Training Log Archive: furlong47

Event: DVOA Hay Creek
 

DVOA Hay Creek - Green

My first warning was on the way to start when Angelica told me everyone was doing Brown today. My second was on the way to 1 when Dave U. told me something along the lines of it being brutal.

I missed 1, luckily ran into the tree stand which was mapped, and bounced back to it. On the way to 2, encountered what I thought was the rocky prominence N of the control, climbed up the rocks, but it must have been the rocky area to the E of the control. Figured that out and walked right to the bag.

3 was the only control (aside from 10) that gave me no issues.

Decided to go around on trails and attack 4 from the yellow/green blob to the N. This was not wise, as it was junky in there. Missed once (I believe to the right), backed out, attacked again, missed again (to the left) and decided to give up. Of course, then walked right into the control while bailing to the trail.

Decided to see how 5 went, as 6 looked easy, to determine if I would continue. Went down the ditch to the vicinity of 5, then bumbled around down there for a while until I found it. OK, I'll keep at it.

Up the trail to the hilltop. Tried to go down the smaller trail but it was pretty much gone and impossible to follow. Bailed N to the big trail and could actually see the bag from the trail. After this the wheels really fell off...

Started direct cross country to 7 but never made it there. I did cross two areas of rock, but I was having trouble picking much of anything out in the green. I started seeing rock features and having no clue what they were on the map. A little scared, no map contact anymore, but figured if I kept going E I would run into one of the trails eventually even if it was the big one going back to Start/Finish. At some point I apparently crossed the trail beyond 7 but never saw it (so much for my catching feature) and then I saw a stream....

I had drifted way, way N and was down in the area of streams SE of the reservoir. I hit the bigger trail just S of where a stream crossed it. At this point I decided I was not going back after 7, and there was no logic in trying to hit 8 or 9 on the way in, so I just walked around on the trails to the finish, snagging 10 in the process.

My first DNF in over a decade... probably tanked my ranking today.

I did leave the original course length in, as I covered at least that much walking back.

The heat was never a problem. I just hate orienteering in the green when you can't read the terrain and can barely see 5 feet in front of your face. It becomes a crapshoot of whether you're lucky enough to encounter usable features or bumble into a control.

I think John C's sprint series idea might be a nice use of summer with urban/campus/more open park type maps. Save the other parks for spring/fall/winter when we might stand a chance out there.

Green - Splits

Lesson on Rigbie in the jump field. A little scary as he is very forward moving and I'm still getting used to him. But I lived ;-)

Northwest River Trail