Several of the Club Champions recorded how they went on the Orange, Green and Red courses. The map shows routes taken by Marty Hawkes-Teeter (M-18) on Orange, by Rita Reed (F35+) on Green, and Laszlo Kolyvek (M21+) on Red. There are some good lessons which can be drawn from their experiences.

route map (approx. 1800x1300, 531KB)

Orange Course

Marty's route choices show him making good use of Thacher Park's extensive trail network. Because the Park is so developed, it is impossible to place many controls which don't offer a viable trail route option. This is even more true for an Orange course than for Green or Red. The course setter will try to present a control with a reasonable overland route. But unless it is quite a short leg, the runner will frequently choose to "bounce out" to the trail, run to a good attack point on the trail, and then cut into the woods to the flag. This is basically what he did for the entire course. There are a few interesting points to note, however.

From #1 to #2 he felt he made a bad choice by going directly to the flag, rather than around on the trail to the W side of it and then in. But note that the problem didn't really occur when he left the trail to climb the bank, it actually occurred when he left #1 and went WNW. He should have immediately gone SW to get on the trail there, and then there would have been no question of trying to climb the bank. The clue to making this choice up front was that going WNW he would be going down several contours. Anytime you see your route going down, check that where you want to end up (the control) is also down. If it's not, then look closely to be sure there isn't another route choice that might be a bit longer but avoids making you have to waste the elevation you've already gained and then climb back up again.

Green-Red Courses

The Green and Red courses had a lot of overlap. This greatly simplifies a lot of the work in putting on an event, and doesn't compromise anything until we start having much larger numbers on those courses (maybe when all of our White course Girl Scouts are a few years older?!). One of the things orienteers always have to watch out for in any event, is being too much influenced by what other orienteers are doing. If you see another orienteer going somewhere, they  may well not be looking for your control; and even if they are, they may be completely off target. This probably cost Rita a little time on Green#1. "My route was fairly direct, although I was briefly distracted as I noted Rob, my spouse, passing me on the right as he aimed toward his #1 Red control. Knowing that the course setter has been known in the past to use multiple common controls for the Red and Green courses, I was wondering for just a moment if I was perhaps off track. But no, shortly thereafter I spotted my control about 25 feet to the south."

On Green#7-Red#10  all of our Champions chose the Southern trail route. Why? Though it is further around than going direct, it was obvious to everyone that going through the woods would be much slower, particularly since by this point in the course they had been reminded how slowly you often have to move over the rocks and rock-holes in Thacher. And the third option of taking the N trail around along the cliff line was not as good because of losing elevation as you came down from the cliff line to the stream crossing. As Janet described her route and decision (very similar to Laszlo's, which is drawn on the map): "E to trail, then decided to go around to the south. This decision was made partly to eliminate the climb back up the hill on the trail NW of control. Then I cut the corner and ran the trails until the junction SW of control. Down into reentrant; went around the W-most cliff first before I saw the bag on the other cliff. Had a similar leg at previous EMPO meet where I attempted to go straight across and lost a little time because I wasn't always sure where I was relative to the cliffs, plus the footing is tricky up there, so I decided to play it safe this time around."

Green#8-Red#11 proved difficult for a number of folks, and the main reason is that there are not any good and obvious attack points right nearby. You needed to "read your way" in along the land forms, as Rita put it: "I traveled northeast, and came to the trail. I then followed the high route along the brook bank (following it too literally at first), and carefully made my way back to the park entrance road. I crossed this, observed land features, and eventually saw #8 perhaps 40 feet off to my right. It sure is nice to orienteer when the leaves are down."

With Green#9-Red#12, the best route choice revisits the question of paying attention to the climb involved, but here there is no trail option, so a different skill gets involved, called contouring. This means maintaining about the same elevation as you go around a hill or bank. If you get really good at it you can use this technique to hit a control quite precisely, but that much precision wasn't need here. In this case you just want to avoid going too far down the bank and hit the creek somewhere E of the cliff which is on the stream, in the flatter area. From there it is pretty easy to go N to the reentrant which you leads you to the depression and the control. Laszlo's route shows him getting it just right. However, Rita lost a little time getting too far down: "The route to #9 was a bit adventuresome, and certainly not the best choice, although it turned out reasonably smoothly. From #8 I carved down the steep bank. As I got closer to the cliff edge, I can say that I was a bit uneasy with the slippery leaves and the approaching precipice. I actually was probably 30 feet from the edge where it curves to the west before coming to the brook, but the slope, the leaves, and the lack of spiked shoes just made me a bit uncomfortable. In a short time I was crossing the dry brook bed, and began to carve up the opposite bank. I proceeded across the tableland, traveled over and down the terrain and soon came to the appropriate depression."

Red#14 was not on the Green course. It proved to be Laszlo's only miss, but he used an important orienteering skill, re-locating on an obvious major feature. The little reentrant used for this control is an unusual feature in that it is a pronounced gouge in the land, but it doesn't run for any great length, with little above or below it to help you home in, so it's easy to miss. "I saw something down at the cliff edge that I thought was the sharp bend in the path. So thinking I had gotten too far NW, I turned back SE, only to arrive back to the reentrant/stream-bed. At that point I knew exactly where I was, so I returned NW to the control." Thus despite the miss, Laszlo was able to re-locate quickly, and minimize the error.

It's always important to learn from the successes and mistakes of other orienteers. So go over your course with others after an event. Try drawing your route on the map, and see if there were other and perhaps better ways you could have gone. The next time out, you could have some new mental tools to use.

-Phil Hawkes-Teeter