[roc-info] Webster Park orienteering meet this Saturday

[Richard Detwiler]

This Saturday, May 7, there will be an orienteering meet at Webster 
Park. The starting location is Holt Lodge, located EAST of Holt Rd, just 
south of Lake Rd. You can start any time between 10 am and noon. Courses 
close, and control pickup begins, at 1:30.

Six courses will be offered:

White 1.3 km 7 controls
Yellow 2.2 km 11 controls
Orange 4.5 km 14 controls
Brown 3.8 km 13 controls
Green 5.8 km 13 controls
Red 7.4 km 13 controls

There may be some slight adjustments to courses which could alter the 
distances, but any changes should be small. Climb hasn't yet been 
calculated, but it will be minimal compared to many other area parks 
like Durand, Mendon, or Powder Mills.

The start and finish will be at Holt Lodge. The White course will be 
entirely on the east side of Holt Rd, but all other courses will cross 
Holt Rd twice (once in each direction). This is a fairly highly traveled 
road, so participants must use the utmost of caution when crossing.

All courses will have some controls on the east side of Holt Rd; this is 
a rarely-used (for orienteering) section of the park. I think you'll 
like the orienteering and the scenery in this area.

Being relatively early in the spring/summer/fall orienteering season has 
pros and cons. On the plus side, the woods are fairly open. A lot of 
areas marked as light green seem more like white woods at this point. 
Still, it is best to avoid anything mapped medium green except possibly 
for short distances, and definitely avoid dark green.

On the down side, the park is rather wet. The White and Yellow courses 
shouldn't encounter much water or mud, but other courses most likely 
will. So wear shoes/clothes you don't mind getting a bit wet and muddy. :)

Also, Brown, Green, and Red courses will cross Mill Creek in the part of 
the park that is on the east side of Holt Rd. (Orange participants may 
optionally choose to cross the creek, although there is an only slight 
longer route choice that could avoid fording the main stream.) The only 
bridge in this area is Holt Rd, which would be a significantly longer 
route choice than going more directly between controls. The stream in 
this area is wide but not deep. I feel confident that there won't be 
anyone drowning while trying to cross! Nor even getting wet up to knee 
or even mid calf level. But expect to be wading through ankle deep water 
to get across. Since this is late in the course, this might be viewed as 
beneficial in terms of cleaning mud from your shoes.

Dick Detwiler, course setter