City of Trees Orienteering Club

Some information from the last year, amended for this event.
This is a Classic course format traveling in sequential order. You're welcome to go at whatever pace you prefer.

We will have our usual 4 courses:
1. Beginner Course (stats TBD): A good choice for beginners. Due to wilderness of the area we will require any child to be accompanied by a shadowing grownup.
1. Sport Course (stats TBD): A good choice if you'd like to develop your navigation skills and move up from the beginner level.
2. Intermediate (stats TBD): An opportunity to apply compass-bearing and contour-reading in rugged terrain.
3. Advanced (stats TBD): Same terrain and technical ability as intermediate with a lot more endurance required and enough distance to satisfy that need to run.

Keep in mind that these distances are based on straight path distances, not the distance of your travel, that will be farther.

This venue does not lend itself to a beginner course, this not a city park venue. There are many varying ground coverings (smooth, sandy, to rocky, to boulders), in addition to steep and rocky cliffs. However, we will try to put something suitable for shorter and easier course to accommodate people who just started the sport. We will publish more information closer to the meet.

LOGISTICS
When: Saturday, April 26
Starts from 10:00AM to 12:00AM. Course closes at 2:00PM. (that means please be back at the start by this time.)
Meet Location:
Ten miles south of Bruneau on the west side of State Highway 51. This is approximately 1.5 hours drive from Boise - but it is worth the time.
Wear gators if you have them. The cheatgrass isn't terrible, but bad enough that is your be glad to have. Grounds may be soft so shoes with cleats may be a good idea. Of course, remember your compass, or bring $1 to borrow one for the day. You definitely will need one to take bearings in this open terrain!

There is limited parking at the site. Pease keep that in mind as you come into the turn off and if your vehicle allows, you may need to pull off the road further. Car pooling is encouraged.

The Google Map pin shows the location of the start and finish.
Please RSVP by Thursday evening March 14 with name & course choice. So we may preprint maps for you. You can RSVP either in the comments below or directly to savelichko@yahoo.com. Limited number of extra maps may be available but do not rely if you didn't RSVP.

PUNCHING on the course:
We will use SI electronic punching. You may rent SI stick for nominal $2 or bring your own.

There is not cell phone coverage in the canyon, but generally there seemed to be some elsewhere on Verizon.

Map Notes:
The vegetation is simple--scattered sagebrush, rabbit brush, and other species. Cheat grass, never dense, covers the entire area. It was never a problem with gaiters and awn resistant shoes. Basalt outcrops like those pictured above punctuate large areas of flat runnable terrain. The only thing, and it's an important consideration, that prevents the terrain from being 100% runnable is the prevalence of softball-size rocks on much of the venue. Safety requires extra attention to foot placement in many locations. Recommended to tape ankles or wear ankle braces to prevent potential sprains. It also will provide you with more confidence and additional protection from grass and scrub.
Cliffs are the predominant feature for control placement and navigation. It was not very useful to try to map all of the many boulders. Their absence from the map, with a few exceptions, produces what we believe will be a less cluttered and more readable map.

Hazard Meadows is a new map situated to the northwest of the Hazard Lake Campground. There are some important things to keep in mind.
Hazard Meadows is a long drive from Boise. It is north of the Brundage Ski Area and north of Goose Lake. You might want to camp in the area or stay in McCall.

As I write this meet announcement in December the meet is proposed on the basis of a promising map derived from 2017 LiDAR and recent Google Earth images. So, at this time it is a prospect that I will need to validate by spending some time exploring the terrain after the snow melts from the road.

In my judgement it will provide excellent intermediate and advanced orienteering with lots of varied features in both intermittent meadows and mountainous terrain. Much of the area is runnable, but there are sizeable parts dominated by fallen trees that advanced orienteers will need to avoid or negotiate. The terrain is otherwise suitable for intermediate and sport courses. No beginner course will be offered.

Cliffs are the predominant feature for control placement and navigation. There are many boulders and a few notable root stocks.

Please RSVP by Wednesday evening, August 20 with name, course choice, and phone number to ensure you will have a map. You can RSVP either in the comments below or directly to MurrayJohnA1@gmail.com .