Discussion: Photos from the 150 O-Fest

The Canada 150 Orienteering Festival started last weekend with the Eastern Canadian Championships 2017 in Montreal. Results, photos & videos from the ECOC weekend are now posted, and everything is summed up here:
http://www.ramblersoc.ca/en/ecoc-2017

Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144828454@N03/albums...
Videos:
https://vimeo.com/ramblersoc

Great job in Montreal.
Also great to see the Ramblers Orienteering Club roaring back to life!

Photographer Willie Carroll also took some great photos at the ECOCs on the weekend.

Long distance
Middle distance

Routegadget is is up for the ECOC Montreal events and the Monday Night-O at
rg.orienteering.ca

Also great to see the Ramblers Orienteering Club roaring back to life!

They were a noticeable presence in their blue shirts and hats. Would be interested in hearing the story behind their resurgence...

After one club after another faltered in Quebec at the turn of the century, the only remaining Club was the Ramblers, run by John & Gloria Charlow. Over the last 7 years or so, new people became active, and last year we finally had a critical mass to form a board of directors. At the same time, John decided that it is time to pass the torch, which paved the way to put the club on new solid grounds. In typical Montreal fashion we are now quite a diverse group, with Anglophones and Francophones, and also immigrants from Europe. Lots opportunities for a culture clash, but also lots of fun!

There is still a long way to go, but ECOC 2017 has been a very encouraging experience. We also have good contact with Orienteering Ottawa, and received so far tremendous support from them. For next year we are planning another A-meet in the Laurentians near Morin Heights. If you are interested what we are up to have a look at our new bilingual website:
http://www.ramblersoc.ca

C'est formidable on the bilingual website!

some more sprint photos

Very photogenic venue for the sprint. And great courses...

ABSOLUTELY fabulous photos AZ. You seem to have captured most everybody and most of the best vantage points. There are so many 'poster shots' for sprint orienteering.

Took these photos of the sprint. Was super fun seeing orienteers from all walks of life coming from all directions, doing their orienteering thang!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/157367610@N03/albums...

Here are my photos from the Sass Peepre Camp.

Here are a few photos from the Eastern Canadians, although they are mostly of sightseeing at Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal.

There are a few photos from COC sprint awards and long awards, but mostly of sightseeing in Ottawa and Diefenbunker in Carp.

Finally finished uploading photos. There are general vacation shots, a bit from Perth, then you get into COC middle day competition stuff, then just a few from the long, then it goes back to vacation.

Furlong47: You saw a snake like that in the Perth area? What is it? Normally we see only garter snakes in Eastern Ontario.

This guy was seen in Bedford Mills. I'm not entirely sure what it is. I looked up snakes of Ontario to verify that it was non-venomous (there's only one that is, and it's a rattler, and its range is not in that area) but couldn't pinpoint the exact species. I actually saw two of them that day, with the other one on the other side of the pond near the main road. I'm guessing they are there for the abundance of frogs. I've also seen big snakes like this around Bobs Lake, where I usually stay.

In the gallery at the bottom of he Wikipedia article on northern water snakes, there's a photo of a snake from Battersea, Ontario that looks a lot like the one you saw.

There's an Ontario reptile and amphibian atlas https://www.ontarionature.org/protect/species/herp..., which includes a link to a smartphone app for reporting any reptile or amphibian seen in Ontario. Based on the field guide included in the app, it looks like a gray ratsnake, which is listed as a species at risk, but with its main range in Ontario in the area northeast of Kingston. If you make a submission with a photo, one of their experts will verify your submission within a few days.

Bedford Mills looks to be on the boundary of two reporting squares, one in which it was last reported in 2012 and the other in 2017, so if you report it, you'd want to be more precise than just saying Bedford Mills. If you're in the app when you take the picture, the app will use gps to determine your location, but you might have that indicated on the photo as well.

I saw a snake who looked a lot like that at this year's COC Long, on course 8, near control 9 (a refreshment control, no less).

I unknowingly stepped right over the snake as I ran in to the control, thought I saw movement under my feet, turned around, and sure enough there s/he was. We had a curious look at each other, then continued on our way. It was a neat encounter!

I assume the one I saw was a rat snake, as one of the COC info bulletins said they're common at Foley Mountain and harmless to humans. Definitely bigger than your typical garter snake!

Photos from the Sass Peepre camp: 900 of them!!! Just can't cut any, it was soooo much fun!! https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOwbPXMlXqqnF...