A tour around the course, or at least our route....
Overall strategy -- work as a team, communicate, have fun. We had a bunch of discussion and analysis of various routes, whether to head west or not into the big canyons, where it turns out most people went. Decided that our route was better, several more controls to get for a similar number of points, but not the big climbs/drops.
40. By the "tank" (a dried-up dammed-up pond), just left of the top of the big reentrant, and down, looking for the side reentrant. There was another one before the correct one, just the same size at the correct one, so one wasn't shown on the map at all and the other was shown too large. Good practice training the eye, and a reminder of the flexibility needed. Always on the compass too, the whole time we were out there, no matter what. I would guess I checked my compass on average at least every 30 seconds over the course of the 22 hours we were out.
All needed a reminder, repeated on the the next couple of controls, to keep communicating. Had to get back in rogaine mode.
30. Straight to the big reentrant, staying just slightly right of the line. We weren't sure how high the control would be, turned out a bit higher than I expected. That's not to say it was wrong. With a 1:30,000 map, everything was usually a little further than expected. Or maybe it was just the anxiety, wanting the confirmation you're right.
71. Your basic canyon bottom walk -- keep track of all the turns and always check the compass, get to the correct side canyon, go up to the control. Same operation, day or night. Easy. And given the steep slopes, no other option.
51. Tougher, plus I was being sloppy. Route across the slope was just a little too high to get a good view of the flat spur to the left, plus wasn't pacing. So there was uncertainty as we got close, but either Barb or Cristina had it figured out.
90. Some discussion of back up out of 51 and around to the right, but down and up instead. Then by the top of 3 reentrants, out the spur, down until it got steep. We were just to the right, maybe 50 meters. Nice view of the western terrain.
50. Back up. Not much of a climb. At the top Barb said her pulse was about 150 and she looked flushed. Checked mine, 96. The first sign her system was going screwy, and the pace so far had been mellow. Not good. Then across some bland terrain, picked up the E/W trail which simplified matters. First of many breaks, for Cristina to adjust shoes. No complaints from anyone about stopping. This section of the map, blander and flatter terrain, was the toughest, better to be doing it in the daytime.
61. Basic canyon walk, a very shallow "canyon" but very well defined.
60. Straight compass, partly for the lack of a better alternative, partly just for the challenge. Execution was perfect, plus all the little changes in the contours along the way made sense. Also benefited from having all the fingers crossed. Cristina was impressed.
80. Toughest leg (60 had an easier recovery if you missed). Straight compass. Perfect, hit the reentrant maybe 100 meters above the control but the reentrant seemed small and, thinking it was the smaller one NW of the correct one, we went on. Nothing, turned came back a little lower and there it was.
Difficult because it was a diagonal approach on a gently undulating hillside with not much in the way of distinct features anywhere, and the reentrant turned out less distinct than I expected. You could waste a lot of time here, we probably wasted about 5 minutes. A little annoyed at myself, but only a little as could have done much worse.
52. Straight to the road, then trail, then in, a little careless at the end but no problem. Water stop, another break, Barb feeling worse. The breaks early on were about 10 minutes, then they got longer.
81. Canyon walk, then up to the high ground, over the top, down the left side of the big spur. Nice.
70. Up to skirt the big reentrant, then straight north, canyon walk, and over the small spur at the end.
91. Down to the main canyon, lots of thorns (only really bad vegetation we encountered and I, with just shorts on, was feeling very vulnerable, fortunately B and C found all the openings for me), then up the steep slope. Barb looked like she was feeling awful. I took her fanny pack to help a little. Took another look, she was really suffering, took her camelback too. Not easy, full sun, sure glad it wasn't a 600' climb, and I was sweating like crazy by the top. A bunch of deadfall all along the top, pain in the rear. Coming down the slope towards the end, I thought we might be one reentrant farther right then we were and was hoping to see the control reentrant right ahead of us, but it was clear where we were and not really any time lost. An unpleasant leg.
62. Now for the long trip south. A long canyon walk, interrupted by a break for Barb, also to get filled in on Cristina's life story. Obviously that (the life story) took longer than 10 minutes, but the story entertained us all the way up the canyon. Over the top, another reentrant lined us right up, easy. Ran onto Valeriy and Olga at the control. Did they have anything like Tums? No, but Olga fished out a charcoal capsule for Barb.
82. Up to the trail It was there (you never know), as mapped (again, you never know). To the T (again, as mapped), then down. A brief discussion along the way about whether we were obligated by the rules to report Valeriy and Olga for offering aid to another team.... :-)
64. Up to the trail, but didn't get too far before time for another break. Barb looked even worse. There was a suggestion that she might be better if she threw up, but she seemed reluctant, claiming not to know how to do it. She went off a few meters, made a few puking sounds but no success. Slowly onward to the trail. Pace and reading the subtleties to know where to turn off, no problem.
72. Straight, always reading the terrain too, easy. Getting dark.
46. Canyon walk. Dark at the control. Another break, longer now, maybe 20-25 minutes. Real dark, no moon until after midnight. At some point Barb threw up (fingers down the throat method, though I've never had that do it for me, I think I just keep heaving until something comes up, fortunately it's been a few years since I've had the need).
We sat there a long time. She moaned a lot. Some talk about heading in, would be a long walk. Getting cold, down in a canyon, not moving, shivering, out came the extra clothes. After a while Barb said we should try to keep going. The plan was, we'd stop whenever she wanted, as long as she wanted. Or go in. Either way was OK, you're a team, you stick together.
83. Skipped 45, it was up high and she never would have made it up the canyon wall. Out of the canyon, fortunately an easy climb and Barb was temporarily feeling better, then down to the next one, easy.
74. Headed off, and this is one of situations where you are glad it's not recorded on video tape. I was in front, a little bit east, then a u-turn to the right to continue the canyon walk, except my u-turn was too soon and too sharp and I was heading right back to 83 without knowing it. B and C had stopped. I kept going a little. They yelled. I was stubborn. They yelled some more. I was still stubborn. Finally I turned back, to humor them I remember thinking. And of course they were right, and I was some combination of embarrassed, chagrined, amused, and amazed.
Before long Barb was fading again. Another break, 20 minutes or so. Cold again. She was lying on a sand bar, miserable, got up after a bit, went and threw up some more. Had we a shovel with us we could have put her out of her misery and buried her on the spot, but we didn't.
Strange as it may sound, I was optimistic, we were still moving, still making progress, still getting points. We'd had 1090 by dark. Maybe another 400 in the dark and more in the morning and a decent score was still possible.
Eventually moved on, cold again. More canyon walk, then a very steep but fortunately not too long climb up to 74. Nailed it.
55. Canyon walk. Post-puke, Barb was again doing a little better.
84. Tough climb out of the canyon, but we made it, then compass course for the "g" in "Springs," perfect. Around and up to the control.
56. A break at 84, though now Barb was feeling a little better and we were keeping the breaks to 10 minutes or so.
A major change in route. Cristina was drinking a whole lot more than either of us. Our original route had us going a very long time between water stops, but at night I thought that was OK. It wasn't. So a new plan for a few southern controls and then we'd see how things were when it got light.
Time to go, they headed down, I took a moment to take a caffeine pill, then I stood up to follow, slipped, reached behind me to break the fall, managed to dislodge a football-sized rock as I was sliding down a few feet and it followed me and crunched me on the left forearm. Hurt like hell, but nothing broken, things settled down, and I moved on.
Canyon walk. Checked my watch after about 10 minutes, but it wasn't there. Fuck. Too far to go back even if I knew right where it must be.
69. Straight compass to the water stop. Perfect. I mean, really perfect, hit the road, looked across, and there were the water jugs. Another break, Cristina and me readjusting shoes, re-greasing feet. Someplace in here (probably a little earlier) Barb started to put away a Gu (with caffeine) about every hour, and she was definitely on the mend. But maybe Cristina was getting a little tired/sleepy.
Off again, road to the bend, then compass, easy.
68. Tough control. Combination spur and foot of cliff. Back up over the spur, down the little reentrant so we knew where we were. There was an unmapped road down there, problem is you want to use it, but you also have to map it so you know where you are. Got over in the vicinity on the road, my gut said the control was a little higher. Went up maybe 50 meters, looked around, a couple big (really big) boulders, no controls, thickish forest. Circled around the second, anxiety growing, and just then lit up the reflector a few meters away. Bliss. Called B and C. Onward.
49. Barb definitely doing better. Cristina was hanging in there. I had a few toe blisters but was generally OK. Up to the ridge, trail to the bend, compass across the road and down, easy. Starting to get light.
So Barb had hung in there all night long and we had 530 points in the night despite all the adversity, 1620 so far. 2000 still possible. I didn't have any competitive ambitions for the event, really, honestly, just there for the adventure with friends, but 2000 was a nice round number.
37. Via the water stop. Barb was now in the lead for a few controls, her turn, having followed most of the night. Hit the water stop just right, another break there, maybe 10 minutes, then hit the control, no problem. By now the lights had been stowed away, the birds were singing, life was good.
36. Straight, plus reading the map, perfect.
47. Up and over to the main road. The side road didn't exist, but no problem, compass to the spur, off the end, up to the control. Beautiful woods in the early morning light.
73. Canyon walk, then angled across a slope up to the flat spur just below the control. Perfect route, prettiest spot on the whole course.
34. So break time. Cristina was now getting very tired.
Up the hill, out to the road, a bit of a walk on it and then down to the control.
44. Took the around route. Simple.
35. Another break before leaving 44. Cristina said her hamstrings were starting to go. A quick review of the symptoms, yup, that was it, time to head in, no point in risking serious damage with her on the WOC team. I just hoped she would hold together until we got in.
(And I was also a little bummed, had hoped to go for 4 or 5 more controls, got myself in a bit of a non-communicative snit, far from the first time in my life, would love it if it were the last. So damn counter-productive. OK, PG, repeat after me -- if something is bothering you, say so, don't wait for someone else to try to figure it out and maybe reach some totally wrong conclusion in the process. OK? 100 times on the blackboard? OK?)
Canyon walk to below 35. Another break to rest up for the final assault. Getting hot. Put on more sunscreen (at least I did something right). Then up to the control.
Finish. And in, very slowly, no hurry. 1890 points. Excellent under the circumstances. And I had had an absolutely wonderful time (except for the last little bit....), a couple of absolutely wonderful partners, another adventure, another memory. Though it took me until the next morning to get my head straightened out. Hopefully no damage done. I guess no one ever said life was easy.
And before next time, and I sure hope there is a next time, I'm going to get a light like Cristina has, because it was something else.