Discussion: MNOC returns to Camp Ripley!

The Minnesota Orienteering Club will host a meet this autumn at Camp Ripley, the site of the 1997 Veterans World Orienteering Cup. This spectacular glacial moraine terrain is located on a military reservation that is rarely open to orienteers. Do not miss this opportunity to test your navigational skills for two days on the weekend of October 17~18. This meet will offer a western Massachusetts style score-o on Saturday and the vaunted Minnegoat long-o race with a mass start on Sunday. Itinerant orienteers take note, this event might be a enjoyable prelude to the US Individual Champs to be held in nearby Wisconsin the following weekend. World class terrain, two weekends in a row, need I say more?
More information.

Plus we are planning low key training events on MNOC maps (POCs and DIY courses ) for the transition week of Oct 19 - 23rd . So why not make a full week of O in MNOC and Badger land . More details to follow .

I think the Badger Club will be holding a low-key warm-up Middle distance event on Friday afternoon, October 23.

So having some training opportunities on MNOC maps earlier in the week would be an excellent transition to the US Championships. Are all NINE Permanent Orienteering Courses (POC) shown on your website still extant?

Good question: MNOC strongly believes in POC's as a fundamental club asset (for education, training and as an excellent source of revenue). So all our POC's are in good shape ; some are more extensive than others and have greater variety of skill levels. We have one more POC at Faribault,MN which will be opening this spring.

For the transition week we will try and coordinate with BGR to do something on the way to Greenbush (to break up the 5 hr drive from MN to Greenbush) on the Thursday .

Clark - the POCs on our site are roughly listed in order of convenience first, challenge second. The top three are quite good; rest are OK, bottom two are good but listed lower because they're rather out of the way.

As Ian said, we're doing a fair amount of volunteering for the champs, and will probably work with Kevin to help make it an attractive event with options on multiple days - we'll be sure to keep AP up to date.

Hey MNOCs, I hope to make this. Toward this end, can you please post some information about the start(s) on Saturday? What time will the score-o start be? Mass start?
Flights out of Milwaukee are very cheap that Saturday morning but I would not arrive at the meet site until ~12 p.m. TIA.

Joe and others, MNOC folks are just returning from our 6 hr rogaine weekend and will get the Camp Ripley meet information updated this week. I will post an update on www.mnoc.org news section

Ian,
I just found the Schedule:

Saturday, October 17th (day): Massachusetts Score O, Start window is 1PM till 3PM, Start/Finish area TBD

Saturday, October 17th (evening): Pot luck Dinner, socializing, bunkhouse style overnight accommodations are available for a nominal fee.

Sunday, October 18th (day): MinneGoat (a long distance O course with mass start , about 15 km), half length MinneGoat (about 8 km). Both events will start at 9AM, Start/Finish area TBD.

Maybe the Saturday start window was in your news section all along and I just missed it. I am going to bank on being able to start after 2 p.m. on Saturday and book my flight that day.
See you there...

Joe, yes... start window is 1 -3 on Sat . Please allow 50 minutes for security clearance and travel within Fort Ripley (there is a 25 mph speed limit and O area is at far N of the military reservation).

Ian

As I recall, even after arriving and checking in through the Main Gate at Camp Ripley, it is still a 45-60 minute drive north over dirt/gravel roads to the maps. Is there any chance of getting access through one of those northern gates closer to the maps? I plan to stay in Brainerd (more things to do in the evening) so coming in through the Pillager gate would be especially convenient.

As i understand it the northern gates are for emergency access only; all visitor traffic has to go through the main gate at the SE corner of the complex (heightened security now applies)

Regrettably I will be arriving late Saturday night or possibly Sunday morning just before the Minnegoat. Is the southern gate open at all hours?

What about the bunkhouse accomodations? If I arrived around midnight Saturday, could I sleep there?

Todd ... Mike Carlson is meet director and coordinating . Please e-mail him with specific questions.

Some guidance maps of Camp Ripley are available for download from this site. A general map of Camp Ripley would be the 1:50 000 map entitled "Camp Ripley SRP." Note that the Main Gate is off Hwy 115 on the very southern part of the map.

For a specific overview of the area in which we'll be orienteering, "Area North of Cassino" would be the most helpful. The contours shown don't begin to hint at the complexity of the terrain.

on-line registration is now available for the MNOC Camp Ripley Fall weekend. Come and train on kettle moraine type terrain to get ready for the US Champs the next weekend . Register and more details at http://www.mnoc.org . Only $5 / day ! Hope to see you there

Ian: Thanks for the registration info. I'd like to suggest a third day event, for the Monday following the two days at Camp Ripley. The World's Largest Corn Maze is located about 15miles SW of the Minneapolis airport. How about a Maize-Maze O event similar to that being offered in the United Kingdom in another event on the Events Discussion?

If not, would anyone else care to visit this corn maze on Monday and have an informal "race?"

The corn maze for day 3 is an excellent idea. I did it a few years ago when it was laid out as a picture of the US Capitol. It was a lot of fun They only seem to be open on weekends but I will see if they would do a special opening . We are tossing around the idea of a gathering on the Tuesday as well (it might be an MNOC event or an inform al group gathering (out of town AP guests would get an invite).

that would be cool to set an O course at the Corn Maze...

perhaps we could do an Adventure Run on Tuesday night....

Shame I can't make the trip over to Camp Ripley -I still have fond memories from 1997.....