Orienteering (Field Checking) 5:52:44 [1] 8.62 mi (40:55 / mi) +199m 38:11 / mi
slept:7.0 weight:194.5lbs
Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From Germantown Rd., Rte. 118. Before getting out, I'd had breakfast out with Peggy and the kids. We'd gotten haircuts too; it didn't occur to me to bring my gaiters with all of that. I was wearing shorts and had high socks; the terrain wasn't so bad to need gaiters a lot, going at a walking pace. However, I started on the flat lands and the mosquitoes were terrible. I had even sprayed myself before getting out. Bugs were buzzing in my ears. If I stopped and looked, I could see 10 of them around me. The temperatures weren't bad but I did sweat and that washed off a lot the spray I had put on. I got into some technical features in the flatlands and it was hard to put it to paper because I had to keep moving. There were high grasses (that will disappear in the winter) covering sticks, some mud in the ditches, and some more mud at the edge of marshland.
After over 2 hours of that I finally got to higher ground. This was a long with some side streams that I did next. I stayed on the west side which was greener and along the edge of farmland. At one point I was rounding a bushy area to map it and I noticed a big black snack curled-up inside it, on the branches. Further up that side stream I turned around and noticed that a herd of cows snuck up on me--they were on the other side of a fence in field but they were definitely all staring at me. I suppose they get fed by people and wanted me to give them something too. They followed me around (on the other side of the fence); cows never bothered me before but these were a little creepy. The west side of the stream took me closer to areas of old farmland that are now tree covered. Some man made features were not so easy to place with the forest having a mix of green clumps with white or open parts in between. I found some trails near a pond and a dam. That got me to the east side of the creek. I found a nice little water fall on a side stream, then got a bit confused on a spur or a hillside that was green--1993 pictures showed it to be open field. I finally went back down the creek on the east side and found lots of really nice open ground. I put in a lot of time working on the not so nice stuff so I should have a better time the next time I go out!