Too many mistakes.
Got to event relatively late, at 12:45, and got a start time of 1:08, already 8 minutes past the 1:00 cut-off (they start picking up controls at 2:30 PM).
Didn't have enough time to study the map.
Went to 4, very easy and visible.
Had intention of going to 3, but never saw the side stream.
When I was very close to the road with passing cars, I knew I was totally disoriented, and settled to reach 5 up on the bank of the creek, by an easy trail.
Then, targeted 6, clues said outside of the South corner of clearing (btw: the clues also erroneously say southernmost, and also say in a creek environment: should have just said clearing, outside southern corner)
Got very confused, for some reason, was expecting to see the control, and looked at other corners of clearins and rough opens, must have wasted considerable time on this one. The control was about 5 meters from the edge of the clearing.
Then targeted 8, control was about 10 meters from the trail intersection, in the woods.
Targeted 10, and ran south on the big trail. Just before the bridge, went W on a small trail. Should first have crossed the bridge and continued south to 9 and then backtracked and THEN take the small trail up the hill).
On looking for 10, got very confused and believed that the creek where 10 was south of the trail (it was actually north). Eventually went on the other side of the creek, found a trail, and found (accidentally 12). I knew then that I was making too many mistakes.
My route
I checked the sheet and saw that 11 and 7 up north were each worth only 10 points, and that with all the mistakes I was making, I had to sacrifice them and get to the high pointers on the southern edge of the map. So went to 30 (easy), and then bushwacked SE to 29. Clue said bridge, but control was on a tree at about 5 meters from bridge. I spent time looking at all sides of the bridge and under the bridge, and only 20 seconds later, by looking around, saw the control on the tree.
Went for 26, easy find, this one a 30 pointer, don't know why since it was almost on trail.
Then, went for 23, and found a trail that followed a ravine, and then had to climb up a steep slope. Met Bob "Lightning" Boltz here. Saw the clearing and ran to it. Saw the clue, it says "ruins", but there are no ruins as mapped feature. Found it anyway. Then, with some luck bushwacking, found a small trail that let to 25, a forty pointer, and from there, an easy run to 24.
Continuing on that trail going West, at a small driveway clearing that connected the paved road with the trail, I went straight North, targeting 22. Must have gone slightly NW, because I missed 22. Continuing upstream, found myself on a big trail, that was very close to 21.
Up a steep slope from the creek up the maintenance parking lot, paved road, and reached 20.
Then targeted 19. It looked difficult on the map, with very little mapped features to rely on, and instead I got myself straight into it. The control was actually visible from 60 meters away.
Went NE to a trail and then NW towards 18 (wanted to avoid the swamp between 18 and 19). Found 18 easily, but while clue said on the outside northern edge of the pond, the control was actually 6 meters away from the pond.
Met a guy that said he could not find 17, and asked me if I found it. I said I was going there next. Went NE and reached the trail at the point it makes a curve, and then from there went E (I must have actually gone NE). Saw a side creek, realized it was north of the depression with control 17, and so then turned south and started looking on the side of the other creek. Checked and rechecked, bushwacked and bushwacked, but couldn't find it. Decided to give up, heard the passing cars of the road nearby, decided to go to the road, and then saw the control. It was in another group of depressions about 70 meters south of where they were indicated on the map, on the side of a much bigger creek.
Got to the road, decided I had not much time left, and went for 16, a twenty pointer, easy, I think, since it is a creek bend. There is another guy looking for it, and we just don't see it. I must have spent 10 minutes there, every angle, from the road, from the trails, upstream, downstream, maybe hidden by a rootstock, and I just didn't find it [later, talking to other orienteerers, they said it was actually 30 meters West of the bend centered by the map circle].
At this point, I was really almost out of time, and realized I had no time to reach 12 and 10, both thirty pointer controls which I missed and should have gone earlier. So went for 15 and 14, relatively easy trail running finds, got to the finish with 9 minutes spare, and should have gone to try 12 with those 9 minutes + 4 minutes overtime that would have caused a 6 point penalty: with 13 minutes, I could have found 12 and back, getting 24 points.
Later, talking to other orienteerers, we found the clue of 11 to be misleading: "Northernmost" doesn't really apply here.
Bob Bolts got 390 points, Olga got 379, Others got 360 and 350. I got 340.
The south Cagrin reservation is deeply wooded, with nice beech trees. It just had rained earlier, and with the sun out, the was alot of humidity in the air. Running through the leaves got you wet, but it was warm water, and actually pretty invigorating.
Should have followed this route = 510 points
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