Register Here: Compass/Map/Practice
Course Length: 4 Hours
Cost: $40/person + $10 Orienteering Map
Location: Tea Table Shelter, Letchworth State Park - near Wolf Creek
In this 3-part course, you'll learn how to use a compass, read a map and start an orienteering course!
Compass Skills: we’ll have fun identifying why people get lost, and how you’ll most likely get lost. Next, we’ll grab our compasses and start slowly, getting you comfortable with how to use it to go in a straight line. Then we’ll get you comfortable returning to where you started. Then you’ll learn one of the most fun parts of the course - how to successfully get around hazards and obstacles!
Map Reading: Next we'll discuss a map’s key and all the information it reveals. Then we’ll learn how to read topographic lines - those squiggly lines all over the map. Next, we’ll learn how to identify hazards and obstacles, hills and valleys, swamps and lakes, and finally tricks and tips on how to traverse across the map using our compass.
Field Practice: And finally, we'll put map and compass together to find hidden treasures in Letchworth State Park. Learn how to correctly orient a map outdoors, estimate distance, and successfully discover orienteering markers. This part will be so much fun and you'll see a part of Letchworth that's hardly seen by visitors, with a few surprises guaranteed! $10 cash for Rochester Orienteering Club map, payable at event or Venmo: @trailotter
We'll be bushwacking in the woods, so wear seasonally comfortable clothing. Depending on temperature, ticks and other insects may be present. Long pants, headlamp, snacks and water highly recommended.
Trail Otter can provide compasses to use during the class and coursework. We also sell compasses so you can continue exploring on the orienteering course after class!
Total time: 4 hours
Difficulty: A few hills to traverse, logs to hop over, bushwacking, easy rolling terrain
Clothing: Seasonally comfortable clothing. Don't wear your best clothing/puffy, as there are lots of wild roses to catch on your shirts, pants and jackets. Long pants highly recommended with potential ticks and poison ivy contact.