Training Log Archive: davelevine

BP: 107 / 67

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Event: QOC Fountainhead
 

Walk to start - using the Garmin data for the walk back from start/finish which comes out to a little more than 2.5 km stated on the map but that's probably because of where I started and a few small deviations that I made

Blue (17 controls, 8.9 km, 425 m)

Actual Distance Traveled: 10.9 km
Actual Climb: 268 m

The weather did not cooperate. It was raining lightly when I arrived at the parking area and continued to rain for the next few hours that I spent in the woods. I was soaked through and through by the time I finished. I was wearing to two layers on top and no hat.

The event website indicated that there would be a 2.5K walk to the start for the intermediate and advanced courses. I assumed that this meant that the those courses would end near the parking area. That was not the case. The finish was right next to the start. In otherwords those courses included two hikes of approximately 1.6 miles each.

I had not cleared and checked at the e-punch table so I needed to clear and check. The placement of the clear and check boxes at the start was different than what I was used to seeing. Instead of having them right next to the start they were about 50 meters down the hill from the start. If there had not been other peope there to tell me where to find them I would not have known that they were even there.

I can't say that I didn't make any mistakes but I do feel that I did excellent job with navigating today. I did not make any serious mistakes or have trouble finding any controls.

My trip to the first control was uneventful. I started heading straight for it but then chose a different approach using the trail. I found it without any trouble.

My original plan for the second control was to find the 16th control first, which was close to it. I changed my mind after I missed the trail junction from which I had planned to navigate to 107. Instead I stayed on the trail until I got to the bend in the trail closest to 110. I was able to find it without any difficulty.

I headed southeast from 110 back to the trail and headed south and then east-southeast on the trail. I encountered two Japanese (?) couples hiking when I got back to the trail who had questions for me about what I was doing. I spoke with them a little bit but their English wasn't uniformly great so I'm not sure I understood everything they asked me or they understood everything I told them, I left the east-southeast trail when it started to drop. I turned south and then southeast. Instead of heading straight for the third control I looked for and found the 12th one first. It was a short trip from there to 111.

It was a quick jump from there to the fourth control.

It was a much longer trip to the fifth control. I started by heading due west. Once I crossed the creek and climbed up the northwest/southeast re-entrant I started heading northwest until I crossed the trail and found the little ditches that eventually led down to the creek that passed near 112. At the creek junction I went up and over and found 112 without any trouble.

The route I took to the sixth control was not the most direct one. I started by heading northeast. Then I turned north until I passed what I was fairly certain was the 10th control, although I didn't stop to check the number. I kept heading north from there until I got to 113.

There was a group of four people at 113 who must have been moving faster than me before I saw them. I had not seen them before. I wound up following them to the next two controls, neither of which would have been difficult to find on my own. Somewhere between 116 and 101 then finally picked up the pace and left me behind.

The 10th control was relatively easy to find because I had been there before. There was some muddy scrambling to be done in this area.

The 11th control was east-southeast of 102 and just across a trail, in a re-entrant, and not too hard for me to find. It was there that I encountered someone doing the red course and not too pleased with his progress. He asked me advice as to whether he should just give up and head back. I checked my watch and saw that it was only 1:45 and encouraged him to keep going.

The 12th control wasn't difficult to find since I had been there before. Ditto for the 13th which was the same control as the fourth one.

I started off by heading west-southwest towards the 14th control. I stuck with that bearing for the most part. I found all the terrain features I was looking for along the way although it seemed to take longer to get there that I expected it would. On at least one occasion I wondered if I had gone too far but I decided that I had not because I hadn't reachd the river, which was a little past 105.

I got distracted by someone else when I was leaving 105 and started by heading in the wrong direction, south. I didn't stick with that bearing for more than a minute before I circled around and started heading north. I headed first for 112 which was on the way to the 15th control. After passing 112 I continued north until I reached the next little stream and then turned northwest. I must have been heading more north than northwest because I wound up having to turn west once I got to where I thought the control would be. I got a little help here from a couple other people who I saw coming from the area where I eventually found the control.

By this time I knew I was running short on time and was worried the 16th control might have been pulled before I got to it. I did not head directly for 107. Instead I headed east and found 102 for the third time. I continued to head east until I reached the ditch which would eventually lead me to the stream to the north. Once I found the stream I headed northeast and uphill to 107. I was very glad to find it there but now was concerned that the 17th and final control would be pulled before I reached it. The time was 2:57.

I headed northwest and found 108 which was also the 17th control, without any trouble. Once again I was thankful that the people doing control pickup weren't quite as fast as I feared they might be. The jump from there to the fiinish was fairly short.

The rain definitely made this event more challenging than it otherwise might have been. My glasses were constantly getting obscured. I wiped them off with my fingers constantly. In some areas the terrain was fairly subtle and/or repetitive. In those places and in general I wound up using the compass more than I have at other parks.

When I started out I thought I might have bit off more than I could chew. I think that the way the course was designed, with two loops, made it a little easier than a course of that length might be where the same sections of the park aren't visited more than once. That said it was not easy, just easier than I feared it might be.

I don't think I have orienteered in this section of Fountainhead before but I hope we use it again in the future. It would be nice if there wasn't such a long walk to the start and then back from the finish, but it was worth it.

In looking at the map I notice that there is more to the peninsula that we did not get to see because there were no controls placed there. Maybe next time.

Hike back from start/finish at Fountainhead

Blue - Splits

BP: 109 / 68

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2000 Crystal Dr to Union Station - first bike ride in 3 months

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BP: 105 / 63

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BP: 106 / 79

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BP: 110 / 71

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