Training Log Archive: mikeminium

Whitewater SP with Jeremy. Started out on the trail but it was so wet and sloppy that we headed for the road instead.

Event: OCIN - TROL #7 - Mitchell Mem. Forest
 

Control pickup at Mitchell. Although I had been to all of these before, they were in some of the most challenging and remote parts of the park. After 3 or 4 visits to each, I'm still not sure that I have found the optimal combinations of trails vs honeysuckle, climb vs flat, safe route vs risk. Adding to the challenge were the difficult and greatly differing conditions - on my first visit (and second for some), the trails were sloppy quagmires (and we'd been asked to avoid them since they were officially closed). Hillsides (especially those facing south) were also very muddy and slippery. Wallowing like a pig was the rule of the day. On my next visit, trails were frozen solid, but covered with a sheet of ice, and equally treacherous. On the final visit, the surface ice had mostly melted, but the ground was still frozen solid, making the trails a viable option, although not necessarily the most efficient.

Event: Topo Trail Run Series Race #2
 

Course setting at Mitchell. Freezing rain the night before had left the park roads and trails as sheets of ice. Off-trail was fine, but trails were treacherous. To add insult to injury, the park gate was closed, so I had to cover more distance than expected to get the remaining controls put out, plus check all of those where stands had previously been placed.

Indian Creek - checked a few more controls.

checking control locations at Indian Creek and making a few minor updates.

setting controls / checking locations at Mitchell. Made a minor map update or two, but nothing major. There are some new ATV tracks and lots of orange streamers in one part of the park, but after conversations with several park officials who didn't know what they were for, I finally found out that it was from a honeysuckle eradication project. I did not add them to the map since they are supposed to fade away over time, but currently they are fairly visible. A lot of the honeysuckle was sprayed last fall. It is still standing, so it won't change current runnability and mapping, but hopefully it is dead and will fall over and rot over a few years, giving us a more open, runable park.