Course Setter’s Notes

Spooner Lake – Saturday, May 24

 

The terrain for Saturday’s courses is mostly forested hillside, with many indistinct small clearings and a few larger open areas. The forest is generally very open and runnable, with firm to sandy soil that is well-drained and dry. You may encounter a few patches of snow on the shaded, north-facing slopes.

 

Clearings are accurately mapped but can be hard to distinguish on the run. Younger pine trees encroaching on some clearings may not be mapped. The area has been logged in the past couple of years, although the logging debris has been cleaned up. Some small patches of wind-blown downfall may be encountered.

 

Due to the logging activity there are many indistinct logging rides in the forest. Some of the more distict ones are mapped, and some of the mapped ones are less distinct. There are only a few trails, and these are at times difficult to distinguish from the forest floor. Pay careful attention – especially on the yellow and orange courses – if you are trying to follow one of these rides or trails.

 

The terrain features areas of intricate rock detail. Boulders smaller than 1m are generally not shown on the map. The rocky ground and boulder field symbols are used to denote rocky areas with too many rocks or boulders to map individually. The few patches of green denote dense stands of young pine trees. The green "x" symbol is used to denote distinct single, mature trees in clearings. The green "o" symbol is used for a distinct group of trees (i.e. a copse). The brown "x" denotes a root stock (the upturned roots of a fallen tree) or a stump (the upright remainder of a broken tree). The rootstock symbol ("Ä") is used for both in the control descriptions. There are many more root stocks and stumps in the terrain than are shown on the map. The few that are used as control features are distinct and unique within the surrounding terrain.

 

Please note that the entire area south of Highway 28 and the parking lot pavement is competition area and off limits, with the exception of the streamered route to the start. Please use the area betwen the parking lot and Highway 28 to warm up. Safety bearing for all courses is northeast to Highway 28.