Discussion: 2006 Rocky Mountain 1000 Day

For anyone who might have looked at the 1000 Day website recently and noticed the dates for next year, I must point out they were wrong and should have been for July, and not August. Thanks to Pete Dady and Robin Shannonhouse for helping me get it right. Aaah, it's so nice to not have to worry about being perfect! ; )

While writing, I will add that the 1000 Day will feature an even fuller than usual panoply of events and all the accoutrements and attack badgers and stuff that anyone could want or expect from a 1000 Day. But, not a culvert crawl, of course.

As an extra bonus, we have bid for the US Classic and Night Championships. The Night Championships, if awarded, will likely be held on a mix of new and old terrain in Laramie, while the Classic Champs will be down at the new, terrific RMOC area by Buena Vista (some of said terrain will be featured on one of the "A" days at the coming Colorado 5 Day.) Since there are as yet no competing bids, and with BOD action expected at the AGM in August, it seems like the chances are pretty good the Classic Champs will at long last take place in the Rocky Mountains!

We've moved the 1000 Day out of the traditional August slot so as to hopefully make it possible for members of next year's US WOC team to also be able to take part, and not have to choose between the two events.

The additional upside of July for August? Wildflowers! The downside? Hmmm, well, we will just hope for a really dry spring and maybe there won't be any (I can not bring myself to say the dreaded "m" word) downside.

M for moose?? ;-)

I've heard that Wyoming 'moose' don't bite as long as you keep moving. True? A great motivation for aggressive orienteering.

The Laramie moose population was founded on immigration from Colorado. All inbound moose were subjected to rigorous physical and mental testing at the Wyocolo Moose Control Immigration Station at the border of Wyoming and Colorado in the Medicine Bows. Only the top 2% moose (the state has high standards) were admitted and all the less satisfactory moose were rejected and sent back to Colorado. That's why you see so many malformed and bent moose hulking around Aspen and Vail and RMNP, and that's why you never see that sort of thing up in the Laramie Range, where the moose are widely considered to be among the best anywhere in the world. They are outstanding physical specimens one and all, with an ideal, non-biting temperament, and really big moose ears! Of course, they might stomp you up pretty good if you tried to mess with their calves.

My dad got chased by a moose once and said it was really impressive how they can turn their head just right at full run so they don't snag their horns on trees. This was when he was in forestry school in Canada so he really was...

"A lumberjack, dashing through the forests of British Columbia!"

Monty Python fans can take it from there, no doubt.

Or take it one step back: the actual lines are:

"... a lumberjack. Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia ..."

How was his floating tree leaping?

And talking about Monty Python, don't forget all the references to moose in the opening credits of Holy Grail.

Yes, moose bites can be nasty.

Well, I have a picture of him standing on an impressively large tree as it floats down the mighty rivers of British Columbia. I suppose some leaping ability could be inferred from the fact that there are several dozen other large trees between him and the shore. Then again, if such leaping ability did exist, one might wonder why none of this genetic disposition was passed to his offspring.

So you say. How are we to know just what sort of lumberjack games and activities are practiced at the house of Buckley. If we are to believe the accuracy of MP's lumberjack narration, I could understand why you might want to keep this stuff quiet.

I think that a greater indication of your dad's skill is his ability to outrun a charging moose through a forest while looking backwards to calmly study it.

Swampfox! I am very happy to read that the 1000 days will be in July! I would love to be able to come, and for now it's on my schedule! I just need to work out all the usual items, time off work, money, etc. In the best possible case, count me in!!

As for moose... the biggest moose I've ever seen was in downtown Colorado Spring, in Monument Creek. But you're right, he wasn't very pretty! He was undoubtedly turned down at the Wyoming border and was so depressed that Colorado Springs would even do for a home:-/

The Laramie Range moose are awesome perthe one that stood on the skyline watching me go blithely off the map on Day 3 last year. I could hear him chortling all the way down in some obsucre reentrant I was well lost in. Something to the effect of "xxxxx flatlander"

For those that would have never heard about it, the moose story that Sandra refers to happened a couple of years back, when the crack Colorado Springs media took a break (very brief, of course) from prayer meetings, and walked down along Monument Creek, and spotted an itinerant moose. Oh, the buzz, the excitement, and the news coverage! But after several days went by, one little girl asked her mother: "Mommy, why isn't that moose moving?" Hmmm. Good point. Even the media folks understood there should be at least slight breathing movements and ear twitchings and so on. It was a very large moose, after all, and it was big and brown, and everything! So, the media folks crept a little closer to the enormous moose than they had previously dared. Who knew what might develop! Maybe someone would get stompled, and just think of the ratings then! Well, what developed was that one of them who had been on a farm before recognized that it wasn't a moose, but instead it was rather normal sized pack burro.

Now, the story wasn't quite as good as before, but it was still pretty good. After all, it had probably wandered down from an old gold rush mining camp up in the hills, and was therefore of historical interest. So there was a flurry of excitement about *that*.

The denouement was deflating however. At last one particularly brave news reporter walked right up to the moose/burro, and discovered it was nothing more than a rather bedraggled stuffed toy panda bear.

Understandably, the Colorado media doesn't mention the story too often anymore. Supposedly most of the folks most closely involved in the story, in recognition of their diligence in pursuit of the truth and aptitude for sniffing out and reporting the facts are now employed by the current Administration as WMD verification experts. But you didn't hear that from me, and I strongly emphasize that I am *not* outing any WMD verification experts!

(S) Anybody remember Craig Murray? One of the job descriptions in this thread reminded me of the work he was doing a few years back...

I remember Fred MacMurray. He had 3 sons. Like Kadley.
I also remember...the Alamo!

I definitely remember Craig Murray. Work in Iraq, perhaps?

I share Sandra's enthusiasm about the 2006 Rocky Mountain 1000 Day.

Also, I remember Craig Murray, and I've rented cars from Alamo. ;-)

I'm actually a little disappointed, because I have a previous commitment to go to the World Masters which is at the same time.

Well Jeff, maybe you can persuade the trigger-happy Administration to launch an invasion of that Alpine country (we haven't invaded anyone lately, aren't we overdue to screw up some other part of the world?) and, as part of the peace talks, force the 2006 WMOCers to concede to end their event earlier. Short of that, maybe you could consume some delicious limes instead and savor life's possibilities--a WMOC, a 1000 Day. Ain't it sweet!

Actually I have been promised homemade apple streudal which gives Austria the nod over the sweet 1000 Day terrain.

That is a very tough dessert to trump. I suppose we could throw down a lemon meringue or key lime pie, but that would exhaust our hole cards, and then where would we be? On the bright side, if everyone tromps off to Austria for strudel and passes on the 1000 Day, it will make it very easy to set out water at the water controls! ; )

Although I have been promised no strudel, I, too, will have to decide between Austria/Switzerland and the 1000 Day. (The Swiss event is the week after WMOC). But it will be tough for me to pass on Wyoming, as I have been to every single Wyoming/Colorado summer event since 1994, missing only the inaugural event in 1993. (I hope I can be forgiven for this transgression, as I had only discovered orienteering about a month before that). I'm counting the "May Daze" Memorial Day event in 2001 as part of this streak, and also the 2003 "Ashfest".

I'm curious now--has anyone attended every single 1000 Day? Surely JJ or some other amateur historian will have an answer to this.

oohh, the Swiss O week next year sure gives the 1000 days some competition (could I do both?), especially since the Swiss O week is a little closer to home....

Yes, but Sandra, you have heard that there will be strudel in Austria, home baked even, while here we will probably only have baked grasshopper legs and maybe some prickly pear pads in a vinagarette? Trying to put something together that can outdraw strudel and "The Sound of Music" is going to be tough, though I intend to contact Tex Carr and see if he can't arrange for "the best little band in Texas" to make a showing. That might help, because they don't have beards like that in Austria, that's for sure!

If you cover the expenses, I'll make it happen! These guys would be awesome:

The best little...

Who's been to all of them? Well, I know I have, because I've worked at the finish line for all of them (except May Daze, when I was merely a participant). Swampfox has been in attendance every time, but there might have been a year or two when he didn't run because he was booked solid on setting/vetting duties. I think the Plants have always put in an appearance, though medical issues have sometimes kept them from participating. Sharon is a likely possibilty, can't remember if she ever missed one. I think the Saeger family might have a perfect record, too. There may be others. I'll see if I can rustle up some stats when I get home tonight. I may have the record for greatest number of controls or kms at the 1000-Days, since I ran Blue so many times, and ran most days (sat out at least one relay, passed on a bunch of Sprints, I course set a couple of times, and I skipped at least one regular day).

Tex, you and Karen W. should get together and start up a chain of Klezmerized Pilates Fitness Cliniques. With her total knowledge of entrepeneurism (although wholly academic, which does occasionally run into problems in the real world) and your couldn't-care-less (practically Texan, but not quite there yet) attitude about the atrocity of bringing klezmer music into the same line as Texas (that's got to qualify as some kind of UN human rights violation; someone please call Kofi right away), it would be a can't miss proposition. Unless it did miss. Just to nail down all the tent flaps in the breeze, you could even retain Charlie DeWeese--a man not totally unfamiliar with pilates--for consulting work. He could show you some of the specialized routines developed in that hotbed of exercise revolution in north central Connecticut, and could also develop actuarial projections of how many cliniques you could put up in Texas before some of them good old west Texas boys decided to put an end to the madness and fed you to some alligators. But good luck in the meantime! ; )

ummmm.

Here are my photos from the Colorado races last week.