Petrified Forest Orienteering 2015
Event Writeup

Results Summary

Writeup

We're very excited to have had the opportunity to hold events this year at the Petrified Forest National Park in northeast Arizona. Together with park management and members of the Tucson Orienteering Club, we organized two 4-hour rogaines in the Painted Desert area of the park. Participants were presented with more than 50 kilometers of courses which had them navigate through rugged terrain that included narrow canyons, rock pinnacles, dry rivers and streams, and most of all, petrified wood. The Black Forest area of the wilderness, an area located more than 4 kilometers from the nearest road or trail, contains some of the highest concentrations of petrified logs in the park. We're extremely grateful to the management of the Petrified Forest National Park for letting us explore the area while practicing our favorite sport.

Around thirty participants joined us for each day's event. While the numbers seem small, we had individuals come from as far away as Alaska and the Yukon Territory for the adventure. Since this was the first time for us to offer orienteering events in the park, it was actually useful to start with smaller events. Our efforts to organize the two events showed how we can practice our sport with limited impact to an area. We hope we're able to offer the same type of events next year.

We had a bit of luck for the events this year. A strong cold-front bringing a substantial amount of rain and wind blew through the area on Friday. Remnants of the front were present both Saturday and Sunday and areas around the park received substantial amounts of rain. However, the skies over the event sites remained dry during both events. In fact, rain showers after Saturday's event actually helped to soften the ground for Sunday's event. Several club members were caught in downpours while they retrieved bags after the events, but the participants enjoyed nearly perfect weather.

Saturday's event took participants slightly west of the Black Forest area. Controls were located at the base of a rock pinnacle, in a tight maze of re-entrants, and next to 6 or 7 petrified logs over 20 meters long. Several controls were placed in "Angel's Garden", an area filled with petrified logs and log fragments. To give everyone a chance to visit the very scenic landscape, we took time before the race to show everyone where Angel's Garden is located on the map.

On Sunday, the course took participants to areas east of the Black Forest, including a landmark known as the "Giant's Doorway". The terrain around the Giant's Doorway is generally more rugged with a lower concentration of petrified wood than what participants saw on Saturday. Because of the ruggedness of the terrain, there seemed to be more wandering around aimlessly looking for controls. We're happy to have presented participants with more navigation challenges on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2015 Petrified Forest events. The opportunity to hold events in such a unique and beautiful area is really unprecedented. We appreciate everything the park management did to make the events a reality. We hope to offer events in the park again in the near future.