Quail Hill Couse setter Pre-advice April 14
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Topic created by on Thu Apr 4, 2013 at 10:50 pmHello all you rusty and needing of O exercise winter O peoples,
Course setter Notes for Quail Hill in 9 days FYI
Quail Hill Camp in Manalapan NJ is still a good orienteering site, with an " * "
For those having never visited, Quail Hill is a medium sized Scout camp, it was a older NJ farmstead owned and purchased from the local Le Valley Family. It is primarily a Oak and Maple tree forest, with 2 major steams and a small pond. Good trail system and medium size parking lots (but we will use parking quides to make sure there is ample free parking close to the Pima picnic area (the registration and start area). Much of the camp is comprised of open fields and rolling hillsides, and fight is either locally less than 10% of the forest yet there are two section areas with bad sever fight (no controls in there). Fight is less than mapped in parts, but worse in teh south (but I did not set controls there, it stinks in the QH green) Camp is borderd by a N/S high tension power line East side of map right-of-way, but alas, its recently been completely "clear Cut" and is out of bounds in the now scalped center east and northward sections of the power line ROW but one may scoot around briefly on the so-west edge and part of the ROW on a few R/Grn Advanced course legs (I like ROW running, free Golf balls for the bold but remember to duck if ... someone Yells "FORE") . This will all be reflected in a detailed Course setter notes (the fight (or lack of), not the location of abandoned white spheres) in a O-paper and CS note map at the start . Advance adult runners note, there will be an important "clue" in a rootstock filled new micro thicket on the course setter map, please ask to see it.
For those traveling to Quail Hill for a repeat NJ forest jaunt, the Nov '12 Sandy storm has presented some locally bad and (I mean large) rootstocks and many off trail branches are down (forest litter increase is a good term here). So Bring your Log and tree limb jumping shoes and do Not just wear shorts, wear long O pants and sweat a little. Yet much of the forest is either uneffected and is as it was - pre-nov-storm, except for a few new random rootstocks (somtime found in root-clumps around swampy areas), and some bad ones have been logged out by Scout volunteers (but many trail side log stacks and piles are a yet again new unmapped feature).
On a sad note, many of the older semi-bogus plywood board hunter-stands (no hunting on Sundays, NJ Law) just "off" QH property have been crunched and are unusable, horray' for the quiet whitetail deer, less hunting, more grass munching. So Sandy winds did one 'nice' thing, if you can believe.
OK, more notes will be posted at the Meet registration area, the smart DVOA O runners will check the day of event CS map for a vital advanced runner O clue before starting. Please remember, we run these local O events to train and inspire our local Scouts and ROTC - youths; please check the Quail Hill volunteer list, I need key (meaning more) volunteers to help me, from basic O trainers, to car parkers, registrars/helpers to start and finish officials to E punch computer helpers. Any aid is appreciated. Oh Yea, les I forget, use anti-Tick Spray on Brown and above O courses, the Tic buggers are awaking but only off trail are they present. I think it will not be so bad as the noisey ROW construction crane crews have scared many deer away. I especial asl tha someone bring a - camera and take a few QH O pics as I will be too busy, and sent them in later to the Briar patch editor.
I have many Cadets (vols) whom need DVOA been there, done that - DVOA supervision, so come over and lets train them up. Mostly easy duty. Please help a bit. Shifts will be set up, and Scouts (150 to 200 by last count) are all spread out to manage crowding at the registration line.
Run time- All will have a Great O time except the 60 minute "rule" on typicall winning times on Orange and green will be unlikely (more like 70). Strangely, the whole Brown course missed the worst of the new QH rootstocks (maybe they visit 3 rootstocks say where one is mapped, just remember, if its a new rootstock, its (newbie) is not on the QH map (Key advanced CS Tip)) , CS designers luck sometimes prevails.
I look forward to a beautiful and cool Quail O run with you on April 14th. Until then, SYITW. Bob Rycharski
