Directions to Spence Creek here.
Now that the temperatures in the valley are heating up, come up north to Prescott and enjoy a day in the cool tall pines. We are excited about a new map area located north of our Thumb Butte map. The Forest Service completed logging the area in 2015, so the forest is open with relatively little debris in most parts of the map. The area also features a large network of footpaths, so route choice and efficient execution will be key to running a fast course. We think you'll find the terrain enjoyable, and we're hoping this may become one of your favorite GPHXO maps!
Our primary event is foot orienteering on Classic courses. Several courses are offered to suit a variety of skill levels.
For those who would rather tour the area on mountain bike, we're including a 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.
If you want to really fill out your day in the woods, you can also chose to enter the combined Bike/Foot challenge race.
We hope you'll consider joining us for an excellent day in the woods!
We will be offering the following Classic courses:
| Course | Level | Map scale | Length (km) | Elevation (m) | Equivalent distance (km) | Number of Controls | Winning Time @ 8 min/km (min) |
| Yellow | Beginner | 1:5k | 2.7 | 61 | 3.3 | 12 | 26 |
| Orange | Intermediate | 1:10k | 4.9 | 134 | 6.2 | 13 | 50 |
| Long Green | Advanced | 1:10k | 6.4 | 158 | 8.0 | 16 | 63 |
| Blue | Advanced | 1:10k | 8.9 | 256 | 11.5 | 20 | 92 |
You may start anytime after the course opens until 12:00pm. Everyone, competitors and recreational participants alike, must be off the course and checked into the timer's table by 2:00 PM.
Note that for the advanced courses (Green and Blue), that we will NOT be provided a text description of the controls on either the punch card or the map. If you are unfamiliar with the symbols, please review the example below. This list has all the symbols used for both the Blue and Green courses. The "special items" (black X) for the courses are a faux grave site (UM) and a survey benchmark (MN).
Yellow and Orange courses will have the text description printed on the punch card
For our mountain biking friends, we're offering a Classic point-to-point Bike-O course, where the controls must be visited in the order shown on the map. Click here for an example map from 2015. The course follows 5-6 popular mountain biking trails for 15+ km of riding (no riding off of designated trails is allowed). The control placement will be of intermediate (orange level) difficulty, and the control markers will all be located within 100-200 meters of the bike trail. All competitors must be off the course and checked into the timer's table by 2:00 PM.
The Bike-O map shows only general detail for most parts of the course. Detail has been added as needed, however, in the vicinity of some controls. Click here for general information concerning the club's Bike-O events.
For those of you who want to burn more calories, you can choose to enter the combined bike/foot event. You'll begin by completing the Bike-O course, and when you check in, you can pick one of three foot orienteering categories: Orange, Green, or Blue. The winner for each category will be the person or team that completes both courses in the shortest time. Note that the course time includes the transition time between Bike-O and Foot-O courses. That is, your time begins when you start the Bike-O, and ends when you turn in your completed Foot-O score card. All competitors must be off the course and checked into the timer's table by 2:00 PM.
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.
| 8:30 | Registration Begins |
| 9:00 AM | Courses Open |
| 12:00 PM | Last time to start a course. |
| 2:00 PM | Courses close. |
| 2:15 PM | Participants Marked as "DNF" for Arrival After This Time |
Note that the combined Bike/Foot challenge is priced as two separate events
| Individual | $5/$10 |
| Family/team rate | $8/$15 |
For Bike orienteering, a helmet must be worn at all times. There is no water on this course, so make sure you bring enough water for a 2-hour ride. You should also consider your preferred method (e.g. map holder) for reading the map while riding.
The Spence Creek / Willow Creek basin is predominantly Ponderosa Pine forest, interspersed with regions of thick brush. Areas that were logged in 2015 (typically in the valleys) are open, with little brush. Areas that are high on hilltops are often thick brush, a mixture of scrub oak and manzanita. These areas are marked in green on the map. With the many footpaths in the area, route choices should be available that avoid most of the brush. The contour interval is 40 feet, so to provide greater terrain detail, the "shallow water channel" symbol is used extensively to mark reentrants. Likewise, shallow knolls and selective use of form lines are used to add detail between the contour lines. More details on the map appear below.
The vegetation (thick brush) mapping is crude, and should be used for general route finding, not precise navigation. It is likely on advanced courses that you will encounter some patches of brush. Although there is virtually no cactus or catclaw, the scrub oak and manzanita are abrasive to exposed skin. If you plan to short-cut through the green areas, you may want to consider long pants and maybe long sleeves.
Mapping the boulders in this region is tricky. There is huge variation in size and density of boulders and rock outcroppings. In general, boulders aren't mapped unless they are at least 2 meters high. The "large boulder" symbol is used for boulders that are 3 meters or higher, OR are sufficiently massive to be considered "large boulder." Note that this symbol can represent boulders that are 5 m tall or higher. In areas where large boulders are superimposed (i.e. you can't cross them easily), a solid black "area symbol" may be used. It is not recommended that the boulder symbols be used for precise navigation unless the boulders are relatively isolated. Do not expect consistency between the use of the boulder, large boulder or "boulder cluster" symbols--in some cases the mapping choice is arbitrary.
Reentrants (dry washes) that are mapped can be quite subtle. If you can see a definite water channel that's more that 50 meters long, it's probably on the map. The depth of such channels can be 0.5 meter or less. Knolls (brown dot symbol) can also be subtle--sometimes little more than a bump on a spur
A light gray dashed line is used to designate a "faded vehicle track". These are abandoned fire roads (many have logging debris across them to speed up the eco-recovery process) that may not have a distinct path on them, but the road grade is easily distinguished. These roads are more distinct than the "Narrow ride" symbol that is sometimes used on other maps. In many cases a footpath is still present, in which case the appropriate path symbol appears on top of the gray line.
A non-standard light gray area symbol is used to designate "open boulder field." These areas have a high density of boulders which are too small to map individually.
Follow this link for directions to the Spence Creek Site.
See this other link for guidance on camping in the Prescott area