Orienteering
Most of the “courses” listed on my rambling page are golf courses or disc golf courses. I’m always trying to mix it up, looking for other sports that I could throw under that category. For a while I’d been thinking about orienteering, but I put it on the backburner. Who knew where I could join an orienteering meet? In addition, did I really have the skills to wander around in the woods without getting lost?
It turns out, just as in any sport, there is a gentle learning curve. No, I did not need to train myself by leaping out of a helicopter in the woods with a compass and navigating back to civilization. All I really needed to do was go to the Cascade Orienteering Club website.
First, I learned what orienteering actually is. It’s basically a race, where participants run between control points until they finish the course. The fastest wins, and navigation between control points is accomplished with a map, and sometimes a compass. In addition, there are levels of difficulty. In beginner level courses, the control points are right on the trail. When players ascend to more challenging levels, they begin pulling out the compass and wandering through the woods.
Reading a map is easy, communicating is not
My next concern was that I would need to whip out my wallet and sign up for a competition. While it may come to that if I want to make a habit of orienteering, it wasn’t necessary. Cascade Orienteering Club built several permanent courses in Washington for those that want an introduction to the sport. Anybody can print out the map and control sheet, and anybody can head to a park and complete the course.
Rita and I armed ourselves with the map, control sheet, and compass, before driving to Celebration Park in Federal Way. This course was rated easy for navigation (2/10), and it lived up the expectation. The course looped around some baseball fields, and then headed down a forest trail. The control points stood out in the open or on the side of the trail. The map was easy to follow, there were several obvious landmarks, and we quickly found the controls. We did not need the compass.
The real challenge of the day turned out to be communication. Rita walked with our dog Toad, and at some point, we separated for a bit. Rita headed toward a control point, thinking we were doing course 2 (every park has two courses). I continued doing course 1, and assumed she gave up and just wanted to enjoy the day. We eventually realized our miscommunication, met back up, and walked to the car.
Celebration Park was a good start, but we wanted to up our game a little bit. For the next week we selected North Seatac Park, which is my favorite city park for mountain biking. The course had a 5/10 rating for navigation. There are many tight and twisty trails in an urban forest. In addition, there are a few open fields, some steep hills, and a small lake. We also decided not to separate this time.
North Seatac Park
We arrived at the park around 10 AM on a Sunday. Planes flew over every 5 minutes, which is typical considering the park is due north of the airport. I decided to navigate the first half of the course, and Rita would take the second half. We started by a skate park, where Toad played with a couple dogs. Then, we moved on and found the first control between the parking lot and forest. From there we took the trails into the woods.
To be honest, even with a 5/10 rating, the navigation is still relatively easy. North Seatac Park has many dirt trails, but it also has a grid of paved paths that intersect the forest. Many of the control points were right off these paved trails. There was a bit more nuance, as some of the markers were slightly hidden behind boulders or trees. I made things a bit more interesting by staying off the paved trails, and navigating by the smaller, dirt trails. Once I even took a shortcut right through heavy undergrowth.
We stopped for a break by a rugby field with a track encircling it. I’m sure people could play soccer or football there, but I’ve only ever seen rugby. Then, I led us up a hill and found my final control point. Rita took over from there. Toad, of course, was an eager helper.
A thorny problem
Rita’s half proved to be a bit more difficult, which was fun. In hindsight, we realized that by walking slowly and taking our time, we made the course easier. Typically, orienteers run as fast as possible and compete against others, so small errors become magnified. For instance, Rita’s first control point required us to navigate across the rugby field, then down a grassy hill, and finally to the edge of the forest. Sure, we arrived at the rough location, and then saw the marker after a bit. However, we imagined that a good orienteer would want to make a beeline across those fields and arrive directly at the marker to minimize time.
Then, we navigated to a dirt road, which was flooded. To get headed in the right direction, we needed to get across the water by hopping on some concrete slabs. Toad was a bit too short to hop, so I needed to carry him. After the water crossing, we navigated across another large field, alongside a bog. When we arrived at the forest, no control point was found. We needed to poke around a bit before we saw it, buried deep in a thorn bush.
One way that cheating is prevented in orienteering, is to append a letter to the numbered marker. The control sheet lists the number, but to prove that the orienteer completed the course, they must write down the letter. To see the letter on this latest control point, I needed to wade through a thicket of thorns. I got a few pricks, but nothing on the face.
Piles of woodchips are not a good sign
The next couple points were straightforward, and before we knew it, we were on the last one. Rita navigated us toward it. She led us down a dirt trail, crossed two paved paths, and then she stopped. We reached the location on the map, but there was no marker to be found. We spent a while passing the map back and forth, trying to see if we made a mistake. I even navigated to an earlier control point that was close by, to verify we found the right spot.
Despite the struggles, we did not give up easy. There were piles of woodchips from a trail improvement project, and I dug into them to see if the marker was buried. We also wandered around in the brush, trying to see if it was hiding behind a tree or bush. Occasionally, a red or white flower (same colors as the control point) got us excited, but close inspection led to disappointment. At long last, we threw in the towel. All the woodchips, combined with the sight of a fallen tree, made us think it either got buried or removed by the workers.
So, we gave up and headed back to the car. Surprisingly, the whole course took a solid two hours. We ate lunch at a nice spot by the radio control race car track. Several people brought their remote-control cars, and they raced each other at breakneck speed. Besides the orienteering, rugby, mountain biking, and car racing, North Seatac Park also has a BMX track and disc golf course. There’s no end to the frivolities.
