Black Rocks, Black flies... few canyons

October 18, 2025

Fall or late winter, this venue can be great in the cooler parts of the year. It was another beautiful day to be out and about in the desert of Idaho. The winds were calm, and while the starting morning temperature was cool, it quickly warmed through the early afternoon.

Start view point

This meet was a bit of a group effort. Originally Sergey had planned to lead, but plans changed with work travel. He was able to provide me with the courses he was considering. John and I went out on the last 80°+ day of the season to review courses and do additional fielding. Maybe it was the last hurrah before the colder weather moved in, but the flies were incredible the day we were out. They covered our backpacks, flew in our faces, and filling the car during the drive home! Luckily they had decreased significantly by the meet day, although still very present. I still had a fly or two in my car two days later.

Back in town, somewhere along the line my personal laptop gave me issues, leading to some team computer time to get courses updated and maps set. John and I both learned a few things about using OCad working through it together putting the finishing touches on the maps.

Terrain

A few gentlemen took on the Advanced course and reached areas on the NW part of the map we hadn't seen before. We skipped the canyon this year, but we'll bring it back, because it is a very cool feature of this map. 

Participant(s)	Course	Time
Pete F	ADV	1hr 11min
David M	ADV	1hr 33min
Scott G	ANV	DNF

The intermediate map also extended further to the north. Karin gave it a great run, while pairs took a more leisurely approach. 

Participant(s)	Course	Time
Karin D.	INT	1hr 5min
Leslie & John	INT	2hr 8min
Cat & Jaz	INT	2hr 21min
Cynthia & Jim	INT	DNF (1hr 7min, control 1-8)

As often is the case, John gets his own category. Since he helped vet the courses and set controls, he challenged himself to do the intermediate course from memory. Since this meant a few different approaches to controls, versus the advance course he'd hiked previously, he stumped himself on one control, resorting to one minor peak at the map. Memorizing a map is an interesting practice, especially in an area where you are not intimately acquainted with the terrain 

Participant(s)	Course	Time
John M	INT	1hr 35min

Practice... practice... practice... but it still never makes you perfect in this sport. First timers and newer orienteers took on the Sport course with grit and determination, at least until there were higher priority parties to attend. 

Participant(s)	Course	Time
Kendyl & Naomi	SPT	1hr 43min
Austin & Noah	SPT	3hr 56min
Edith & Pete	SPT	DNF (1hr 3 min, controls 1-4, 10)

Kendyl and Naomi

Until next time! Stay tuned to MeetUp for our next event.

Kirsten

Apparently there needed to be a few more of these guys around to help with the flies. 

Orbweaver spider