Training Log Archive: KFish

First day of work. I'm officially an adult :(

First exploration of the mountour trail. About a 15 minute drive to parking, but the trail was pretty deserted so it wasnt annoying biking. Mix of crushed gravel and paved, was hoping it was all gravel

Event: WPOC - Blue Spruce
 

WPOC debut at blue spruce park.

I'm going to miss the fact that every map was less than a 30 minute drive, had to trek 90 minutes for this one!

Start up procedure pretty much the same as normal. For set up for red and took off. Forgot to start up my watch until after cp 2, and I can't upload tracks until I get internet.

Took off up the wrong trail to 1 but it was easy to fix. Slightly overshot 3, but not too bad, and then drifted too far down hill to 4 before seeing the flag part way back up. Almost ate pavement on the way to 5, tripping right as I left the woods and sprawling on the road in front of a biker. Passed a guy on red here. Took trails most of the way to 6 (on a legit cliff, cool!). Followed the creek up to 7, but t wasn't actually on the creek, luckily I noticed I crossed the very faint trail and realized my mistake before I way overshot it. Trail to 8 and then I started going around the dark green to 9 before I realized it was easily passible pine forest. By the way to 10 I was feeling hills, , cut in from the hunter stand (every little thing was on this map!). Countoured to 11 and it went pretty well, stopped for a sip of water here. Trails to 12 and then I debated the best route to 13 for a while, but decided trails to an obvious intersection and then about 200 m across rocky ground that ended up being very slow going. Booked it down hill to the road to 14, but drifted. Saw a flag but it turned out to be the wrong one so it took me some time to figure out which way to correct, turned into my biggest mistake. Road to 15 and then contoured to 16 but ended up too high and missed it at first. Quick jog back to the finish.

In general the nav was fairly straightforward and went pretty well, it was the hills that were slow going. The map was really great and the course was set to provide some really good route choice despite all the trails. I think I came in second on red by 12 seconds.

Had a nice chat with Mark lattanzi and his wife at the finish.

C • if we build up SMOC 2

Council Crest Urban (do it yourself) Score O (90 min)

I had Sydney plan me a route to hit all of them and try to put a few interesting route choices in. This time I walked from hotel to start (1.3 mi uphill) in part to save some legs and in part to burn off the double brie burger I ate for lunch without puking.

This course was in probably one of the ritzyest neighborhoods in portland, some really amazing houses and views out to Mt Adams and Mt Hood. Undulating hills and sneaky staircases and trails that connect parallel roads, some of which are well hidden.

Started off pretty rough as I bobbled the first CP and then the second CPs answer did not have the correct choice available, making me triple check my location. I made my worst mistake 3 controls later at 11. After trecking up the stairs to count the landings, i decended and took of down the road. Lulckily i checked my compass or I would have ketp going. Turns out I needed to be at hte top of the stairs and going the opposite way, so had tro trek back up. After that it got better, aside for a few that I couldnt find the plaque/sign/bench I was supposed to answer a question about.

I took it easy (re: burger + tired legs from yesterday), but kept up a steady pace. Its hard to juggle a map folded into a sandwhich baggy, A pen + MC sheet, my phone in case i get lost or hurt, and a compass, so answer the questions often took a few seconds longer than punching a flag would. Even without that the nav was trickier than it might appear, because with the hills you cant see more than a block at a time so you need to be very diligent about keeping track of your position.

Once I started getting towards the south of the map it was obvious that I wasnt going to clear it. I took a breif off-the -clock break in Cascade Park to enjoy the view and replan a little better than I had on the fly.

In the end I hit 41/50 CP for 45/58 points in 1:28. My legs are quite sore, but my knees held up which is what I was most worried about.

Can view map here: http://www.croc.org/council-crest-permanent-course

My route: 2, 3, 4, 13, 11, 12, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 30, 35, 34, 37, 38, 41, 40, 39, 21, 22, 23, 25, 24, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 28, 27, 19, 20, 18, 16, 15, 14, 1