Event Details For:
Advanced Practice Courses, Sept 3-4-5 at Happy Jack Area (Laramie, WY)
Saturday, September 3rd, 2022 - Monday, September 5th, 2022
Course Setter: Mikell Platt
Course Vetter: N / A
E-Punch Coordinator: N / A
Meet Equipment: N / A
Pre-Registration Deadline: 11:59 pm MDT on Thursday, September 1st, 2022
[List of Registered Runners]
Event Details: We are planning three advanced orienteering practice courses near Laramie, WY (~two hours north of Boulder / Denver), in the Medicine Bow National Forest, over Labor Day weekend.
Eligibility: All participants must be members in good standing of an OUSA-recognized orienteering club (e.g. RMOC).
Difficulty: The weekend's events will consist of three practice courses for advanced-level orienteers (anyone able to complete a Brown, Green, Red, or Blue course).
Logistics: This will be very high quality training; and there will be no timing, results, or instruction of any sort.
Pre-Registration: Pre-registration is required by 10:00 pm MDT on Thursday, September 1st. Use the form at the bottom of this page.
Water: There will not be any water on any of the courses, or at the start / finish; please bring your own water bottle or hydration pack, and your own snacks.
Toilets: There will not be porta-potties or pit toilets at any of our practice course locations. Use the bathrooms at the Visitor Center when you exit I-80.
Saturday, September 3 Sunday, September 4 Monday, September 5 Course Setter: Mikell Platt Neal Barlow Graham Baird Map & Scale: Granite South
1:7,500Diamond Bay
1:10,000Twin Boulders
1:10,000Course Details: Advanced – Red (with shortcut options) – marked with streamers 7.2 km, many controls 9.0 km, 350 m, # controls Long:
8.1 km, 160 m, 14 controls
Short:
4.5 km, 70 m, 6 controlsCheck in: 9:00 - 9:30 am MDT Mass Start: 9:30 am MDT * Courses Close: 12:00 pm MDT Map Cases: Map cases will be available * Those who don't want to mass start can go out anytime they like; please return no later than 12:00 pm. If you arrive later than 9:30 am, look for maps on the windshield or tailgate of Mikell's white pickup truck.
Please contact the course setters (hyperlinked above) if you can help with control setting or control pickup on any of the three days.
Entry Fee: There is no charge to participate. Donations to LROC to help with map printing costs are welcome.
Waivers:
All participants are required to sign an online LROC waiver HERE, even if you have already signed the RMOC annual waiver (RMOC's annual waiver does not mention or cover LROC).
If you're attending as part of a group, every participant in the group needs their own signed waiver.
Travel: Please refer to our 2018 event page for detailed information about hotels, camping, and activities in Laramie.
Course Notes:
Saturday, September 3 -- Granite South: Today's course will take place on the absolutely brand new, most spectacular Granite South map, which was surveyed July-Aug of this year. Boiled down, it is basically a south facing slope with lots and lots of rock details. It completes the last bit of the old Pelican Bay base map, though recently released new lidar coverage (thank you, USGS, you took forever but have come through at last) was used in lieu of the old photogrammetric base.
Many of the rocks are quite large. Really, really large. The area was once laced with all kinds of jeep and ATV trails and heavily used for camping. Many traces of the trails and these prior uses remain visible in the map area, however, for the most part, only the most distinct trail sections have been put on the map. Runnability and visibility are excellent throughout the area, except where dark greens are present. As is typical on past Laramie maps, light green almost always shows areas of aspen. Larger areas of fallen beetle kill trees have been surveyed and are best avoided by all but the most stubborn and long legged runners/spiders.
Some areas of the map are extremely detailed with rock features and there are several sections where even at this larger scale it was simply impossible to legibly map everything and so some generalization was unavoidable.
The course has been designed to be fun and to sample some of the neater rock features that are out on the map. There are several closed loops along the course, making it easy to make shorter versions of the full course. An attempt has been made to provide a "Wizard of Oz" moment (think of something analogous to the transition from black and white to full color in the film) which may go unnoticed in the fact, but so what. There is one control which will be referred to as the "grotto control" which I would never use in a race of any significance, but which had to be used here. It is placed in a sea of oversized boulders that the map, even at 1:5000 (the survey scale) simply couldn't do justice. You will see when you get there (if you ever get there -- good luck, ha!).
I have thoroughly examined the area for the presence of hornets, but have so far been unsuccessful in locating any. Luckily, I do have a large hornet nest in my yard which, theoretically I could re-locate to one of the planned controls, if I can just figure out how to accomplish that safely. Maybe get Jared Kushner to conduct some Middle East style hornet negotiations? We will see.
I was going to ask the Laramie Chamber of Commerce for their official seal of approval, but in the end I haven't gotten around to it. However, it definitely has the official Swampfox seal of approval as: "Training That Should Not Be Missed."
— Mikell Platt, Mapper & Course Setter
Sunday, September 4 -- Diamond Bay: I am calling this Red+, as it is between Red and Blue. There are opportunities to cut corners to reduce length. There is some deadfall and I have tried to avoid the worst of it. Mikell (vetter) reports that a lot of the course is fairly rough -- maybe not in terms of percent of length, but in terms of where time will be spent.
— Neal Barlow, Course Setter
Monday, September 5 -- Twin Boulders: This Twin Boulders course uses terrain largely not used for previous courses set on this map. It offers a good mix of easy open range land, sage brush, forest, and everything in between. As always, in some spots there are many more rock features than can reasonably be depicted on the map. In such cases, only the large features are on the map. Additionally, there are a number of features that are a bit too small at less than a meter high to make the map. Downed trees in areas typically mapped as white are common. Downed tree areas do exist along the course, but they can either be easily skirted around or it is possible to quickly see that they can be traversed by weaving around the dead fall. The course is set so they should provide little problem for obvious route choices.
- The map just shows the long course, but I added a line from control 3 to 12, which is the obvious cutoff for the short course.
- South Lodgepole Creek separates the long and short courses, and it is only crossable in the areas where the course crosses it. So, if you start the long course, you are basically committed to it, that is, there's no way to "make your own medium course."
- North on the map is rotated 25 degrees to fit well on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I put a big north arrow on the map. There's the blue north lines in addition to my added north arrow.
— Graham Baird, Course Setter
Driving Directions: There will NOT be any directional signs, and cell service may be limited. Please print or download these directions for reference.
Please park no more than one car length off the dirt road.
[Overview Map] (ignore the dates!)
Saturday, September 3 -- Granite South: From I-80 Exit 323 (the Visitor's Center exit), take WY 210 / Happy Jack Rd east toward Cheyenne for 11.1 miles. Turn right onto Forest Service Road 700, and continue on 700 for 0.8 miles to the junction with 700R. Turn left (east) onto 700R and continue for about 0.7 miles (we will be parking further down 700R than we have in the past). There is a prominent pine tree on the north side of 700R that shows just inside the start triangle on the map below, as one way to know if you've gone too far. Don't take any forks right off of 700R. [Google Pin]
Sunday, September 4 -- Diamond Bay: From I-80 Exit 323 (the Visitor's Center exit), take WY 210 / Happy Jack Rd east for 7.6 miles. Turn left onto Forest Service road 701 and then take the the right fork onto 701E. Park as shown on the map below. [Google Pin]
Monday, September 5 -- Twin Boulders: From Laramie, drive east on I-80. Take exit 323 (Summit exit), drive north over the interstate, and bear left onto WY 210 (Happy Jack Road). Take WY 210 east towards Cheyenne for about 7.6 miles and turn left (north) onto Forest Service Road 701. Stay on 701 for one mile to the corral (and cattle gate), and then continue for (very roughly) one more mile to the next available road to the right (701D). Park near the intersection of 701 and 701D. [Google Pin]
- Local Weather Forecast: Weather.com
- Driving Directions: See driving directions above.
Pre-Registration Form
Online pre-registration has closed, but you can still participate. Please register when you arrive at the meet. You may have to draw your course on a blank map.
Current date and time: 2023-10-02 18:26:19