Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Sunday, March 02, 2003 A classic Kansas O' problemI witnessed a classic Kansas boom today.
16 to 17 is a straightforward leg. From 16, you drop a line or two, then follow the contour to the small reentrant. The blue dotted line shows the route. There are two lines close together that form a handrail that you can follow to the control. What makes orienteering in Kansas tough is the forest. The forest is fairly thick and, in some places there are plenty of thorns. It is hard to run a straight line. It is easy to drift off your planned route. The differences between shades of green on the map can be subtle. In a white section of forest, you can come across some thick areas. In a green section of forest you can sometimes weave your way through and keep a good pace. In any forest you can be suddenly stopped by thorns. The red dotted route shows a typical Kansas boom. Where the blue dots split from the red dots the woods got a bit thick. As you ran this leg, it was easier to follow the red dotted line from the point where the two lines split. There was a bit of an indistinct deer trail that went off to the right. It was tempting to follow. At the point where the lines split, you had to work to stay on the blue dots because there was a downed tree (and maybe some thorns) you had to get through. Soon after you got on the red dotted line, the woods got a bit thick and the visibility went down. It slowed you down. I shadowed Gene on this leg and he followed the red dots. I suspect he boomed because of the classic Kansas problem. He let the thickness of the forest push him off his planned route. It probably didn't help to have someone watching him (what Fritz calls the "EF" -- the embarrassment factor). Fortunately, Gene recovered quickly and the boom didn't cost much time. posted by Michael | 7:51 PM 
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