Monday, September 29, 2014

If you get lost in your own back yard, you may be interested in this.


During the week of September 20th I had the chance to travel with Danny and Bill to the Haliburton Forest to do some orienteering using map and compass to find certain peaks in this huge wildlife reserve.
Danny has been orienteering for a number of years and has participated in numerous races around Ontario, so he thought maybe he could talk a few of his trail running friends to learn the art of finding your way with only a compass and topographical map, and maybe put a team together for an upcoming event in the Ancaster area.
Well, anyone who has run with either Bill or Danny knows that they have a screw loose when it comes to challenges on a trail run.
So, there I was trying to keep up to them as they scramble up rock faces, through streams and down ravines. To say my arthritic old knees may have let me now that they did not like the routes selected, would be an under statement.
So a team has been formed for a race on November 9th,(team Moose Dynasty) and now all I need to do is tie a rope to either one of them to drag this old grey haired man behind to keep up.

There has been interest by others who would like to learn how do orienteering using only map and compass, not so much for races but for the possible upcoming Zombie Apocalypse.
If you are interested Danny said he would gladly do a "orienteering 101" to learn the basics.
It would be done locally on a Saturday or Sunday so there would be no travel issues and should anyone get lost, they wont have a problem to get back on course. Probably looking at dates in November.
If this interests you let me know: soiledsport@gmail.com and we will try to get a few dates to select from.
Wolf Lake
 Bill reviewing his map, as someone put a lake in our path.
Breakfast of champions