We're excited to introduce another new site for orienteering in the Phoenix area. On Saturday, April 9, the Greater Phoenix Orienteering Club will host three events at the Cave Buttes Recreation Area in North Phoenix. Cave Buttes is the home of several dams used to control flooding in the Phoenix area. While the area is usually closed to the public, the Maricopa County Flood Control District has graciously provided us with a permit to hold orienteering events on the site.
Our primary orienteering event at Cave Buttes is a 2-hour Score-O. The event will take participants in and out of washes and hills around the Cave Creek Dam. The vegetation varies from open scrubland to thick cholla gardens. We'll make sure to point out the areas where there's a higher concentration of sharp plants.
For those who would rather tour the area on mountain bike, we're including an interesting Bike-O course that takes participants through more of the area. The Bike-O will have some minor challenges but does not include anything overly technical.
Finally, for those looking for a higher level of adventure, we're offering a longer Adventure Race that includes navigation by both mountain bike and on foot.
We hope you'll consider joining us for an excellent opportunity to visit a little known part of the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Parental Consent Now Required
(Click here for more information)
All participants under age 18 are now required to have a signed parental consent form on file with the club. You can complete the form before the event and either scan it and send it to us by e-mail or bring it with you to the event.
In a Score-O format participants try to locate as many controls marked on their map as possible within the given time limit. The time limit for our Cave Buttes event is 2 hours. Individuals of all skill levels are encouraged to participate. For beginners, we'll be sure to set plenty of easier-to-find controls close to the start/finish location. We want to give you an experience that helps improve your navigation skills. For our experienced orienteers, we'll find ways to challenge your navigation skills with more difficult destinations. Controls are worth different points based on distance from the start/finish location and the difficulty of the navigation.
(Click here for general information concerning the Score-O event.)
You may start anytime after the course opens at 9:00 am until 11:00 am. Everyone, competitors and recreational participants alike, must be off the course and checked into the timer's table by 1:00 PM. The penalty for arriving after the 2-hour limit (or after 1:00 PM) is 10 points per minute.
| 8:30 | Score-O Registration Begins |
| 9:00 AM | Score-O Course Opens |
| 11:00 AM | Last time to start the Score-O course. |
| 1:00 PM | Course closes. |
| 1:30 PM | Participants Marked as "DNF" for Arrival After This Time |
| Individual | $5/$10 |
| Family/team rate | $8/$15 |
For our mountain biking friends, we're offering a Classic point-to-point Bike-O course. The course will take participants past several of the dams and dikes that are found in the Cave Buttes area. To make things a little more interesting, we'll include some single-track and double-track routes into the surrounding hills. Don't worry, the course won't include anything too technical. Participants are allowed to take whatever time they need to complete the course up to the time the course closes (1:00 PM).
Click here for general information concerning the club's Bike-O events.
| 8:30 AM | Bike-O Registration Starts |
| 9:00 AM | Course Opens |
| 11:00 AM | Last time to start the course. |
| 1:00 PM | Course closes. |
| 1:30 PM | Participants Marked as "DNF" for Arrival After This Time |
| Individual | $5/$10 |
| Family/team rate | $8/$15 |
For those of you who need a little more excitement, Saturday's events will include a 5-hour adventure race. During the adventure race, participants start the day by using a UTM tool to plot a number of points on a map then visiting the plotted points on foot. The Trek section of the race should take 40 minutes to one hour to complete.
Next, participants plot points on a second map then travel to the points by bike. During the bike portion of the race, the controls are not located directly on roads or trails but are instead found on prominent features within 200 meters of the bikeable path. The bike section of the race will take stronger riders less than two hours to complete. We may throw a twist or two into the bike section of the adventure race to make things interesting.
Finally, participants will try to visit as many controls as possible on the same map used for the Score-O. For this section of the adventure race, the scoring is not the same as for the Score-O. For the Score-O section of the adventure race, each control is worth 1 point. Participants should simply try to visit as many controls as possible before the 1:00 PM deadline.
Please remember that we will apply a 1-point penalty for each 5-minutes you arrive after the 1:00 PM deadline. If you arrive up to 1:04:59 PM, we'll deduct one point. Arriving up to 1:09:59 PM will reduce your score by two-points, and so on. We will mark you as DNF if you arrive after 1:30 PM.
Click here for general information concerning the club's Adventure Race events.
| 7:00 AM |
Transition Area Opens, Registration Begins |
| 7:45 AM | Mandatory Pre-Race Meeting |
| 8:00 AM | Mass Start |
| 1:00 PM | Race finishes. (Penalties apply for arriving after 1:00.) |
| 1:30 PM | Participants Marked as "DNF" for Arrival After This Time |
| Individual |
$20 per participant. (The price is the same for all participants.) |
Follow this link for directions to the Cave Buttes Event Site.