This weekend was incredible. There were many challenges. Some of these challenges were marital, others were physical and mental. There was sleep deprivation, despite the air mattress we lugged up. But the little rustic cabin without heat we stayed in was perfect. No spiders crawled into my mouth while I was sleeping.
I definitely need to toughen up a bit. I am very spoiled, living like a princess. But at least I know this, and appreciate how good I have it. Sometimes, like it was this weekend, it’s nice to let go of the things you think you need. You walk on a path outside your cabin to visit the john. You brush your teeth in a trough-like sink wearing your headlamp before bed. You sleep curled up in your sleeping bag with just your nose poking out of the top. You walk to the mess hall to have breakfast, you eat what they give you. The light is beautiful and the people around you are generous and smiling and hardworking. The people. The DVOA-ers. I have such a good feeling about them after this weekend. I laid on the floor of someone else’s cabin, just for 20 minutes or so, doing some stretching and using their electricity for my heating pad, listening to their conversation, smelling woodsmoke from their fireplace. They’ve known each other for a while; I’m new to the scene. It was a nice feeling to be invited in, but to remain a little on the fringe of things. They all seem so interesting. And a little crazy, in a good way.
Program Director Fred Kruesi gets the troops ready for the weekend
Saturday, Training Day. We split into groups – Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. There was some quibbling with Husband about which group he belonged in. He was surprised that we would not be in the same group, but since I’ve been doing this since the spring and he has never done it at all, I felt he would get more out of the Beginner group than the Intermediate with me. The Intermediate was split into 3 groups and I chose the middle group. We went out with Ed Scott, a guy I really like who was also the course setter for Sunday’s event. We all walked a course together, looking at features along the way, discussing route choice, getting to know the terrain. I sort of paired up with Adam Steiner, who was very friendly and we shared what little knowledge we had with each other. He was super nice and a very positive, cheerful influence on my day. We went from 3 to 4 together – choosing to go out to a trail (not seen here in this pic, too lazy to take another) and then scoot back over after a deer enclosure. I was off by a little, but Adam was right on. We were the first ones in our group there.
On the way from 1 to 2, Ed stopped and showed us just how subtle the Re-Entrant can be here.
It really improves your off-trail confidence to be following someone who knows exactly where he is and where he’s going. Then you can relax and really focus on observing everything around you and what it looks like on the map, instead of worrying about navigating. This was a priceless exercise for me, and I need to do more of it. Our route from 5 to 6 was essentially a route I took during my Orange course race on Sunday, even though I wasn’t going to the exact same place. Previous to this training, I never would have had the confidence to navigate across great patches of white and green with no linear features to follow, using instead mostly my compass and a better understanding of contours. While I still have a long way to go with contour reading, I picked up a little fearlessness I did not know I had in me, thanks to getting to know my Compass a little better after lunch.
For the Pace and Compass exercise, as you can see we had no features other than the controls to navigate by. We had to take a bearing, and pace count to find these controls; going in whatever order we chose. I actually stupidly never even thought about looking at the clues, so I was really flying blind. This valuable lesson taught me that I need to do a better job of keeping on a straight course, focusing on something on the horizon, walking to it, and then taking another bearing. And just practice. So much thinking going on, someday I hope I will not even think about it. This compass work was a huge, huge benefit and had a definite positive effect on my abilities on Sunday.
Ed Scott and I
After that exercise, most people were done with training for the day. Ed and I had a little chat about stuff, and I felt like I could still go out and learn some more. So I asked Tom O, one of the other trainers for Intermediate, if he had anything else to do. He gave me this map–which I looked at and thought to myself “Now what am I supposed to do with that??”
So, I grabbed Husband, who was feeling like he didn’t get out into the woods enough, and tried this Contour Reading exercise. We also had a regular map of the area, and I had been out to some similar areas already on the Group course. Tom needed to start picking up controls about an hour after we took off, so there was a time limit; I ended up cheating quite a bit – looking at the other map. Husband and I didn’t function very well as a team on this, because of our different levels of experience. I also didn’t feel experienced enough to be teaching him, since I barely know anything myself. But I did learn a bit and felt like I got something out of this exercise. I would like to do more Contour training, but next time I need an advanced level orienteer with me.
Sunday, Race Day. After another crappy night’s sleep (it was in the 30s, okay?) we ate breakfast late and got ready. Husband’s start time was earlier than mine. This was my first experience with having a ‘start time.’ Mine was 10:26am, and after walking to the start, which was about 15 minutes away from the dining hall, I came upon a group of about 30 people waiting to go out. Ed would call out the time, every minute, someone would grab their map and dip their fingerstick into the Start paddle, and go. Because I was about 15 minutes early, I got to observe. I observed those on the Orange going out in a certain direction. This was helpful, but since I messed up the first control anyway it didn’t really do much. Still, something to remember.
When it was my turn to start, I had already ascertained North and had the map oriented very quickly. I pace counted 30 paces and then headed SE towards the Re-entrant. But…I was too far east, and bounced around on the ridge for a little while, turned around, went too far West, and then when I came back E again I hit it. This first one was a huge bad mistake and took me 8:21 to complete! I was really walking around thinking “I suck. Why did I think I could do this?” But, after you find a control I guess there is a fresh start mentality that helps! To number 2, I headed SE down into a rocky area, and farther E to the edge of the most northern marsh. The clue was western edge of marsh, and thinking back, I really got confused here because I was thinking north was west, and thinking I should be seeing it. Still, the actual marsh was only a small little piece of a marsh compared to the two big ones, and I was all over the marshy area (but not really in it) before I got my map right. Seeing the West Point cadets crashing around with confidence was also intimidating. I didn’t follow, though. After 12 minutes, I found 2. How pathetic!
Number 3 is where I started to actually use my brain. Either that or there were more linear features for me to navigate by. Went SE to the trail, followed the trail to the paved area, heading NE up the paved road while pace counting and looking off to the right. Did not spot the control from the road, but went in early thankfully and was only in the rocky wooded area a short while. 3 to 4 – I had been in that area with Husband on Friday looking around, so I was already oriented a bit. Headed SE through the open field, through field with distinct trees and to path crossing the stream. Ran up the stream, spotted the control and had to cross the stream on some rocks to get it. 4 to 5, turned around and went back the way I came – realizing with an “oh DUH” that I had forgotten to turn my Garmin on – ran down the stream and decided that the green looked too ugly and the paths looked too dicey for me to rely on – so I ran around the lake on the North side and crossed over at the dam, taking the path W for a few paces and then taking a bearing and looking for rocks. I was a little too far W at first, corrected myself and gave the control away to a few other people accidentally. 5 to 6 I went NW to the power line break, followed it across the stream and to the path which eventually led to the part of the path I had already been on to get out of 2 area. Essentially just ran to the top of the hill.
6 to 7, I should have gone around the marsh to the S, but because I already knew the way around the top to the N, I followed my old path, and ended up getting some soaked feet, oops. I ended up running alongside the rocky area for a long time, and it was slow going. Very slow. I was somewhat comforted knowing that if I went too far N or S, I would run into the paved roads. So, eventually got to it after just plugging away. Really should have stayed to the S of the rocks, but was N of them. Control was not on the north side as indicated in the clue sheet, it was on the W side, so not visible until getting to the other side of it since I was coming from the E. I was confused by this. The cadets and I got to 7 at the same time and then they went running off like gazelles. To 8, went NW, getting to top of stream bed and road intersection, and taking a compass bearing. Hit the pit and 8 dead on. Heading to 9, just took a bearing and headed N, careful to remain on even ground, and coming to the edge of the knoll and getting it no problem. Hid behind a tree a few steps away to look at what to do next. 🙂
9 to 10. Whew. This was the toughest leg of all. I had been to the stone wall during Training, and remember Ed saying something about there being a control where you’d just have to aim and be within a margin to get it. This was it. I took a compass bearing, really trying to keep my eye on horizontal branches, get to them, take another bearing. I noticed the stream beds here and there, but mostly, this was all about the compass. I actually think I prayed here. Prayed to find the stone wall. And instead of doubting myself, I believed in myself on this leg. I didn’t get there very quickly (11 min) but I got there! I had aimed at what I thought was a little west of the junction of the stone walls, and guess what? Exactly where I wanted to be. Thank you, gods and goddesses of the woods 🙂
10 to 11, getting close now! During our training day, we had walked in some of the same area, so I was able to pick up the trail to the NW of the stone wall with no problem (the trail in real life is much smaller than it looks on the map!) Picked up the trail, headed N, got to the ‘stream’ and then went NE into the light green, using a compass bearing to head up the hill through what I hoped would be mostly white woods. Not so much. I had my first mountain laurel experience in here, and I gotta say, I think being short is a good thing! Got to the first knoll/spur thing, recognized it from training day (there is a deer blind in there,) and then headed towards the light of the clearing. Bam. Into the clearing, home stretch now.
Coming into the clearing, I saw Eddie setting up a camera. Oh thank god he was too late to capture me running like a rag doll. Identified the building I was running to (remembering in listed as a ‘craft store’ in a map Fred gave us at the beginning of the weekend,) and could have just run to it without looking at map, but made sure I didn’t mess up because wouldn’t that be a shame this late in the game? Here, after punching 12, I think I heard my name said in a Lithuanian accent. 🙂 Running into the finish with Vadim and Hugh saying encouraging things, and people cheering, was just so totally awesome. I’m only a beginner, and only doing the Orange, but it felt really good.
Live Results and Live Forest Cam!
I knew I messed up on 1, 2, and 7; but I was hoping that the legs I did okay, and the fact that everyone else was making mistakes, would get me into the top 10. And it did. I finished 7th, and the first DVOA member. I am just glad I finished! I feel very good about this day, because it was ‘real orienteering’ for me. Being so totally off trail, and having literally NO linear features to navigate by – that’s not an Orange course I don’t think. So, I want to continue to train to get better at contour reading, compass bearing, and route choice, while also conditioning my body to be able to run for longer periods of time (and faster.) Husband came in 2nd place in the Yellow Course! (Did he even sweat, I wonder?)
anniemac attack: in the woods 