2012 Western States Orienteering Championships September 1-2, 2012 • Laramie, WY

Course Details

Details

Day 1 (Saturday) at Forrest Meadows & Plains of Despair
Course Setter:  Neal Barlow

Distance from parking to the start:  800 meters.

When I'm orienteering in Wyoming, my motto is "run straight, run fast". So, as a course setter, my philosophy is to try to make you deviate from the norm and slow you down.  Hint for the first-timers to Wyoming and Mikell's maps:  the first thing to learn is what an aspen tree looks like and how they look on the map (light green blobs).  They are your navigational friend, but can be your foe to run through.

Final course details as of 8/6/2012:

*The White course will have a taped section were the path is indistinct.

Day 2 (Sunday) at Pelican Bay & Crow Marsh
Course Setter:  Graham Baird

Distance from parking to the start:  500 meters.

All courses will use the same Start and Finish areas. However, to ensure good linear features and appropriate level of difficulty, the White and Yellow courses will be on the Crow Marsh map immediately north of the Pelican Bay map. The Orange, Brown, Green, Red and Blue courses will be on the Pelican Bay map.  Sufficient overlap of the two maps occurs in the Start / Finish area.

These maps are excellent in quality, so hats off to Mikell Platt's work.  While setting the course, I've made note of a few things that any runner might be interested in knowing.

• First item to note is seasonal water features, that is, any marsh or water body.  This summer has been particularly dry such that any seasonal water feature is dry, completely dry.  The only water that can be found is along some blue line streams, and even then, there's not much.  I left the seasonal water features in the map as these are still identifiable features due to distinct vegetation (or lack thereof).  Also, it is not impossible for there to be significant rains between the time of map printing and the race such that the seasonal water features could be wet on race day.

• Second, there are a number of cow paths that aren't mapped.  Plus there are a few new, somewhat indistinct ATV trails that aren't mapped.

• Third, large ungulates are common throughout the maps.  These include cattle, elk, mule deer, and potentially moose. Often they can be heard crashing through the aspen groves when startled, if not directly observed.

• Fourth, I have made a few updates to the map.  Most are anthropogenic features that have changed since the map was made, but this was not done everywhere, just where it would be noted by someone on course.  Other minor changes include a few rock features and a few vegetation features.

• Finally, I’ll just reiterate some of Mikell’s comments posted elsewhere regarding rock features.  In many spots where detail is not overly great, the features are mapped well; in other locations of high detail, things are more generalized as they have to be.

Final course details as of 8/21/2012:

This Page Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 August 2012 21:00