Canyon overlook.

TNRP - Buck Hill Overlook.

Short hike at TRNP on "Coal Vein Trail". This was an"interpretive trail" showing the effects of a burning coal vein on the geology and topography of the area. Unfortunately, there were no brochures at the trail head so we had to guess what we were supposed to be seeing at each marker. We spiked every marker! :-)

Event: 2011 Dakota Rogaining Championships
 

Dakota Rogaine Champs in Custer State Park with Janet as team Ramble On. Weather was perfect, sunny and dry and in the 70's (dropping of course as the sun set, but never cold).

The terrain was a bit tougher than I expected, mostly because there was quite a bit of deadfall/logging slash in some of the areas we traversed. The grasses (and poison ivy and thistles) were high enough to obscure lots of the junk, so there was some slow going at times. And it is called Black Hills for a reason.

Our planned route started off to the south with an option to lengthen to get some higher point controls to the west. Our initial plan was a loop of about 7 hours, a stop at the Hash House, and then a loop in the dark to pick up a few more controls not too far away. With the slower going, we dropped the western excursion (to 74, 63, and 75), which turned out to be the right decision. As we neared the end of our planned daylight loop, I noticed we were close to a 70 pointer with an hour of daylight left, so we decided to get that in light rather than in the dark. Another correct decision, since it would have been quite challenging at night. We punched our last control just as dusk faded and we strolled in the last km to the Hash House. Some food, some rest and decided that going out in the dark for a couple more points wouldn't be fun, so that was it. Total time about 8:30.

Control order: 43-38-54-49-57-55-45-44-69-41-79-36 for a total of 540 points. 3rd overall of the 12-hour participants, 1st Coed Superveterans. Hit all the controls fairly well, but had to adapt a few times where the map was flaky. Roads shown on the map occasionally disappeared (time to use the contours!) and there were also some unmapped roads. Some of our route choices would have been different had we known where it was junky underfoot.

One bison encounter where we had to alter our route a bit. No rattlesnake sightings, but another team reported seeing three in areas we had been just about an hour before them. And something growled at us just around dusk. Poison ivy was abundant due to a fairly wet summer, but effects were minor (Appropriately, Zanfel was a sponsor and we put our goodie bag samples to the test).

After showers and a good night's sleep we returned Sunday morning for the noontime feed and awards ceremony. Both Janet and I won raffle prizes (Mountain Hardware stuff).

A well organized event by the guys who were just awarded the World Rogaine Champs for 2014. That event will be held in the Black Hills, but probably not in Custer State Park. The terrain should be great and I suspect the mapping will be improved, so it should be an event not to miss.