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We had a nice turnout for our Night-O at Saguaro Lake. A total of nineteen participants joined us for two-hours of navigation practice at our event site on the Bush Highway north of Saguaro Lake. The temperature was perfect for orienteering (mid-70's). A nearly full moon helped illuminate the area's ridgelines and washes. Navigating at night is a particulary difficult skill to master. Always knowing where you are on the map is crucial. If you do get turned around, relocating is quite difficult due to the absense of visual clues to help. Everyone who participated in the event was able to find 3 or more controls. We're happy to offer a venue for this unique navigation experience.
There were a couple of notable concerns for the night's events. Because of all the rain we received this winter, the foxtail grass was out in force. The seeds of this grass find there way into participant's socks and mesh-footwear. In the future, we need to warn everyone to wear long pants and, if possible, leather shoes. Also, while hanging bags earlier in the day, the course setters nearly stepped on two rattlesnakes. The encounter was fortunately benign (rattlesnakes are really fascinating!) but it does remind us of the need to be careful when hiking in the desert. As the sun goes down and the temperatures drop, the risk of accidental contact with poisonous snakes decreases as the animals become lethargic in the cooling temperatures.
The night's course consisted of 14 controls with a best-route straight-line distance of 4.8 km with 235 meters of climb. The Saguaro Lake event site is quite open with a minimal amount of cactus and other thorny plants to get in your way (except the foxtail). Erik Ringnes was able to use his years of navigation experience to blast through the course and visit all the controls in just over an hour. We might have to make a longer course next time to keep him interested. Other top finishers who visited 10 or more controls include Dan Yamiashiro, James Allred, Rich Orndoff, and the Scorpions. The Scorpions were particularly affected by the nasty foxtail seeds. We're sure they would have found more of the controls if they were able to stay out the full two hours. Long-time participant Debra Allen is showing that her persistence is paying off. She found 8 controls in just over an hour and a half. Since we've nearly had to send search crews out for her a number of times, it's obvious that her navigation skills are getting much better. Way to go Deb!
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