Night and Classic Orienteering at Prince William Forest Park

OVERVIEW

First, please mind the sign up date for this event! I have to log you in to the event registration page by 2/11/15 (Wednesday) at midnight to get you a bed for saturday night.

What: Competitive orienteering with the Quantico orienteering club! Orienteering is navigating your way point to point using a terrain map (the maps with funny squiggly lines) and a compass.

At competitive events, you get a terrain map showing you the location of little orange electronic boxes that are scattered in the middle of the woods. Your job is to find to those boxes, in the correct order, as fast as you can. The easiest courses are short, about 2 miles, and all of your points are on trails. The hardest courses are 6 miles, and your points require extensive off trail navigation There are many levels in between, so there really is something for everyone. Beginners instruction is always available through the quantico orienteering club volunteers on site.

WHY: Learning how to use a terrain map and compass is a crucial outdoors skill. If you hike AT ALL, learning some basic orienteering will help you immensely. If you are comfortable with terrain maps, and you think you are good at interpreting them, these competitions are a fun way to test those skills. This trip also features a NIGHT ORIENTEERING event, which is awesome.

If you want to check out this event for yourself or learn more about orienteering, just go to here: http://qoc.us.orienteering.org/events/2015/2/14/prince-william-forest

Details: Leave Saturday at 4 pm and drive up to Prince William Forest. Do the night competition starting at 6 pm. Finish up the night competition, then spend the night at the bunk house (they have mattresses and basic cabin accommodations, but you’ll need to bring a sleeping bag). Spend the night at a large bunkhouse eating food with a lot of extremely interesting outdoorspeople, some of whom are nationally ranked competitors.

Sunday late morning: start the day orienteering event. Get as many maps in as we can. Leave by 3 pm or a little earlier, get back to Charlottesville around 5 pm.

Fee: $30* CASH
what it covers: The fee covers a single entry fee($15 per team per event) for two events. Your entry to the competition is paid on site in cash or by check directly to the Quantico Orienteering club. The lodging is $5 per bed, to be paid before the event by me, and should be reimbursed by the uva outdoors club.

Multiple people can enter as a single team. You can also do multiple courses per event with a fee of $2 per extra course.

How to register for the overnight stay: Sign up before midnight on wednesday 2/11/15. I will go through the registration process and enter you in. For reimbursement purposes, it is easier if only one person does this.

What you need:
Warm clothes and a sleeping bag to spend the night in the cabin
Headlamp/flashlight
Sensible athletic clothes for moving around the trail, and potentially bushwhacking through thorns. No, seriously, don’t bring really nice clothing to this.
Good shoes (old running shoes, decent tennis shoes, and hiking boots are all fine).
Cash
Breakfast and lunch for sunday. The quantico orienteering club has snacks but you probably want something more substantial
A compass, or collateral* (a driver’s liscense or student ID that you can use to trade for a compass for the day)