July 30, 2014

August Meet at Dutch Lake near Stanley, Idaho

All are invited to the CTOC regular monthly meet this coming Sunday August 3 that takes place near Stanley, Idaho. It will be run on the Dutch Lake map. Starts 11am to 1pm. 3 courses will be offered: longer advanced (5.6km, 16 controls), shorter intermediate (4km, 10 controls), and high level beginner (3km, 6 controls). Beginner course would require venturing into terrain for the last couple controls, use of compass, and ability to read contours. It offers easy first 4 controls and more advanced 2 last controls. Any person on the beginner course would be required to be accompanied by an experienced partner.

This is very challenging and fun moraine terrain with lots of depressions, hills, and small ponds and lakes. Will require upmost focus and ability to read the map and use precise navigation. We hope you will have as much fun as we did.

We will provide water and condiments at the start/finish. We also designed advanced and intermediate courses to have a water control in the middle of courses. If it is really hot you may consider taking some water with you. It may take more than 1 hour to complete the course. Full body cover and good orienteering shoes are advisable. There is some amount of undergrowth and deadfall that requires body protection. We will have compasses for rent if you don’t own one. Good compass work is essential for this type of terrain!

Directions: Take road toward Stanley via Lowman either via Banks-Garden Valley (preferable) or Idaho City. From Lowman drive for about 44 miles north on H-21 until you see signs for Thatcher campground on your right (the highway makes 90 degree turn right couple mile before the campground). Continue about 1km further and take right on forest road 195. We will place CTOC directional sign at the turn. Continue for about 2km on FR195 southwest until you see the meet center (my car and orienteering signs). FR195 is relatively fine but very low clearance vehicles are not advised. It takes approximately 2.5 hours from Boise.

We hope to see you all enjoying this fun terrain and beauty of Stanley area!

Yours,

Sergey Velichko

July 15, 2014

Bogus Basin Results and Mea Culpa

August Meet

It's customary to include a notice for the next meet at the end of the current meet report. Because the next meet in Stanley Basin is on the first of our new LiDAR maps, I am choosing to feature it at the top of the report. The new Dutch Lake Map has exceptionally well detailed contours. August 3 will be an opportunity to get a preview of area and what LiDAR technology can do for us. Sergey will have a more complete announcement later, but for now he sends us this note:

The meet is Sunday August 3. It will be run on the Dutch Lake Map. Starts 10am-noon. 3 courses will be offered: longer advanced, shorter intermediate, high level beginner. Beginner course would require venturing into terrain, use of compass, and ability to read contours. It is not suitable for first- comers. Any person on the beginner course would be required to be accompanied by an experienced partner. Driving will involve about 2km on a dirt road. It is relatively fine but very low clearance vehicles are not advised.

Bogus Basin

I have a friend who says that everyone has a purpose, even if it's only to serve as a bad example. I was that person Sunday in my role as the director of the Bogus Basin Meet. Because I truly love this sport, it pains me to make a mess of a meet. I know that most of the meets I direct have a casual, if not disorganized, flavor. I hope that most of you view that as a satisfactory trade for additional mapping. However, this meet fell far short even of my lax standards.

I am posting results as we always do. These results have very little value in comparing performances due to the most egregious of the problems. Jason and Karen Quinn finished Loop 1 without finding Control 7. Since it was located close to the finish I offered to show them where it was. We methodically walked to the boulder marked by Control 7. Much to my surprise and alarm there was no control bag. Without thinking it through I concluded that someone had removed the control. A little reflection led me to a different conclusion. No one would have seen the control and snatched it because it was completely out of the public view. As far as I know, there are no control-eating species endemic to Bogus Basin. I suspect there are some of you who silently harbor the belief that I never set the control. However, I am only able to reach one acceptable explanation. I present the photographic evidence so you can reach the only logical conclusion. Some participants searched long and hard. Others gave up quickly. Yet others found the control I set after discovering the problem. There is no way to handicap the individual loss of time.

 
 
I wish I could call this meet a comedy of errors. There was no comedy, only error. It started with confusion about the date of the meet originally posted as Saturday, July 13. Saturday was July 12. There was the purloined control noted above. And finally, I elected to omit control codes. I retain my opinion that control codes are unnecessary for local meets on a classic course. This was a local meet, but it was not a classic course. All three loops of what is probably best described as a Motala overlapped. Some controls were used on both Loop 1 and Loop 3. On a hot day with fatigue setting in it's possible to become a little confused when you find a control not far from the control you are seeking. I know that I am easily confused and frustrated at such a juncture. Ole, in his gentlemanly way, told me that control codes would have helped. I can see clearly now that he was right. Ole's critique came as I met him while I was picking up Loop 1 controls and he was finishing Loop 3. Completely forgetting that the Loop 1 control I was picking up was also a Loop 3 control, I picked it up. Forty meters on my way I realized my error and returned to the scene of the crime arriving just as Jason Quinn appeared in search of the control then in my hand. Although the control description did not say so, I was the feature he was searching for. He punched his map with the control still in my hand.

Bogus Basin is rough terrain with too much brush to allow fully free navigation. Among the few bright spots in the day were four legs belonging to Natalie and Becca. It's not just that they were pretty legs before they started. These Riverstone students attacked Loop 1 without gaiters and emerged with nary a scratch. It was good to see David Bergset back out on the prowl for controls. And we had the Thomas family complete both Loop 1 and Loop 2. Good job!

Thank you to Ayshe Sert and Jerry Stewart for help at the start table. I really appreciated Greg Davidson's and David Bergset's assistance picking up controls.
 
And one final note on the Bogus Basin mapping project. Loops 1 and 2 expanded the map down to Bogus Creek. If I am still allowed to direct a meet next year, I plan to expand the map into some very appealing terrain. A lot of it is runnable. A lot of it has more rock features. And, while it has significant elevation challenges,  the climbs and descents are much less demanding than those found in the 2014 addition to the map. It should be fun. I can promise the meet will be better managed. How could it not be?
 
John Murray
Meet Director


July 6, 2014

Bogus Basin Meet -- Sunday, July 13

No Longer the Sole Province of the Alpine Enthusiast—Bogus Orienteering Goes Nordic -- Sunday, July 13 – Alpine and Nordic Areas on an Expanded Map

Join us for our third orienteering adventure at Bogus Basin. This year's Bogus Basin Meet introduces new courses on a map that has expanded into the Nordic area. The newly mapped area west of the Nordic Lodge features many boulders and cliffs comprising interesting navigational challenges. Although the advanced and intermediate courses are relatively short in horizontal distance, the vertical will reward strong legs, stout hearts and astute route choices.

All three courses (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) begin at the Nordic Lodge. The finish will also be at the Nordic Lodge. The beginner's course will follow roads, but in a departure from previous events the controls will be off of the road. They will be easily accessible and within 10 meters of the road. It will be necessary for participants on the beginner's course to identify features like boulders and re-entrants on the map. If you are a beginner and unfamiliar with orienteering map symbols, the meet directors and experienced orienteers will gladly give you a brief explanation before you depart on your adventure.

If you plan to tackle either the intermediate or advanced course, be sure to bring gaiters or some other protection for your legs. Bogus Basin has brush. Full leg cover will prevent a lot of otherwise difficult to avoid scratches or worse. Also, because cut branches on the ground often make the footing unstable, you should bring sturdy shoes and good judgment about when to be cautious.
 
Who: Orienteers of all ages and abilities (beginners to advanced)

When: Sunday, July 13. Courses will be open for starts from 9 am – 11. Courses close at 1 pm. You may arrive within this window to try a course, as participants start separately a few minutes apart.

Finish and Parking Location: Nordic Lodge parking lot.  
http://goo.gl/maps/ZdCNi

Restrooms available at the Simplot Lodge and/or in the parking lot.
Format: Classic in 3 loops.
Entry fees: $5.00 per map for non-members (individual or group). Free to members of the City of Trees Orienteering Club.

You may want to bring: a watch, a compass, a snack, a whistle and a cell phone. (Some compasses will be available to borrow)

Directors: John Murray/Jerry Stewart