French Creek Notes
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Topic created by kathyu on Mon Aug 6, 2012 at 7:59 amfirst, thanks to the Franks and Nate and the entire cast of helpers for an interesting and challenging day.
I always forget that I have had several DNFs on this map. The brown was merely difficult until I tried to get to 7. I tired and the heat was getting to me and I drifted south and into the most difficult grass-hidden rocks on a steep downhill slope I have ever encountered with patches of fire damage. Judging by the brown orienteers who came back smeared with ash and soot, I was not the only one to take the fire tour. You really have to hand it to the people who persisted. I skipped 7-8-9 and headed in to 10-11-finish. Thank goodness for the rock in the middle of the power lines.
But here is the (Ed Scott) question. By heading east to brown 7 (I'm going from memory here) and breaking a little north instead of south, do you miss the rock area on the west side of the power lines? that is, was there a "safer" route?
No matter how badly I do, I am grateful to the people like Nate who go out in the heat and bugs and set courses.
BTW, we dropped Marijonas off in Philly, he is good company and loves orienteering and is really good at it. If you get a chance to give him a lift, be sure to do so.
Kathy -
Reply by Sandy on Mon Aug 6, 2012 at 8:51 amMy thanks too to all those that helped with the event. I enjoyed the red course tremendously.
It is sad to see all the new vegetation moving in and taking over on FCE the way it did on FCW.
RouteGadget will be up eventually but it will be a week or so. Our RG guru, is away. -
Reply by furlong47 on Mon Aug 6, 2012 at 10:49 amThe stiltgrass, especially, made things difficult. It's pretty much impossible to run or even walk quickly when you can't see anything about where your feet are going. These invasive plants are just horrible.
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Reply by j-man on Mon Aug 6, 2012 at 4:47 pmI will echo the thanks. It was a nice day.
But, FCE? Wow. I remember when ferns and rocks used to be the worst things we had to deal with, but now it is everything: stiltgrass, raspberries, blackberries, pokeberries, other mutant plants, and the list goes on. Ferns are the least of our worries now. There is always something new and nasty. -
Reply by edscott on Tue Aug 7, 2012 at 11:28 amThanks for the information Sandy.. Was wondering where route gadget went.I'm hoping the nasty stuff in the burned area will not be as bad next season. The canopy was opened up a bit by the October storm so that, in conjunction with the ground fire, made a great environment for allowing the pokeberry & stiltgrass jungle we encountered Sunday. At least they are soft and without thorns. The stilt grass has been all over the park for a long time, but the open canopy and fire certainly helped it along. Good news was that the old blackberry stalks were burned off, but the new shoots will still be there next year.
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Reply by edscott on Tue Aug 7, 2012 at 11:38 am...and to Kathy's question..The best route to the power line and on to #7 should have been to go east splitting the distance between the two small rock patches then cross the platform adbn hit the line at the pole below the one with the platform beside it. That gives a clear shot between the rock fields at the big boulder. I left 6 thinking "just get to the power line and figure it out when I get there". I got there, but had climbed one pole too high. Confirmed that with the charcoal terrace just off the power line and went directly to #7 from there. Slogged up through the grass and pokeberries to near #8 but thought I had drifted a little left so looked to my right and went about 50 feet that way before turning around and saw the flag about 80 feet behind me. 8-9 was straight downhill and not so bad and for 9 to 10 I continued downhill to get below the weeds and rocks before cutting back to the power line. The key for me there was the somewhat obscure trail down through the rocks.
