Little Bennett

First, a few general comments about the park’s terrain and the mapping style:
The terrain of Little Bennett Park consists of relatively bland small hills and shallow valleys (meaning, lacking in terrain features). There are areas of open forest with little undergrowth and there are areas of nasty, nearly impenetrable undergrowth. The lack of terrain features has necessitated the mapping of small rock features (less than 1 meter in height) that are not normally mapped and the mapping of as many rootstocks as possible to provide strategic control locations. Rock features that are mapped are clearly identifiable in the terrain at running speed. They are represented on the clue sheets as “cliffs”, on the map as a passable rock face, but, in reality, they are similar to small boulders. Also, rockpiles, which are represented on the map as black circles, are identified by the rocky ground symbol on the clue sheets and not by the rock pillar or black circle symbol. Any rootstocks that are mapped are at least 1 meter in height or width and contain dirt around the roots themselves. Many are considerably larger than 1 meter, reaching up to 3 meters in size. The slash symbol (green parallel lines) is used extensively on the map and it represents areas of downed trees from various storms over the years. These areas may or may not impact your running speed, but they will probably affect your ability to follow a compass bearing through these areas and cause you to alter your course. Areas of dark green on the map should be avoided at all costs; the courses have been designed to give the runner a trail option through or around these areas. At this time of the year, the terrain is more open (i.e. less “green”) than mapped, therefore, running speed through the light green and medium green areas will be less affected than the map may indicate. A green circle symbol that designates a unique individual tree is used on the map. It represents a tree with multiple (at least 4) trunks sprouting from an individual base when mapped in forested portions of the map. When mapped in fields, the green circle represents a distinct tree in that field.

Second, specific comments about the courses:
Based on a suggestion by Don Davis in an issue of ONA, I have added an experimental “Beige” course. This is an advanced level course, basically a shortened version of the Brown course and is designed for older orienteers who find the Brown course a bit on the long side to complete in a reasonable time. It would also be appropriate for those folks who normally run an intermediate level course (i.e. Orange) and would wish to sample what an advanced course has to offer.
All courses have a remote start and a separate remote finish. Please remember to download after finishing your course, since there will be a temptation to stop by your parked car after finishing your race on the way to the download.
Depending on the amount of precipitation the park has received in the days leading up to the event, portions of the trails on which the White and Yellow courses are based may be wet and muddy, be prepared for this contingency.
The White through Brown courses are located in the area around the Nature Center. They do not cross Little Bennett Creek or any significant streams. The Green, Red and Blue courses cross Little Bennett Creek as well as Clarksburg Road (rt. 121) (twice). The courses have been designed to offer a dry crossing of the creek at a bridge in both directions. They have also been designed to provide a safe crossing of Clarksburg Road in both directions, but take care in crossing this highway. PLEASE DO NOT USE CLARKSBURG ROAD AS A ROUTE CHOICE.