Orienteering. A sport of navigation using a map to locate controls on a determined course. After attending the 38N Adventure Fest last fall, I received an email with upcoming KS adventures, one of them being a free orienteering for women class. I decided that I would take up orienteering as my winter sport and after reaching out to friends, I found a friend, Lillian, to attend the women’s class with me.

The day of the orienteering class arrived with about 4 inches of snow. Lillian and I had planned to carpool and decided we would brave the snowy roads – arriving at Clinton Overlook just in time for the class to begin. Mary, our fearless leader, was there with a
big smile and about half of the ladies who registered also braved the snowy road conditions. Mary taught us the basics, how to read the map using the key and a compass. She was an excellent teacher, it was easy to see this is not only a passion of hers, but she had taught many other groups before ours. She told us of her love of the sport and that she met her husband orienteering. Mary had arrived early that morning to set up an orienteering course for us to try. Lillian and I set off as the first pair on this orienteering adventure.

We had a great time making our way through the course. The map was detailed enough that we were able to ditch the compass and go on landmarks. The snow-covered terrain added an extra challenge for us but added beauty and a nearly magical experience. We passed a tiny 6-inch snow covered pine tree which would have made the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree for the wild critters. One tree had berries that had perfect domes of snow on top of each. We found control after control. We didn’t always take the
shortest or smartest path, but in the end we found all 7 of the controls. Mary shared that only about 30% of the participants in this sport are women and encouraged us to attend some of the upcoming events.

I told my husband, Dave, of our adventure – and when I received an email from Mary announcing a course set had set up over the Christmas holiday, we ventured out on
Christmas Day (after all how often are we gifted with a 60* Christmas day?) and found all the controls on the intermediate course. We were sold and marked our calendars for the next orienteering adventure which was on New Year’s Day at Rockhaven Park. Mary was there and gave the orienteering 101 session which we joined in. Dave & I navigated the intermediate course and the fun maze that was planned at the end. We found all the controls and we finished! Afterward, we picked up orienteering information, including an intermediate orienteering class. We marked our calendars for this class later in January.

My second orienteering class felt much like my first – the course was covered in snow. Dave & I arrived to be greeted by Mary. We met her husband, Mike, who took 4 of us on the course to teach us intermediate skills. We learned useful techniques such as navigating woods in a straight line and following a contour line. Mike taught us skills on map reading – such as looking ahead to find your next 2 steps/landmarks and saying them out loud before proceeding. We divided up to try various paths to the next controls to see which might be the quickest. The women headed up to the pasture to the next control, while the men followed the trail, crossed over to the next trail…in the end we learned that the pasture route, while not the most direct, was the quickest.

To encourage women to try it out, you get free entry if you bring a woman friend. I sent an email out to friends about the February 9th orienteering event in Woodridge Park. Anja and her 10-year-old daughter joined me. We all enjoyed a free entry fee (them since it was their first event…first timers are always free – and me for bringing a new
woman). Mary was there to greet us and we sat in on a quick orienteering 101, giving us a few pro tips before we began. Together the 3 of us navigated our way through the intermediate course. We felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing.

Leap Day was my last orienteering event of the season at Perry Lake. I sent a text out to friends and this time had 3 friends join me: Jim, Vicki and Jenny. They sat through the intro session and Jenny took off on the beginner course while Jim, Vicki and I went on the intermediate course. We again found all the controls and made our way back out of the woods…hooray! Since it was my third orienteering event, Mary presented me with an Orienteer Kansas ball cap, which I’m sporting in this pic. I am really enjoying this new sport. I like the adventure of figuring out the map to find the controls – it’s like a big scavenger hunt. For me, this is not a competitive sport but rather a fun adventure in the great outdoors – often at places I haven’t explored yet.

This sport is open to anyone and the local orienteering crew really wants to invite newbies to join in the fun. While the admission fee for this event is a very reasonable $10, it’s free for first timers. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there – you’re guaranteed to meet Mary – and who knows where life and this amazing sport will take you from there…