[roc-info] Orienteering meet on Sunday, July 6, at Black Creek Park

[Richard Detwiler]

There will be an orienteering meet Sunday, July 6, at Black Creek 
Park, Pathfinder Shelter on the North side, in North Chili. A 1.5-hour 
Score-O will be the main event with a mass start at 1PM sharp. Any late 
starters will still need to finish by 2:30PM.

There will also be a White Beginner's Course with starts from 1:05-2:00PM.

Directions: Take 490 west to Exit 4 (Route 259, Union St.). Make a left 
on Union, Go through the light on Route 33A, take your first right into 
the park, and then left to the shelter. Watch for orienteering signs.

To save time at registration come early with your waiver filled out 
(from ROC Website). Long pants or gaiters are recommended to protect 
yourself from the poison ivy.

Course-setter notes:

There have been a lot of changes to the north side of the park since the 
last mapping, including many new buildings and one new yellow-blazed 
trail. The area has been roughly mapped, and should be serviceable for 
the meet, but probably needs a thorough check-over from someone more 
adept at OCAD. The poison ivy is moderate in some off-trail areas, so 
leg covering would be prudent. Climb is not as significant an issue in 
this park, but wet feet could be a real possibility, especially if a 
short cut leads you through one of the marshes.

For the first-timers, Black Creek Park is the second largest County park 
behind Mendon, and still relatively undeveloped. The park is divided by 
two large swamps - Cattail Wetlands on the NW side of the Ridge Trail 
and Hardwood Swamp to the SE - with the Ridge Trail running roughly down 
the middle. At one point, almost all the non-marshy parts of the park 
were farmed fields. This resulted in the ubiquitous stone fences and 
rock piles as early settlers cleared the fields and moved the rocks they 
ploughed up to the edges. This history also results in swaths 
of second-growth forest studded with "wolf trees" - trees that started 
out as isolated trees in a field and whose growth pattern and size are 
therefore anomalous compared to the surrounding forest. You may also see 
some old, rusting farm implements on your journeys, just off the path.

I would project that a few runners will grab all 24 Score-O controls, 
but they won't have time to do a lot of sight-see
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