Category: Puzzles

Puzzle Friday: NARC 2021

Just rolled back home after almost 4 weeks on the road – Deschutes Daze in Oregon, OUSA Nationals in Lake Tahoe and the 2021 North American Rogaining Championships, also in Lake Tahoe, CA. It occured to me on the long drive home that it’s been a while since I posted a Puzzle Friday. So here’s a quickie from the rogaine while I sort through thousands of photos and video and make sense of things.

It was great to meet so many of you in my travels these past few weeks. Look forward to catching up with you at future orienteering events. Here is this week’s puzzle.

Puzzle Friday: Texas Junior Orienteering Camp

This weeks Puzzle Friday feature takes us down south to the Sid Richardson Scout Camp in Texas where the North Texas Orienteering Association (NTOA) recently hosted its annual Texas Junior Orienteering Camp (TJOC). This camp is a 6-day residence camp for orienteers aged 13-19 and was held June 6-11, 2021. 19 adult staff worked with the 36 junior orienteers who came together from California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio and Texas to improve their navigation skills.

Special thanks to the organizers and to Mike Minium (OCIN), one of the longtime coaches for the TJOC who took the photos used in this weeks puzzle. Check out the full gallery of TJOC ’21 photos over on Smugmug. Have a great weekend everyone!

Puzzle Friday: Shades of Death Rogaine

Just over a week left to register for the Delaware Valley Orienteering Association Shades of Death 4, 7 & 10 hour Rogaine on Sunday, June 27th. This event is open to teams as well as solo racers and will include over 60 control locations spanning all four of their fully-contiguous Hickory Run orienteering maps. These maps have previously been used for the US Orienteering Team Trials as well as the USARA Adventure Racing National Championships.

Check out the Event Bulletin for more information or go directly to registration at OUSA’s EventReg portal. Be sure to review the mandatory gear information as well as the COVID-19 modifications for this event.

Enjoy the puzzle and have a great holiday weekend!

Puzzle Friday: 2021 US Masters Nationals

The 2021 Orienteering USA Masters National Championships will be held on October 9-10, 2021 hosted by the Minnesota Orienteering Club (MNOC). That may seem like a long way off, but its only 20 weeks away! This event will be a two-day, classic format event and will be held in the intricate glacial kettle moraine terrain of Mille Lacs Kathio State Park in central Minnesota.

Event information has been posted and registration will open soon. Enjoy the puzzle and have a great weekend!!

Puzzle image credits: Julia Bohnen

Puzzle Friday: Deschutes Daze 2021

Twelve weeks folks! Only 12 weeks until the classic 4-day, barebones event in central Oregon hosted by the folks from Columbia River Orienteering Club (CROC). And conveniently the weekend before the Tahoe 2021 events in California – does anyone smell a roadtrip?

Registration is open for Deschutes Daze 2021 to take place July 30 – August 2 in and around Bend, Oregon.  This year’s program includes four races with Sport-Ident electronic timing, plus one bonus short course using the Usynligo mobile web application. 

These events feature the beautiful eastern slope of the Oregon Cascades.  You will experience  big sky grasslands, high alpine meadows, pyroclastic geology, and mythic ponderosa forests.  Stay in the vibrant city of Bend, ranked third in the US for brewpubs per capita.

We have modified operations for this barebones festival with health and safety as our top priority. Participation will be capped, so please register as soon as your plans are firm. This festival is for experienced orienteers and does not include beginner courses or instruction clinics.

Registration is open now – get all the event details here.

In the meantime, enjoy this weeks puzzle.

{Note: Map & course are from the 2019 edition of Deschutes Daze}

Puzzle Friday: Georgia O-Fest Redux

Happy Friday everyone! While I’ve got Georgia on my Mind, we might as well put the media to good puzzle use. Map of Sunday’s Blue course along with some photos taken by GAOC member Lisa Frost. Have a great weekend!

Puzzle Friday: LAOC Easter Egg Hunt

Well we made it to the end of another week. And still 4 days left to participate in Photo-O at Lake Balboa. Match the pictures to the map and find the easter egg in each image. Submit your results online by midnight on Monday, April 5th. You can get a taste with our weekly online puzzle below. (Tip: Expand the puzzle to full-screen to play)

Puzzle Friday – 02 April 2021

Puzzle Friday: Georgia O-Fest 2021

Hopefully you’ve heard the news that the Georgia O-Fest is on for three days of national competition over the weekend of April 9-11. So we’ll celebrate the return of multi-day competition with a Puzzle Friday feature for you. Have a great weekend and hope to see you in Georgia three weeks from today!

Puzzle Friday: US Kartapullautin Championships

As we approach the one year anniversary of pandemic induced event cancellations and travel restrictions, many puzzling questions exist. Will WOC 2021 in the Czech Republic happen as scheduled this July? Will foreign competitors be allowed to travel to the US in August for the California O-Fest? Will there even be a US Championships in 2021?

In light of all the uncertainties in the competition calendar, Team USA Elite member Greg Ahlswede is spearheading a series of ultra low-key, bare-bones, quasi-competitive events in northeastern Pennsylvania, tentatively later this summer, to give folks something a little more solid to look forward to. Courses will be designed on Kartapullautin generated maps, UsynligO & O-Range will be utilized for control verification and self-reporting results. Things are completely fluid, and if real, honest-to-goodness competitions do indeed happen this summer, then the KP Champs will take a back seat or reschedule to alternate dates.

Greg is currently soliciting ideas and expressions of interest from the orienteering community over on his AttackPoint log where you can share your thoughts. In the meantime, we’ve assembled a Puzzle Friday feature for you today from some of last summers KP kapers in lovely northeastern PA. Enjoy….

Puzzle Friday: California Orienteering Festival

Happy Friday everyone! There are only 157 training days left until the California Orienteering Festival which includes the North American Orienteering Championships (NAOC) and the World Rogaining Championships (WRC). This multi-week 10-stage event, which was postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic, is scheduled for August 2-15, 2021.

Because the event includes NAOC & WRC a lot depends upon the status of international travel as we slowly emerge from the past 12 months of pandemic related travel restrictions. The organizers will make a major decision on the event status sometime in April. If you registered for the event in 2020 and did not request a refund, then your registration is all set. Around 600 people are currently registered.

If you have not yet registered this is a reminder that regular pricing ends on Monday, March 1st and late fees kick in starting Tuesday. Due to the uncertainty imposed by the pandemic, the organizers have instituted very robust refund policies which can be seen at the bottom of the pricing page.

So kick start your day-dreaming about racing in the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe this August and enjoy this weeks puzzle! See you in Tahoe!