We'll start the season out in, arguably, Spokane's most beautiful park. You may think you know Manito, but you don't really know it till you've orienteered in it! John Beck will design courses for beginner, intermediate, and well-seasoned orienteers. As a bonus, we're hoping to introduce a segment of Trail O to see how it goes. Trail O is a wheelchair-friendly mode of orienteering that emphasizes very precise map-reading skill, and not the ability to physically move over rough terrain.
Once again, EWOC is teaming up with Spokane Parks and Rec to introduce orienteering to a wider audience. You can sign up for an intro class, a skills class, or just come run a course in the arboretum. Links to the Parks and Rec class will be posted here when they publish their spring catalog.
Intro To Orienteering Class 9:30 - 11:00 A basic intro to the sport and using a compass with a map Includes the orienteering meet below
Orienteering Meet start anytime between 11:00 - 1:00 Open to all
Orienteering Skills Class 1:00 - 2:30 Learn a few skills to make your orienteering more efficient and competitive Can be taken with or without the Intro class above
A brand new map! Spokane County Conservation District graciously offered to let us use their reclaimed property on the east edge of Spokane. Nowadays the property is best known for The Scale House Market near the center. Much of the rest of the 50 acres is restricted, so this is your very best chance to go explore it.
We'll do the Saltese Uplands Meet in May this year, hopefully while there's lots of wildflowers out and before it gets scorching hot. The Saltese Uplands is a shrub-steppe slope between Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake. We'll offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses to suit your experience level. When you choose a course keep in mind that you're unlikely to get hopelessly lost, but the navigation features out there tend to be more subtle than in city parks. Courses will be a little hillier, as well. It will be a fun challenge though, and you'll be rewarded with some great scenery!
About once every other year EWOC joins with other Northwest orienteering clubs to put on events that draw visitors from all over the country for a week. This year the co-hosts are EWOC, Cascade OC (Seattle), and Oregon's new Mount Hood club. The first event that EWOC will host will be on a brand new map of The Palisades, overlooking Spokane from its west side.
For Day Two of PNWOF's local events, EWOC will host 3-person relays on our map of Eastern Washington University. Team members will run their course around campus one after the other, but the first runners of every team will start at the same time for maximum excitement. To discourage people from just following others, each runner will have a slightly different course to follow. By the end of the race each team will have completed exactly the same legs, just not in the same order.
The Sandpoint Summer Street Scramble is back. Come explore this fun little resort town, then maybe have a nice dinner out or maybe a picnic by the lake. (Choose the bicycle option if you want to maximize how much you get to see within the time limit.)
You'll criss-cross Sandpoint and it's quaint neighborhoods looking for particular landmarks. To verify you've reached a location you'll answer a multiple-choice question, such as, "which state is not represented on the wall of license plates?" Street Scramble is a score-o format, meaning you can visit controls in any order you want within the 3-hour time limit. Controls will have different point values depending on factors like how isolated they are.
Course closes: 1:00 PM (steep point penalties if late)
Glenrose Unit Dishman Hills
September 12
Another new map! The Glenrose Unit of The Dishman Hills is over 600 acres of forested land stretching from Spokane's south hill to the Valley's Ponderosa neighborhood. For this meet, we'll meet on the valley side, at the Phillips Creek Trailhead.
It's the 19th annual running of the vampires! Join us for an evening of Halloween-themed fun in Manito Park. Vampire O is a score o event. Earn 30, 40, or 50 points per reflective control you find within the 60-minute time limit. The order is up to you. Avoid others, because someone is the vampire. If they "bite" you, you'll lose 100 of your hard-earned points and become the vampire till you get the next victim. Watch the spine-tingling video for more details, including how to prevent vampire bites.
We could use your help improving our maps. Let us know what areas you want to explore. We'll provide the training and equipment. Send us your info through the contact page form.
