Embargo Areas for Flying Pig VIII
The following areas are off-limits for all orienteering competition and training. You may not enter these areas for purposes of orienteering, training or gathering information about the terrain:
1. All public lands on the east side of Brookville
Lake, Franklin County, Indiana, bounded by
Brookville Lake on the west
City of Brookville on the south
Indiana Route 101 on the east
Fairfield Causeway on the north
2. Woodland Trails Boy Scout Reservation and adjacent state-owned land, Preble County, Ohio
Existing maps of these areas are available for sale on the Flying Pig VIII entry form. You may study these maps, but physically entering the terrain prior to the competition is prohibited by USOF rules.
Control Descriptions
The 2004 Interscholastic Championships will use ISCD
2004 (International Specification for Control Descriptions),
which took effect on January 1, 2004. There was little fanfare in
the USA, and most US clubs are not yet using the new descriptions for local
events. Some notable changes are listed below.
View the new description symbols: ISCD
2004 (250 k PDF file) (Adobe Acrobat required)
If you have problems accessing this link directly
(the name includes blank spaces, which some browsers reject), try going
to IOF site: www.orienteering.org,
click on "publications" then on "rules" and you should see options to download
copies of the new symbols in a couple different formats.
Major changes effective in 2004:
1. The symbols for copse and distinctive
tree have been changed. The use of the symbol previously used for Seasonal
watercourse has been redefined as Minor Water Channel, Ditch.
2. New symbols have been introduced for: Boulder
cluster, Water tank or trough, Tunnel, Crossing point,
Paved
area, Pipeline, Low, Beneath.
3. Several old symbols are no longer used.
4. Use of Crossing and Junction symbols
has been moved to column F
5. See the complete descriptions for additional changes.
Course Length and Climb
| course | Friday length | Fri. climb | Saturday length | Sat. climb | Sunday length | Sun. climb |
| white (all white classes) | 1.6 | 30 | 2.95 km. | 20 m. | 2.48 km. | 80 m. |
| yellow & MSF (all yellow except MSM) | 2.1 | 54 | 3.00 | 60 | 3.19 | 110 |
| MSM (middle school male) | 2.1 | 54 | 3.95 | 80 | 4.26 | 130 |
| orange & JVF (all orange except JVM) | 3.1 | 102 | 4.14 | 160 | 4.31 | 140 |
| JVM (junior varsity male) | 3.1 | 102 | 5.29 | 160 | 5.39 | 200 |
| brown & HSVF (all brown classes) | 3.3 | 93 | 4.60 | 190 | 4.68 | 230 |
| green (all green except HSVM) | 4.7 | 147 | 5.34 | 180 | 5.53 | 290 |
| HSVM (HS varsity male) | 4.7 | 153 | 6.37 | 260 | 6.36 | 260 |
| red (all red except F-21+) | 4.5 | 147 | 7.98 | 300 | 7.42 | 290 |
| F-21+ (farsta on Saturday) | 4.5 | 147 | 6.98 | 335 | 7.42 | 290 |
| blue (farsta on Saturday) | 5.6 | 195 | 9.63 | 440 | 9.34 | 380 |
Mapper's and Course Setter's Notes
Course Setters: Mike Minium and Vladimir Gusiatnikov (farsta
only)
Course Vetters: Steve Vaughan, Bill Swift, Matthew Robbins
Consultant: Ed Scott (DVOA)
(updated April 12, 2004):
The terrain for these events can best be described as "typical midwestern ridge and reentrant". Soils tend to be soft, and there is little surface rock, except for sedimentary layers exposed in the stream beds. Stream beds can have rocky, uneven footing. Because there is little rock, we have mapped the few boulders and cliffs we have found, even though many of them are far smaller than would be shown on maps in rockier terrain. The forest is mostly deciduous. While there are many areas of open, mature forest, with tall trees, no undergrowth, and very high runnability, there are also many areas of younger, more dense vegetation. These lands were mostly farmed before they became parks. There are a number of overgrown fields, and the edges of these are often bordered by thick growth of thorny vegetation. Younger forests often have osage orange (sometimes called hedgeapple) and locust trees, both of which have significant thorns. Typical of reclaimed farmland, you will also find remnants of old wire fences.
Three notes on map symbols (Saturday and Sunday maps):
Rootstocks on the old maps appear as green "X". They have been changed to the more commonly used brown "X".
Single trees are shown with a green circle. In open areas of the park, this reperesents any distinctive tree. In the forest, this reperesents a "tree of enormous size", one with trunk diameter generally well over 1 meter. These forest giants are usually visible from a significant distance.
In some cases, ruined fences are so ruined that they can easily be crossed without noticing. On the other hand, the strands of wire that remain are hazards for tripping and injury, so I don't want to take them off the map, even though they might be easily missed and not very useful for navigation. The solution, which I have used on other maps over the last few years is a symbol I call "double ruined fence". The dashes are shorter and the gaps between dashes longer than the standard "ruined fence" symbol. Generally, if I have shown a fence with standard "ruined fence", it is unlikely that you will cross it without noticing. If it is shown with "double ruined fence", be alert for trip wires, little sections of fence, or old posts, but do not plan to use it as a reliable "stopping" or "catching" feature, as you could easily pass through the most deteriorated spots without noticing.
In the flatter, upland areas of the park there are a number of rough open fields. Some are being allowed to grow over, and are overprinted with the green lines indicating undergrowth and slow running. Where they are especially thick and slow, the double density green lines (undergrowth - walk) have been used. Other areas that were somewhat overgrown when mapping started have since been cut, and have been changed back to regular rough open. Many of these fields are planted with various grains and even corn during the summer. Conditions can change from day to day: the park has been know to cut areas, making them instantly much more runnable, but they've also been known to plow when planting, creating an instant barrier of uneven, shoe-sucking mud. We'll try to keep up with these areas until courses are printed, but you should be prepared for the unexpected.
Many trails have small wooden bridges as crossing points for ditches. These wooden crossing points can be very slippery. They are especially treacherous when they are wet. Some of them slope, and many of them have a light coating of slime or moss. Use care when crossing.
The map was originally drawn in the early days of OCAD (computer assisted) mapping. Contours were generally drawn freehand (as opposed to using a smoothing curve). Therefore, there is a lot of contour line "jitter"; very small wiggles that do not indicate anything on the terrain. If you're moving fast, you probably won't notice it as much as if you are going very slowly and trying to read the tiniest details. Also, realize that the map was originally drawn for 1:15,000 scale. While there are some very small boulders (and other features) shown, you may see small knolls, etc. that are not shown on the map.
Saturday:
There are restrooms at the parking area. However,
once you ride the bus to the start, there are no restrooms at the start
area itself. The path from the bus drop-off to the start is very
short, only 100 meters or so, but you may use the thick woods for 50 meters
on either side, for a warm-up area. Warm-up clothing may be dropped
at the bus stop for return to the finish. Please be sure that your
clothing has identification such as a card secured in a pocket. Please
do not bring valuables to the start.
Near the end, all courses cross a ford over a large
stream. In the event of heavy rain, there will be a safety rope.
HSV, red, and blue courses cross the stream at a point other than the ford.
In the event of very heavy rain and flooding, it is possible that safety
considerations would require a shortening of your courses to eliminate
this crossing.
Sunday:
There are restrooms at the parking lot and early
on the walk to the start. Where you leave the road, 200 meters or
so before the start, there will be a drop-off point for warm-up clothing,
which will be returned to the finish area. Before leaving the road,
you may use the woods on the right (west) side only, within 50 meters of
the road, for warm-up area.
Sunday's blue course crosses a major stream, and
heavy rain or flooding could result in a shortening of the course.
All other courses cross streams which should remain crossable.
All courses have a control just before crossing
a major road. Please cross in the marked area and obey instructions
of any crossing marshalls (we'll attempt to stop cars, not runners, but
your safety comes first). Once across the road, you may run along
the shoulder if you feel that is a desirable route choice, but you must
cross immediately from the control before paralleling the road.
Drivers entering and exiting the meet site, please
proceed slowly and follow directions of any crossing marshalls or flaggers.
Additional Vetter's Comments by Matt Robbins
Some of Matt's comments have been incorporated above. Here are the rest:
1. There is Multi-Flora Rose. MFR resembles a long rose stem. When it is mapped as light green, it usually occurs as single stems not overlapping each other. It varies widely as to how much it impedes forward motion. The single stems aren’t too bad, but when the stems are close together, you probably won’t be able to run through it at high speed, if at all. Not all green is MFR, so you will have to watch for it. (Currently, it is pretty visible, as the leaves are more developed than most other understory vegetation)
3. Mapping of ditches (brown linear dots): You may notice that the dry ditch feature, a line of brown dots, is used for a wide size range of ditches and other small reentrants, probably a wider range than you’re used to. Considering the wide range of features to be mapped, I have concluded the mapper knows best… (If the ditch is less than about 0.5m deep, it may or may not be mapped.)
4. Some of the small ponds on the map can be quite noisy (frogs), and might be scary for younger kids. It's probably a good idea for parents to prepare them for it. It’s a high-pitched screech, not unlike a continuous car alarm.
Mapper's Journal:
These notes apply to the Saturday and Sunday events. MVOC will provide additional course and map notes for the Friday event.
week of December 1, 2003:
The areas to be used for the 2004 Interscholastics were originally mapped in 1995 by the late Russian mapper George Kuntsevitch. Over the years, additional minor updating has been done by Mike Minium. The maps were first used for the 1996 US Championships and for Flying Pig III in 1999. More recently, portions of the area were used for the orienteering competition in the 2001 World Police and Fire Games, and for the 2003 IARU Region 2 ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) Championships.
The land rises steeply from the shores of Brookville Reservoir, Indiana's largest lake by water volume. About 75 meters above the lake surface, the land levels off to a plateau, cut by the many small streams that drain into the lake. The slopes tend to be most open and runnable; flatter areas tend to have more overgrown fields and younger, thicker forest. The forest is mostly deciduous, although there are a few pine plantation areas. Wildlife abounds. In the two days I was in the forest this week, I observed Bald Eagle soaring over the lake, and flushed 3 wild turkeys.
I'm surprised so far, at the number of rootstocks which are still there from the 1995 map. I've had to remove a few, but more than half are still there. I'm not adding new rootstocks unless they are well over a meter high and solid, but I've left a few of the smaller old ones on. In general, I've felt that Kuntsevitch's mapping of green in this park has been a little light. I've added green (or darkened a shade) in a number of places, and hope it will more accurately reflect runnability. Obviously, it is still very early in the re-mapping process, so check back for more comments as I cover a greater portion of the area.
week of February 23, 2004:
A few updates. Many of the open fields I visited just a couple weeks ago have been mowed. I had put a lot of time into showing the thicker conditions in parts of them with green lines, but I'm now having to change them back to an easy rough open. Some of them are almost full-open runnable, but I expect that by event dates, new growth will be starting to slow them down just a little.
The rootstock numbers have evened out. In some areas, almost all of the 1995 rootstocks have rotted away. There are a few new ones in places, but as mentioned, I'm only adding the larger and more solid ones. In general, I've continued to have to add quite a bit of green to the map, although a few areas are actually becoming more open. I think that much of the additional green is due to under-mapping of it in 1995, but there are a few areas where multi-flora rose (a nasty, thorny thing) has spread.
week of March 23, 2004:
I scared up a flock of over 20 wild turkeys today. Ground level vegetation and grasses are beginning to show some green. Course designs are pretty much final and we're in the woods on a daily basis flagging and vetting the locations. Thanks to Bill Swift for doing a variety of trail maintenance tasks. Setters and vetters have also carried out several trash bags worth of cans, bottles and other litter, to improve your safety and enjoyment of this event.
April 5, 2004:
The lake level is still very low, several feet below
summer pool. Let's hope that the weather stays fairly dry between
now and the event. The forest floor is turning green, and the spring
wildflowers are spectacular. A couple of trails used by the white
courses are very lightly used, and don't have much visible "tread".
We've added a few short orange streamers to help keep white runners from
losing these trails.
Flying Pig VIII - U.S. Interscholastic Championship 2004 Page