Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: Crooked Compass Adventure Trek
 

Starting from Germantown East Local Park, I went up Gunner's Branch into the Montgomery College Germantown Campus and surrounding woods. Sam Listwak had recommended that I map this area. It could be used for training, club sprints, or Middle Distance, though overall it's not very technical. I'd spent a long while just doing the basemap. I had a lot of aerial imagery to help map the college buildings and sidewalks. I did this at 1:4,000 which works well, but the surrounding forest may have been better mapped at 1:10,000 or something less. From what I saw walking around, the overall base mapping was good. I didn't have to do much editing on the campus. The forests had more in them than I'd anticipated. Along Gunner's Branch, there was regular feature spacing. There were things like occasional rock, man made objects, a pond, and even a ride. There was some low vegetation and some parts just looked unpleasant. The other forest south of the campus, west of Holy Cross Germantown Hospital and north of the Hughes Network Systems campus was much more wide open with a saddled ridge a few broad reentrants, and some ditch systems. I got a lot done but will need a few more days to be thorough.

From Northfield Rd. I ran up to Custer Rd., to Wilson La., to Exeter Rd. to Glenbrook Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to the NIH grounds, to Maple Ridge Rd. to Georgetown Pike, to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd. to Northfield Rd. I didn't feel so good today.

From Northfield Rd., to Jefferson St., to Glenwood Rd., to Garfield St., to Roosevelt St., to Ewing Dr., to Greentree Rd., to Garfield St., to Jefferson St., to Northfield Rd. This felt okay but the usual knee pains were there.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Wilson Ln. to Custer Ln. to Northfield Rd.

Hoyles Mill Conservation Park. I started from the Hoyles Mill Trailhead parking lot on White Ground Rd. The little field there had been let to grow except for where they mowed for the trail. I got a phone call just before I was to head out, and I subsequently forgot my eyeglasses. I ran down Hoyles Mill Rd. without them, then crossed over into areas I'd mapped on Saturday. I was pleased that I could navigate from what I'd mapped earlier since some of my notes had been sketchy. I checked some features, then headed to the areas further northwest. The further from the streams that I got, the better the woods were overall. Vegetation changes were gradual, making it hard to map. I was productive however. I found and mapped a lot of newly discovered boulders and low cliffs. This area is likely to be tougher to navigate than others on the map, due to density and the spacing of the rock. Though much of the rocky areas are to be mapped white, the occasional barberry bushes or small rises in terrain keep the visibility low. There were areas of fractured stony ground too that made treacherous to ankles.

Summer Short Series Training in Patuxent River State Park at Annapolis Rock Rd. Jan Merka premiered a new map he'd been working on. He'd been making it since last June. It was a fun event and the terrain was mostly pretty nice. It started in an area of mature pine trees that didn't have the usual deadfall so typical of Quantico area pine forests. Other oak forest was pretty open. It was typical ridge and valley terrain. It didn't have a lot of technical or physical difficulty. The map was a work in progress. Mainly, the vegetation needs to be improved. Vegetation on the map had been generated via LiDAR data and satellite photos. A sizeable group of fox hunters were riding around while we orienteered.

S-1 - As I headed out I realized that I didn't know how the controls were marked. I wondered if it was virtually as I headed down a reentrant unsure how far to go. With a little hesitation, I saw the clearing ahead and got to the control.

1-2 - Weaved through this different set of pines with low branches and spiked it.

2-3 - Down the trail then attacking prior to seeing the trail intersection.

3-4 - Straight but I got a little to the right at the bottom of the first reentrant. Realizing it, from the top of the ditch I adjusted on the climb over a ridge. I got to the edge of the circle but didn't see the correct ditches finding 2 unmapped ditches further on in the same reentrant, I was temporarily convinced that I was in the right place and that the streamer was gone. I went down and up the ditches to be sure. Next I went back to the last trail I'd crossed, went down it to an intersection, then went on the trail to get over the ridge and to the correct ditches.

4-5 - Back to the trail and past Gary Smith who was in the forest, to the control.

5-6 - Going down the trail, I misread a bend and started to turn off on a trail to the right. Gary passed me as I corrected and the trail narrowed. Jens Wira got behind me. At the bottom we waited a good while for horse riders and their dogs to come through. Some were lingering so our wait was about 50 seconds according to my GPS track. To get across the creek, I went to the right and crossed on stones, only getting a little wet. As I climbed I could see Peggy. She'd started after I had so I figured I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't move :). Moving was tough for me while climbing. I didn't gain a lot of ground. It did help a little that Peggy was ahead and that I could see her reaching the control.

6-7 - Trail to the bend, the straight. I saw Peggy had already left the control but he rootstock was very big and obvious.

7-8 - Straight, ignoring the trail. I crossed the reentrant a little early by Peggy had crossed it earlier. Using the trail at the second intersection would have been best and I would have had to climb. I saw Peggy leaving, which helped give away the final location, but I heard footsteps behind me.

8-9 - Unmapped deadfall kept my lower than I wanted. Chris Gross passed me and then Peggy. I tried staying to the right at the creek fork to only cross once, but it didn't help me gain any ground on Peggy and Chris. We all went low under the mapped green and hooked right past the first set to get to the control.

9-10 - I picked-up an unmapped but distinct animal trail that skirted below the mapped green. I'd lost sight of Peggy and Chris. I got to within sight of the catch pond, then climbed. I saw the reentrant splitting but stayed to the right, unsure since vegetation wasn't manually mapped, if going in the reentrant was beneficial or not. Near the top, I could see Peggy approaching from right to left, and going above some unmapped deadfall. I could go to the left without dropping into the steep reentrant so I eventually went around the deadfall to punch too.

10-11 - I ran fairly straight, with only a little arcing around the reentrant after the saddle. I glimpsed Peggy but lost sight of her. Staying high, I found a good way through the under-mapped vegetation on the spur above the control. As I descended, I could see Peggy approaching from the right, but I got to the control first.

11-12 - I found the log crossing the creek and used it. I stayed low and eventually used a trail. I paused to check to make sure it was in-bounds, since it was on the edge of an out of bounds area. When the trail rose a little, I left and angled to climb. I hit the gully in the middle, climbed and couldn't see the streamer. Close inspection let me see that the streamer had been torn to pieces and was on the ground; probably a dear had pulled on it. I could see the number 13 on the streamer and thought it odd since this was control 12. Peggy later pointed out that it was coded 113.

12-13 - I angled up when I should have climbed directly. I saw the tops of the mapped ditches, and cut left/direct through the mapped green. Some of the way I'd found an animal track that helped, but when it veered away I worked through the thorns and deadfall. Emerging from the green, I thought I was low. Then I saw Peggy approaching from the left. I went higher but didn't see the ditch. Unmapped vegetation obscured it but I was able to see the streamer hanging above it. I got there just before Peggy.

13-14 - I went straight and ignored the trail. This was partly confusion that I was going from 14 to the finish. I looked for what seemed to me like a saddle, but that was bad and rushed map reading. I managed to see the streamer and it seemed a longer way that expected. I stopped and stopped my watch thinking I was finished :(.

14-15 - Peggy got to #14 and went on. I looked more and realized I'd messed-up. I went on chasing her. Reaching the trail I was able to push harder to pass and finish ahead of her, but she'd beaten me overall, mostly due to my error at #4.

It was encouraging to see that Jan had found a good new area to use, and that he was able to map it. I anticipate club events here eventually. The park is a lot bigger than the part of the map that we used but Jan said that some of those areas are somewhat greener.

Peggy, Samantha, and I had lunch in Damascus, and then picked-up Max from his girlfriend's house.