Maps
All maps will be 1:10,000, 5
meter contours. North lines on
all maps are 250 meters apart (not the new standard of 300).
Courses
All standard USA courses and classes will be
offered.
Course Length
(km) and Climb (m) Table (subject to change)
|
Course |
Classes |
Friday – Middle East Fork |
Saturday – Classic East Fork |
Sunday - Classic East Fork |
|
|
Course Setter |
Shin Shimizu |
Matthew Robbins |
Mike Minium |
|
1 White |
ISPSF, ISPSM, F-10, F-12,
F white, M-10, M-12, M white, Group white |
1.7 km, 80m |
2.9 km, 70m |
2.2 km, 50m |
|
2 Yellow |
ISMSF, ISMSM, F-14, F
yellow, M-14, M yellow, Group yellow |
2.1 km, 110m |
3.2 km, 80m |
3.3 km, 80m |
|
3 Orange A |
ISJVF, ICJVF, F-16, F
orange, M orange, Group orange |
2.9 km, 145m |
4.4 km, 135m |
4.4 km, 150m |
|
4 Orange B |
ISJVM, ICJVM, M-16 |
3.0 km, 180m |
4.9 km, 175m |
4.8 km, 160m |
|
5 Brown A |
F65+, F70+, F75+, F
brown, M 75+, M brown, all 80+ classes |
2.8 km, 110m |
3.0 km, 75m |
3.5 km, 130m |
|
6 Brown B |
ISVF, F-18, F55+,
F60+, M65+, M70+ |
3.2 km, 130m |
4.3 km, 115m |
4.6 km, 170m |
|
7 Green A |
F35+, F40+, F45+,
F50+, F green, M green |
3.3 km, 180m |
5.1 km, 175m |
4.9 km, 180m |
|
8 Green B |
M50+, M55+, M60+ |
3.5 km, 195m |
5.5 km, 180m |
5.5 km, 210m |
|
9 Green C |
ICVF, ISVM, F-20,
M-18, |
3.3 km, 185m |
6.0 km, 200m |
6.2 km, 260m |
|
10 Red |
ICVM, F-21+, M-20,
M35+, M40+, M45+, M red |
4.0 km, 260m |
7.5 km, 220m |
7.0 km, 250m |
|
11 Blue |
M-21+ |
4.5 km, 260m |
8.9 km, 240m |
9.2 km, 350m |
Control Descriptions
Control descriptions are printed on
your map. Loose description sheets may
be picked up when you enter the call-up area 2-3 minutes before your
start. Descriptions for white and
yellow courses are on the map in both English and text. Descriptions for orange course and
above are in IOF symbols only.
Control Markers
Control markers will be IOF standard
orange and white flag. Control markers
will have a blue stripe, either diagonal or vertical.
Start Procedures
Clear and check your SI card when
you arrive in the start area.
You will be called up 3 minutes
before your scheduled start.
2 minutes before your start, you
will move forward and may pick up loose control descriptions.
1 minute before your start, you will
move forward to the map line. You may
mark your name / number on the back of the map.
Do not look at your map. You may
ask the starter to check that it is the correct course.
When the beeper sounds, you punch
“start” and pick up your map.
There may be a short streamered run to the start triangle shown on your map
(Sunday). You must run to the
triangle. There is a flag but no punch
at this point. At this point you may begin
navigating to your first control. On
other days, the map distribution point will be at or adjacent to the start triangle.
White and yellow runners will
get maps and loose descriptions two minutes before starting. During this time before starting, white and
yellow runners may look at the map and may ask questions about descriptions or
symbols.
Drinking Water on
Courses
There will not be drinking water
provided on the courses. Please plan for
your own hydration needs. There will be
water and cups on the way to the start and at the finish.
Time Limits
Time limit will be 2 hours for
Middle Distance (Friday) and 3 hours for Classic Distance (Saturday and
Sunday).
General
Notes that apply to all days and courses
There are 11 courses and many controls
each day. Some are quite close
together. Please check your codes and descriptions
carefully. Orienteering USA allows
controls to be as close as 30 meters apart (60 meters if features are
“similar”).
The ground almost certainly will be sturated, so you
WILL get wet and muddy.
Ticks are possible: use prevention and carefully
check for them afterwards. Venomous
snakes are extremely unlikely; there have been a very few rare reports of
copperhead in Clermont County, but no documented ones in the last 50 years.
Map symbols are generally ISOM standard, with a few exceptions.
Brown
X has been used for a very few large rootstocks. In general, rootstocks
were not mapped, regardless of how massive.
The original mapping did not show any rootstocks; the very few on the
map were added by course setters over the years.
Green O is a distinct single tree. The map makes no distinction between
deciduous or coniferous.
Black X and O have also been used. Along roadsides, the black O is generally
a utility junction box, perhaps 1 to 2 meters in height and width. In the woods, a black O is sometimes used for
a campsite or junk. Black X has been
used for a wide variety of manmade objects, including sign posts and larger
junk piles. There has been a lot of dumping in East Fork, and usually
only the larger junk piles are shown. In general, these are large (2 or 3
meters across or more) middens of trash or decaying
automobiles. Smaller junk piles, including old appliances, even as large
as refrigerators, might not be shown.
Throughout the park, you will encounter multiflora rose. Armed
with sharp, downward pointing thorns, it attaches easily and releases only with
tearing of flesh and clothing. Do not wear shorts. You will regret
it. Areas mapped as dark green are often thick
with multiflora rose, but you can find it in some quantity just about
anywhere, even in white forest.
The flatter upland areas are often mapped light or medium green, and generally,
this is young, closely spaced trees, but not excessively thorny. You can
expect standing water or muddy conditions in many of the flatter areas,
especially where they are mapped as seasonal marsh. Much of
the light green is really quite runnable at good speed.
There are many old wire fences in various states of decay throughout the
area. Where setters or vetters tripped
over them, you may find orange or pink streamers on them, but don't expect
every fence to be marked.
In late March, buds on honeysuckle bushes and multiflora rose begin
to open. In early April, visibility can diminish very quickly with
just a couple warm days.
If the lake level is below pool, there can be sections of open shoreline,
somewhat muddy or rocky but often runnable. But it is unlikely
that a shoreline route will be a reasonable route choice. If we get heavy
rain, the lake can rise up to 2 contours or more above the mapped
pool stage. In the major valleys entering the lake, this can extend
several hundred meters upstream, and could be a factor in route
choice. We’ll let you know more about the expected lake level as the
event gets closer.
There is a good chance you will use or cross horse trails and possibly see
horses while on your course. If you meet horses on the trail, please give
them a wide berth. If you can't leave the trail and give them at least 20 or 30 meters clearance, slow down or stop if the horse
seems skittish. Talking to the rider in conversational tones also helps
calm the horse.
Expect
the horse trails in flatter upland areas to be wet and muddy. Some
segments could easily have been mapped as a linear marsh, instead of as a
trail. In the south (Saturday and Sunday), they are sporadically marked
with dark green blazes. In the north, many different colors are used,
often small pieces of colored plastic tacked to trees. You
probably won't see horses on Saturday or Sunday, but if you do, please use
courtesy and give them plenty of room. Horses are more likely to be
encountered on Friday.
Courses
may cross major streams. If there are storms shortly before the events,
there is a slight possibility that there may be a need for designated crossing
points. Check for any last-minute instructions at the start.
The Buckeye Trail winds throughout the area,
and is marked with light blue blazes. Following it out of the park will
take you on a 1400 mile loop through more than half of
The Backpack Trail loops out and back through this area, sharing about half of
its route with the Buckeye Trail. It is marked with orange or red
blazes. Where it does not share route with the Buckeye Trail, it is less
distinct and less maintained. Although mapped as a major trail, there are
places where an incautious runner could lose it. Blazing is
inconsistent. In some places, almost every tree is blazed, but in others
there are gaps where you can't see a blaze or where it is blazed only in one
direction.
The Steve Newman Worldwalker Trail circles the lake, sharing its route with
other trails.
Friday – East Fork
State Park – North Side
Event Center is the Equestrian
Parking Lot (gravel) on the NORTH side of the lake off Park Road 4. A good destination for GPS is the East Fork
State Park Campground. GPS 39.039318,
-84.122054
Middle Distance, Maps will be
1:10,000. Course Setter Shin
Shimizu
Parking
is adjacent to registration. Parking
will be limited, please park as directed.
Some vehicles may need to proceed to an overflow lot 1 km away.
Restrooms There will be one portable toilet and pit
latrines adjacent to parking. There will
not be toilets at the start.
Walk
to the start There will be a mostly
flat walk of less than 1 km to the start.
There will be a walk of 500 meters from the finish back to parking and
registration. The overflow lot is closer
to the start but farther from the finish.
From parking, walk southwest on the road to trail crossing. You may warm up south and east of the
road. When you are called up to start
you will cross the road. Please be alert
for vehicles and don’t gather on the road.
Course notes Friday:
You are reminded to pay close
attention to control codes and descriptions.
Many controls are close together.
Saturday – East Fork
State Park – South Side
Event Center is at the Turkey Ridge
and Apple Blossom Meadow Parking lots on Park Road 1 on the SOUTH side of the
park. From Ohio 125, turn north on
Bantam Rd, then left into the park. GPS
39.008816, -84.121861
Classic Distance, Maps will be
1:10,000. Course Setter Matthew
Robbins
Parking
is adjacent to registration. Parking
will be limited, please park as directed.
Some vehicles may need to proceed to an overflow lot 1 km away.
Restrooms Restroom building will be open near parking
and finish. There will be 3 portable
toilets at the start.
Walk
to the start There is a walk of
just under 2 km to the start. You will
walk past the finish on the trail that runners will use from the final control
to the finish, passing the final control.
Please make way for incoming runners.
You will emerge on a road and should walk on the north side of the road
only (facing traffic as you walk toward the start.) There will be two separate start areas,
with white, yellow and both brown courses using the start to the left, and all
other courses using the start to the right.
Call-ups lines will be within sight and a few dozen meters of each
other. Finish will be near
parking. The overflow lot is farther from both start and finish.
Course notes Saturday Classic, Turkey Ridge, FP2022
Cleats. This area is very flat upland areas
which are former farmland, cut by deep, intricate reentrants that descend
to a manmade lake. The soil has a lot of clay, which means it holds water, so
the flat areas tend to be mushy, and the steep areas slippery like peanut
butter. So big cleats are a good idea. There are a few wooden bridges, and if
wet, they are slippery and absolutely treacherous.
You must punch in order, but extra punches are
ignored by the scoring software
The third green isn't as bad as it used to be. I
think the winter knocked it down. I'm sure in the summer
the dense briars will be almost impassable, but right now, it's just
occasionally really bad. In the past, I'd say avoid 3rd green at all costs, but
not now.
The vegetation mapping is maybe 14 years old. We
changed a lot of rough open with scattered trees (ROST) to light green. We
updated the vegetation where it was feasible, but we mostly left it alone. It's
mostly very good, but areas have changed drastically. Some green areas are now
fast running, and some white areas are quite slow. Clearings often have grass,
and if you look up, you can usually see gaps in the trees.
I was originally asked to design middle courses,
but then it was switched to classic. It's really hard to design long legs here
because of the bad vegetation. These courses try to link up nice areas and fast
running areas as much as possible, but there are legs where you will curse me.
Just keep your head up, look for openings, but also try to keep on your
bearing. Looking at the courses on the map, I think the courses look a lot
easier than they really are. I was trying to design middle courses that
are a bit too long.
The biggest advice I can give you is this: This
map has 5m contours and 2.5m formlines. That's great
for the steep stuff, but it's not quite enough for the flat areas. I've felt
this map lacked "the last formline on top",
but I ran the lidar, and it's not exactly true. You need to imagine how the
land has eroded. There are gentle slopes well beyond the mapped contour lines.
This helps you find stuff from farther away than you'd expect. In general, the
flattest areas hold water. Often well away from the mapped reentrants, the
water drains well, so the ground tends to be firmer, and often more open. The
flattest, wettest areas have linear marshy areas that you can mistake for
trails. They remind me of Louisiana sloughs (singular sounds like sloo), but these tend to be easily tromped through despite
being slippery. Real sloughs tend to be deep, shoe-sucking silt, and these tend
to not be silty. Maybe go a little tight on the laces, though.
Crossing streams, look for rocks or gravel or
sand to step on. The gravel tends to be firm, and the sand is about 50:50 (firm
versus silty). The outside bends of streams tend to be a steep bank, and the
inside bend less steep, so sometimes you can find a walkable slope into the
stream, then go along a stream a bit and walk out up a gentle slope. When I
climb or descend a steep slope, I look for greener areas so there will be something
to grab ahold of.
For Yellow and Orange especially, remember that
you don’t need to walk in the stream or ditch to use it as a handrail. Often
walking some distance from the stream but “keeping it on your left or right” is
much faster.
For Green, there is a leg that descends to a
stream using a steep and narrow trail. A short section of that trail is steep
enough and narrow enough that passing may be difficult. Please don’t pass in a
manner that might cause an injury or fall.
There are some wildflowers out now. Please don't
trample or disturb them. If you see a trillium, typically in the forest,
9-15" high with three majestic petals, consider yourself lucky.
Sunday – East Fork
State Park – South Side - Beach
Event Center is at the Beach
Parking lot on Park Road 2 on the SOUTH side of the park. From Ohio 125, turn north on Bantam Rd, then
left into the park. Then turn left on
road 2 following signs to the beach. GPS
39.017803, -84.134403
Classic Distance, Maps will be
1:10,000. Course Setter Mike Minium
Parking
is adjacent to registration. Parking
area should easily accommodate all vehicles.
Restrooms The park has guaranteed that they will have modern
restroom facilities open by this weekend.
Walk
to the start Expect a walk to the
start of less than 1 km with some climb, details to come. Finish will be near parking. Walk to the start will be from the southwest
corner of the beach parking lots.
updated
2022-04-01 0135