Training Log Archive: MJChilds

Event: West Point National Meet
 

38th Annual West Point event. Day 1 at Lake Popolopen on northeastern part of map. Cold and damp to start, drizzle and some rain mid-course. Did well to #3, then got to within 50 m of #4 and could not make sense of the map up on the flat. Saw the big hill, big reentrant and large cliffs to my left, but ahead of me the land began to slope downward sooner than I expected so I assumed I had gone too far. Backtracked a bit downhill and to the east (?). Stymied. Found #6 then used compass to return to flat. Still had a hard time reading land forms on top. Guessed at large "knoll" which was the spur on top of which was the control. Left there headed to #5, but checked compass and corrected to go more southerly. Jogged past large boulder and to small cliff below it. Must have been too far to the left somehow. Scoped out several cliffs with reentrants adjacent to them, then headed back uphill and found control. Could not make sense of the map up there, at all. Used compass to return to #6. Rest of course was OK.

First time on a map this season. Shouldn't have expected things to go smoothly. I couldn't even recall which hand I carry my tools in and stopped 3 times to switch things on before control #2. How can I forget such a thing? A little muscle memory helped, but it took me 3 tries to get it right. For future reference: dibbler (R, index), compass (R), clues and map (L). Geez. Funny how distracting and unsettling it is to have it mixed up. I had my compass in my left hand, along with my clues, and it was driving me crazy that I could see the clues through the baseplate. Anyway. . .

Saturday - Brown - Splits