Training Log Archive: Swampfox

First Pelican Bay O' pass of the season. I knew that the Forest Service had been active over the winter doing some selective thinning and some spot burning of ground juniper, but even so I was slightly surprised to see the extent of it (view is looking west towards the Happy Jack highlands):



It did, however, make moose spotting much easier, and I did see one moose. Also one wolf. Okay, it was more likely a coyote, and not a wolf, but even mentioning the possibility of a wolf is enough to drive the wolf haters crazy.

Scattered snow in the terrain, but nothing that I couldn't run right through. Crunched lots of sage and bitterbrush (the Forest Service left some of that behind, lucky us!) and enjoyed the run.

On my way to #1, I heard the first thunder of the year rumbling in the distance, and dark clouds were advancing in my direction. Looking at the course, I reasoned if I could make it to #6, then I could finish no matter what, and so the game was on. I was going to do my best anyhow, but now the threat of ice rains and lightning bolts was extra motivation--always nice. The first rain drops arrived just after I finished the course and as I was cooling down. I put it down as a win.

I skied in the afternoon, for ski #129 on the season. I think that’s going to do it for me, given the conditions today and the weather forecast for the next few days. Conditions were actually quite good–well drained snow at the end of the day, that had a fast, icy feel without being in any way re-frozen. Gaps had opened up in the trail net in several places. Friday is supposed to be warm and sunny, which will open up all sorts of other gaps, and once gaps appear in the Campground Loop, I hang it up. It’s been a really good season, with good snow the whole way through once we got good coverage in late November.

Laramie could be a really serviceable base for serious skiers to operate out of. All it lacks is size (critical mass in terms of number of skiers.) For some exceptionally driven people, that might not matter. But for most folks in most sports, having a group to train with offers very significant advantages, and that’s definitely true for orienteering.

Overcast skies all day long with some wind, and neither mild nor sub-cool. The forecast was for rain/snow with possible thunder, and there was some light rain spitting down intermittently while I was out biking. I had hoped to get out for an O' pass in the afternoon. By the time I was ready to go, there was nothing to actually stop me, and my usual figuring is that if I can get started, then I can carry on and finish.

Since I've been looking forward to getting out on a mild day, I purposely overdressed, with a medium light jacket over a t-shirt, plus a knit cap. I told myself that if I got too warm, then good--it would be like simulating race conditions in Houston. (Nobody is fooling anyone here: as a practical matter, it is totally impossible to simulate race conditions in Houston when you're in Laramie.)

There was still a lot of snow in the terrain, but mostly in bands and drifts that were easy enough to run around or else get through without too much flailing. Someone was shooting rifles, and I thought at first they were near several of my early controls, but there must have been something deceptive about the way sound was being carried because they were actually further away than I had thought, and far enough away that they were no concern of mine, other than the fact that shooting restrictions are now in effect so they shouldn't have been shooting in the first place.

I felt good running, and better than I would have expected for so early in the season.

The gray skies and dulled out end of season snow and brown grasses made the scene an almost entirely drab one. But only "almost", because I did come across a small group of pasque flowers brightening up the landscape with their purple waze.

While I was cooling down I thought about other springs. It used to be that there were regular "A" events organized by SLOC to look forward to. If you were orienteering in the 1980s, it would be all but unimaginable that SLOC would have almost disappeared by today--certainly in any sense of the national O' scene. I always liked the limestone ridge and valley terrains and forests that characterized most of those SLOC areas back then. And it seemed almost uncanny how many of those spring races would take place on one of the first mild weekends of the year. When you were headed up a south facing slope with the sun bearing down and not a leaf yet in sight anywhere, it felt like you could feel every foot of the hill.

Of all the old SLOC areas, Hawn State Park is my favorite. The terrain there offers really good orienteering, and altogether apart from the orienteering, the area has a neat feel, or at least it does to me. I believe Tim Gutersloh (sp?) made the original map, which was a really high quality effort for the time. Actually it would compare very well with many of today's over-mapped efforts. It was first used for a US Championship, back in the days when "classic" was the only way to go. Over the years when traveling across the country, I've often detoured and stopped by Hawn to go for a run--sometimes with a map, and sometimes just on the trails there.

C • Hawn 5