Discussion: Orienteering mapper finds Bronze Age treasure

I find it interesting that in the article there are two mentions of orienteering, "A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure..." and a figure caption, but there was no effort made to describe what orienteering is. Proof there is still an ocean between North America and the UK. A US/Canadian article would need extra clarification about what he was doing in the woods.

So I'm curious what the weirdest things you have found in the woods while running? I'll kick this off with the helicopter during a west point event (clearly someone put it there) and I found one of these once.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/natural-t...

I found a Soviet World War II helmet with a bullet hole through it outside of Novorossiysk back in 1991...

Those are cool finds. Going back to Robert's post, nearly all kids in the UK have been exposed to orienteering in some form. PE is compulsory in the National Curriculum and within PE, pupils have to do Outdoor Ed. Without converting a Squash court into a climbing wall, the easiest way to fulfill this requirement is to map the school campus and do a six week unit of work on Orienteering.

I have notified my local mappers (cmpblla has joined the club) that they need to up their game!

The weirdest thing? Three nominations. Two happened in the same park but a year apart.
#1 An old dead tree with a ceramic tile picture of former US president Andrew Jackson nailed to it. I think it was an 'old hickory' tree.
#2 a hammock strung between trees. As far as I could see it was occupied by young lady on her hands and knees with her head rapidly bobbing up and down. I guess it was some form of Pilates.
#3 a perfect example of a snake skeleton about 1.5 metres long., skin and flesh cleaned away. So what? The skeleton had a furry object in its jaw, no skin or flesh eaten away. Someone who would know told me that the snake probably choked on the furry animal and suffocated as they can swallow but not spit out. The scavengers moved in to eat the snake remains but would not touch the snake's prey somehow knowing it would be full of venom.
I did find a cache of coins once, mostly from the last century but this was in 2001 or so.

Whilst orienteering, I often happen across old gentlemen in ill fitting lycra from the 1980s. Does that count? ;)

A full-size white marble grave marker on a small island in the marsh with some inscription.

A tube-type weather balloon from the 1960's National Weather Bureau

The instrument package from one of those weather balloons.

I found a US $20 gold piece from the 19th century while vetting a course in the Bay Area. It was in a place where feral pigs had been digging. It was in poor condition, though.

Wasn't me but I seem to recall back in the 80's a club hiring a European mapper and after the map was completed and the mapper returned to Europe, he sent a copy of the map back to the club showing the location of a dead body. Anyone remember this? It either happened or it was just an idea for a short story that I had - I can't seem to recall.

I think that story and numerous other body stories are well documented, probably in an earlier AP thread(s). Off the top of my head CSU, OK, DVOA, SVO...
I was wondering if this thread could avoid that subject.

That particular one was a Finnish mapper working in Missouri. Might have been the early 1990s.

I think you guys have dusted off your copies of "Murder at the 13th control" and other stories by Wilf Holloway.

Whilst mapping, came across illicit lovers in the back of what you would call a pick up truck. They packed up and left in a real hurry. A colleague came across an erotic photo shoot.

How do you know they were illicit?

I've also come across such activity whilst mapping, although in that case they were doing it in amongst the pine needles on the forest floor. (My suggested map feature for this would definitely be lost in translation to a US audience).

Blair, is that what's known as putting another shrimp on the barbie?

The story of a Finnish mapmaker working on a scout camp is documented in this AP thread.

Shrimp? Speak for yourself.

While checking control sites a few days before a local training in Latvia I came across a dead cow. It was a rather smelly business, so I marked ca. 50 metres around the site as dangerous area. Some participants at the training confirmed the cow (and the smell) was still there.

While actually mapping, I have found a motorcycle (in the deepest of thickets), various bathtubs and more other rubbish than I wish to remember. While showering after mapping one area with lots of tall grass, I stopped counting when I found my fortieth tick.

While mapping a local park, I encountered a grown man filming "evidence of sasquatch." He was very chatty about it and has a YouTube channel or something.

Teenagers at Texas Junior Orienteering Camp in 2014 found this:

Woah! Did they learn where it came from?

Presumably it was used for SAR practice. We turned it over to the scout camp office, but I never heard any follow-up. We know that Civil Air Patrol and other groups have previously used the camp for training.

Australians never say "shrimp" - they are prawns - that Paul Hogan ad was a translarion for the norh American market. There was never any double entendre.

My guess is Blair is refering to the Australian slang term "root" which has a very different meaning to in the US. Hence the joke: when out walking with someone you fancy you ask ”have you ever tripped over a stick?" Whatever the answer you then ask "How about a root?"

@jSh - came across a dead cow with a bloated stomach at an event near Newcastle (Australia). There were several really large goannas engaged in ripping bits off it.

I just had to look up what a goanna is. There definitely were none in Latvia - but the rear end of the animal was a moving whirlpool of maggots.

@mike - I really wonder what that not-so-black box was being used for. The silver tube you see on the pic is the ULB (Underwater locator beacon), which isn't really helpful outside water. The ELT (Emergency locator transmitter) would be more helpful - but it is notorious for failing when it's actually needed due to the antenna being ripped off or failing batteries and g-force tripswitches.

In the early 1980s, I was orienteering in Harriman SP (NY) and, very close to a control, came across a terrified Swedish runner, terrified because there was a rattlesnake front & center. I noted, punched the control & left. I was quite surprised but snakes were part of my upbringing, although non-poisonous. Those were the days when “seconds counted”. I moved on, not to waste any. He retired from the course.

The timing of this thread is interesting. On Wed, May 5, an adult participant in Orienteering Cincinnati's weekday program for homeschool students reported seeing a possible body hanging over a creek, but hoped that perhaps it was a prank or Halloween prop. Rex S and I went to investigate, and yes it was a body. Probable suicide by hanging. Difficult location to get to, in a very steep and rocky stream bed. Several cops got pretty muddy, one of the CSI guys took a tumble down a steep bank but claimed to be unhurt - but I bet he'll be sore for a couple days. Fortunately, the location was not on the most likely route between controls and wasn't near the easier courses. Most of the participants had no clue that anything was going on, since we brought the police in by the easiest route to the scene, through private property on the back side of the park.

How long did they estimate it had been there?

The police didn't say. I'd estimate not more than a day or two, although at least before the rain on the previous evening. We located a backpack and jacket nearby with a phone, car keys, and other stuff, all thoroughly soaked. No visible decomposition or odor from the body; no evidence that scavengers had started working.

Sadly the first of the Ivan Milat murder bodies was found in Belanglo SF by orienteeers in the '90s.

They should do MTBO there sometime.

While mapping a new area in a relatively local park, I came across a small clearing with illegal drugs being grown in it. I ran away quickly to avoid the growers. I reported it to park and when I went back several months later it was all gone.