Francis Slocum
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Topic created by WindWalker on Mon May 23, 2011 at 9:36 pmSo I see this was mysteriously changed to a Score O.
Not much info on the front page, and I'm wondering how long of a Score O will it be? What's the course like, easy nav like Tyler or more technical like Hay Creek?
For those that are interested I've been told there is some good mountainbiking at Francis Slocum, I have personally never ridden there though. I do know there is some very good mountain biking a few miles south at Moon Lake Park, been there a few times.
I'm not sure if I want to take a mountainbike and enjoy a multisport day or ride up on the motorcycle and enjoy some scenic back roads... See what mother nature gives us, but with the way things have been going, I'd guess rain!
Thanks for the info, Mike -
Reply by furlong47 on Mon May 23, 2011 at 10:38 pmAlso looking for more details before the weekend, I am sure they will come. That's a long drive if it ends up being a short score-O.
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Reply by edscott on Tue May 24, 2011 at 1:49 pmI know Larry needs 30 controls, but I don't know the time limit. Looking at the map I'd take a guess at 90 minutes. He just added a White and Yellow, but all or some of those might also be on the Score...??
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Reply by robw on Tue May 24, 2011 at 9:03 pmWhen I talked to Larry at West Point at the beginning of the month, he was thinking of a 75 or 90 minute score-o.Since most DVOAers never made it to Slocum when POC was using it regularly in the mid and late 90's, a little background information may be useful. The map was fieldchecked by Mikell Platt in 1993 and first used in 1994. Because this was pre-OCAD, the map cannot be easily updated, so there are going to be features, such as mountain-bike trails, which will not appear on the map.The most prominent feature on the map is a U-shaped lake, which creates a central peninsula, where most of the park activities, such as parking lots, boat ramps and a swimming pool, are located. At the tip of the peninsula is a hill with some very nice open woods. On the east side of the lake is a campground and a hillside, which has some nice woods, but is rather steep in places. The west side is the largest area, with more areas of green, but a lot of (unmapped) bike trails. Larry was considering passing out a map of the bike trails along with the O map, which could present some interesting challenges comparing the two maps. Both the east and west sides have a number of large stone walls, which are more normally found in New England.Although the map and area may not be as technical as Hickory Run or the Water Gap, (if you want a score-o on an almost new map with mostly white woods, come to Hickory Run on July 10), it should provide for a nice day's outing for those who chose to come to NEPA over the holiday weekend.
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Reply by WindWalker on Tue May 24, 2011 at 10:49 pmI've been looking into the bike trail situation - on the DCNR website it lists over 4 miles of trails, however, in the mountainbike community I have learned that in the last few years they have added a bunch of trails with a total milage of 13.5. That being said it sounds like lots of new bike trails that aren't on the map as previously stated.
Turns out they have a few tent sites available for Sunday night, so we're in. Should be a fun two days, a little O control chasing, some canoeing and fishing and tearing up some mountainbike trails.
See ya up north in a few...
Mike
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Reply by edscott on Wed May 25, 2011 at 8:43 pmJust a quick reminder to those that haven't yet needed this feature to find a DVOA event... If you go to the schedule page and click on "Frances Slocum" you will get a map of the area and a set of GPS coordinates which should get you to either the parking area or an Orienteering sign pointing the way.
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Reply by edscott on Thu May 26, 2011 at 5:09 pmTalked with Larry today when he picked up maps and equipment and he is considering a 60 and a 90 minute version. Because of the way the park is broken into three areas by the lake fingers, I suspect few will max the course in 60 minutes. I estimate getting all the controls will be about 10 K in as straight a line as the land permits. It is not a mass start, but to simplify the start & finish he does intend to have several mini mass starts, maybe every 15 - 20 minutes. I intend to be there early to beat the heat. Hope to see a crowd.
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Reply by edscott on Mon May 30, 2011 at 10:32 amI enjoyed the day at Slocum a lot. For me it was a chance to explore brand new map even if it was using 1993 field work. I was surprised at how well the basic details have held up over the years. Yes, there were some new trails and the green was less than precise. If the map is ever redone it would be good to add the park boundary. I now can see that control #19 was off the edge of the property by a few meters and lots of the obvious route from 19 to 20 was out of the park. So a big thank you is in order to Larry for setting the courses. For those that haven't been there.... this park would be great for a Canoe/Kayak O course. the lake is about 4x the size of Hopewell and due to its shape has loads more shoreline... my rough estimate is 7to 8 K. It wouldn't be that hard to set a score event of all "water access only" controls. Anyone willing to do it next summer? Give me a date and I'll get it on the schedule. Maybe someone else could set a sprint to go with it and make it an all day event.BTW driving time from the French Creek area was about the same as for Hickory Run.
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Reply by WindWalker on Mon May 30, 2011 at 8:04 pmI had a great run too, lots of cool features there, some of the control placements were cool. Got to see alot of the park. The controls were spaced out a good bit and I ran and ran and ran in the sweat drentching heat and still came up 7 controls short of the 25, and to make matters worse I was even late.
I thought the map was pretty consistant, evey stone wall that I used for navigating was on the map, and there sure are alot of them. Never made it over to the west side on foot, but explored the trails via mountainbike that evening and can say that side also had some very interesting features and lots of stone walls.
It was a fun event and it was a shame not many showed up.
I think this place has alot of potential.
There was some post event talk about a multi mode O-event at Slocum. Foot, bike and boat, this really has me thinking... That would be a cool event, three courses set, one for foot, one for bike and one with a boat. Could compete in one, two or all three of the courses. Keep the courses on maybe an orange level and have each couse take about an hour.
Logisticly it wouldn't be that hard. Could start down at the boat rental parking area and run the foot course on the east, the boat course on the penninsula and the bike course in the west on the bike trails. Sounds about perfect.
I paddled the lake and did some fishing last evening, and will agree with Ed, it's a good bit of water, but the fishing sucked.
Mike -
Reply by edscott on Tue May 31, 2011 at 10:12 amYes an O'Triathalon would be fun. It could be set up with choices of participating as an individual or as part of a team. An hour run on the east side, followed by an hour of biking on the west side, then an hour on the lake. Or for teams, a mass start with one member doing each part. With enough advance publicity among non orienteering groups we might get a lot of entries from outside the geographical area and the O community. I'd be willing to set one of the parts then participate in one of the others as part of a team.... anyone else?
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Reply by WindWalker on Tue May 31, 2011 at 8:51 pmI see the wheels are turning...
I'd be willing to help, but I'd also like to participate in all three legs, so it probably wouldn't be fair to set a course. LOL.
But I'm in to do what ever else I can.
Mike
