Discussion: Maps and courses from the A meet events

I have posted my maps and routes from the past two weekends A meets here

Thanks. Looks like I may have made a poor choice in not going.

I can't comment on your personal choices, but I will say I was thrilled I went. A huge amount of excellent orienteering.

The two weekends were especially good. I thought it would be impossible to top the Idaho experience, and perhaps it is, but the Salmon La Sac was really, really good, too.

It made me quite happy to be someone who gets to experience American orienteering. There is some great terrain over here.

Make that two. The middle distance in Idaho City was unique. And very challenging technically and physically. Salmon La Sac was a bit more forgiving in both aspects, but has more variety of terrain, features and navigational challenges.

Thirded. (Is that a word?) The middle in Idaho City certainly was unique, kind of in a way that the terrain at Anza-Borrego is unique, only much more so.

But Salmon La Sac definitely gets the 'cool new place to orienteer' award for the combination of physical and technical challenge. I found the middle to be one of those rare courses that was continually interesting. I never once had the thought of "ugh, I just have to slog over there", even though I was hobbling along for most of it at a greatly reduced speed. :-/

Actually the Idaho City map looks just like about 100 gold mining maps in Australia...

Yes, so it's not unique in the world, but probably is for U.S. orienteering. I'm sorry to have missed it.

Nikolay, Thank you very much for conveniently posting your maps. I was looking forward to seeing these maps and courses, and they lived up to my elevated expectations.

I found the middle to be one of those rare courses that was continually interesting.

I had the same feeling through the course. With all the variety of course legs and terrain and different nav and physical challenges, the middle packed more action and variety than many long distance races. And never felt like control picking course, as some middle distance courses do.

Thx a lot for posting your maps, Nikolay!
Now I know what i've missed!

I only hope we get more people to come out to the Northwest in the future.

Sorry I couldn't be there nor help much. Many thanks to people in Cascade/Sammamish, but in particular Eric Bone (course setter), Leif Anderson and Mike Schuh (mappers), and Andy Dale (USOF Consultant) for making the Salmon Run another quality event, which we hope to have in the States consistently.

I only hope we get more people to come out to the Northwest in the future.

The future is less than a year away. The 2010 North American Orienteering Festival is going to be awesome. Mark your calendars: June 26 - July 21.

Yeah sure, the courses were great, the maps fabulous, the terrain outstanding, and the weather perfect. But it was better than even all of that - a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, a packed schedule, no b-s, and a whole bunch of fun. A huge thanks to all the organizers for creating a great event. It was so good that when I asked a woman famous for her complaining how it she was doing, she replied "I'm perfectly miserable" - well in my books that just shows that everyone was having a good time ;-)

Thank you to all of the organizers and volunteers who made both weekends fun and interesting. We had a great time seeing a different part of the country (sometimes a little too much of it). We are looking forward to 2010!

I have posted some photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adrian.barebones.ca/20...#

A mix of scenery & some orienteering shots