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15 thoughts on “Virtual Orienteering at McHugh 6/1/21-6/14/21”
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My time for the McHugh short was 3:06:29. Very challenging course with lots of deadfall. M4 was the toughest to find due to lots of deadfall . Would call it more of a saddle than a knob.
Anyway great course. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.
Joe Kurtak.
Dave, Diana, and Eppie started out on the long course and hit 1 thru 10 no problem, but blew past 11 on a nice game trail and ended up in Potter. Well, it felt like we were there. Definitely off the map. By the time we got reoriented, we’d had enough, so dove back to the Old Johnson Trail, mostly on game trails.
Saw two bull moose, some sheep, and bear scat of various vintages.
We were surprised to see so many dandelions in the burn area.
The map is impressive, as are the views from above. Thanks for all the work.
I forgot to say that my compass seemed very lazy on this course, taking a long time to settle. Did others have that happen?
Our whole family had an excellent time on the Mini course yesterday. Fun course and beautiful views. Playing around with the Avenza map was also very interesting. Thank you!
Fellow non-runner and budding orienteer, Mary, and I spent around 4 hours on the long course Saturday before needing to bail after #10. I was wishing I’d brought lunch and another liter of water (I’d expected we’d be doing the short course so didn’t plan adequately) because it was a glorious day – just enough breeze to keep from getting too hot, and to keep the skeeters at bay – and the course was beautiful. No navigation issues, just a couple people slow at bushwhacking uphill through downfall. No compass issues and no sunglasses found either. Saw the Iversons enjoying the mini course and met a younger pair who leapfrogged with us until we made a poor route choice from #4 and lost them. Thanks for setting these courses and for ordering up the perfect weather for the weekend, Jen and Ian!
I’m curious if anyone completed the long course and how long it took them. Luke and I found controls 1-11 on the long course in 4-1/4 hours (admittedly at a fairly leisurely pace, enjoying the vistas along the way!) but opted not to continue on through the thick “green” on the map searching for controls 12-19. We descended south from #11 to the Turnagain Arm Trail and returned to the start. The GPS said we traveled 4-1/2 miles and ascended 1300+ feet.
(And I’m Steve McKeever. Not sure why the web site says I’m logged in as Nancy Wainwright, my partner at many virtual meets last year)
I DNFed the short on #36. GPS looks like I was circling the area, just oblivious to the flag. Very challenging terrain, glad to be there and grateful for the virtual meets.
We did the short course and it took us a whopping 3:58:13. It took us an hour to find #4 but had no trouble finding the other controls. A very challenging course with awesome views!
Nicole Stucki and Ron Rickman
That was wild! 1:57:36 on the long course. Loved the area up high. Had some trouble finding #5. Eventually found it flat on the ground. I tried to rehang it by wrapping it around a tree branch. Spooked a brown bear with at least two cubs just below #11. Decided to try my luck with the cliffs, rather than continue down the same way they ran. Escaped unscathed from the cliffs, not so much from the devils club down low.
#5 must have a slippery string. We also found it lying on the ground and retied it around a branch, but apparently it didn’t hold, sorry.
Sunny and windy Monday evening. Completed the long in 3:42:55. Very challenging. Plenty of bear scat and moose droppings. No wildlife, but I was constantly ringing my bear bell to make noise. Tons of wildflowers and very glad I wore long pants. A long sleeve shirt is also recommended. The wild roses, devils club and underbrush was very thick at times. -Todd Shearer
Took Tom and I 1:56:10 on the short course. Really fun venue. I had never been on those cliffs at all . Just beautiful. We did run into a bear kill just below #7 heading back to the rabbit lakes trail. We were following a game trail between two spruce tress and smelled death. Saw a leg bone, hide, and a pile covered with vegetation.
What a fabulous course, like a treasure hunt! But the treasure is all around and every step. I took my time and enjoyed myself. I never found M4. I am intrigued and would go back many more times to explore the course and upgrade my orienteering skills if somehow it all didn’t disappear on June 8! But, like a good dream, the energy of the experience will linger. Thank you Springer, Jen and Ian for the great course and the introduction to the magical terrains of McHugh creek/peak!
I made a 3:20 outing of the red course Monday night, tough going for an old guy. Most interesting country but pretty gnarly. Found everything okay through 12, long side hills 6-8 hard and slippery, seemed like 7 was lower than marked vis-a-vis the outcrop to the west but Jen and Ian probably had a better fix on it than my oxygen deprived brain. I came out too high and had to descend to it. 8-9-10 benches were the highpoint, huge grizzly tracks in the mud and thick alder tend to get your attention. Thing went down hill after 12, found everything to be in the right places but getting to those places was just plain nasty. Almost bailed at the climbing area between 15 and 16 but they had already locked my car in the picnic area so just decide to persevere. There are lots of game trails running everywhere, not yet mapped but often provide the only viable path through the brush and downed timber. I found myself getting beat to death in downed spruce only to come out on a path that would have saved me from torn cloths and punctured shins. Would be good to get more of these on the map.
A friend and I spent a leisurely 3ish hours on the courses this morning. It took a while to calibrate ourselves to the map, but got it figured out by #4. We went thru #6, looked up at #7 and could see it blowing way far away in the breeze and instead aimed for #8 on the long course. We had a good time and would do it again. It’s probably more fun now than it would be later when the vegetation would be even denser. If the controls were left out another 7-10 days, I’d likely spend a day doing at least the high country of the long course. It was great to have a reason to wander the mountainside. Thank you Jen, Ian, and Springer.