Turkey Run Ridge

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Map scales are 1:5000 for White, 1:7500 for Yellow, Orange & Brown, and 1:10000 for Green, Red & Blue.

The 2022 "Day-O" at PWFP Turkey Run Ridge has an extra-full set of 8 classic courses in one of our favorite areas. In a different part of the park from our upcoming National Ranking Event, the contours are varied, the route choices will hopefully be fun and challenging, visibility is generally great and most parts of the white-woods are runnable. The club is working to update the map and while the full-update is still coming, several recent improvements have made a big difference. Many of the most dense deadfall areas are mapped (especially in the north) and may factor in your route selection. Where deadfall is not mapped, courses either avoid areas or are manageable (some paths/gaps through or bounce off/around edges, etc.)

While there is forecast to be some rainfall this week, as of last field-check the area was fairly dry and seasonal watercourses are generally low or dry. There are branches of the Quantico Creek South Fork that will be crossed by most courses; bridges connected to a track/path are mapped according to the updated standard (shown by centering a track dash on the crossing.) Vegetation and undergrowth is down for the season and most route-selections will avoid heavy vegetation challenges. Rough-open land is generally rough but passable, however with dead/dry/dormant tall grass and vegetation is typically slower than white-woods.

This event will have a Yellow-Short and a Yellow-Long courses.

The Yellow-Short is particularly short but still with a fair amount of climb and a short number of controls. All of the handrails are trails, roads, or clearing/paths. Most of the legs do not climb much, but the course overall does go down to the creek and back up.

The Yellow-Long course is well suited for those who want to run or stretch out their total distance without getting into advanced navigation. The course does get off-trail and uses a creek as a handrail. Remember, you don't have to walk in a creek or on the bank to follow a creek. This course will require a couple creek crossings to avoid steep banks and stay on whichever side is flat & easy/runnable. I have been able to keep feet-dry walking the course. There may be small areas of deadfall to navigate around or through but in the creek valley it's easy to keep sight of that handrail. This could be a great opportunity for those working on transitioning to Orange to get off-trail and have some high-confidence navigating experiences.

Most courses will stay within the Scenic Drive loop and will not cross the generally trafficked road but some courses do cross the Turkey Run Rd accessing the Campground/Registration/Start/Finish area. While it is only likely to have cars driven by fellow orienteers going slowly, everyone please do be aware and cautious when crossing and while driving. The Red and Blue courses will cross Scenic Drive. Please be additionally careful watching for cars and bicyclists.

Safety Bearing: Since courses will be within the Scenic Drive loop, going far enough in any direction will eventually take you to the loop road...however NW could take a really long time to get there. Two significant dirt/forest roads bisect the area roughly north-south with a big 'X' (Old Black Top/Turkey Run Rd and Taylor Farm Rd.) When in doubt, East will get you to a road (dirt or paved) closer to the the finish.

UPDATE (Dec. 9):

On Advanced Courses, most of the deadfall that could impact route selection is mapped as green, and while there are often lanes through that can be found (and there may be conversation(s) about whether a darker shade of green should have been here or there) in almost all cases, Green is Green: if it's mapped green it will often be navigable, but will almost always slow you down. Sometimes things in the green can get thick and your mileage may vary deciding to go through; Fortune favors the bold, but I hear Mr. Murphy does too.

There are a lot of Permanent Control Markers now (wood posts with orange painted tops and big white numbers,) and they are very sparsely mapped. If you see one and don't think it's on the map it's probably not (i.e. it is not reliable to [re]locate with.) None of them should impact navigation, except possibly on the first control on the Green course.

The Blue course goes to an area that has some '301 Uncrossable' body of water mapped. These areas aren't currently bodies of water; and while there are some banks that are steeper than others, none of the area should be considered out-of-bounds/uncrossable.

The only prominent man-made feature used as a control location is on the White and Yellow(s) courses and is the campground amphitheater.

Weather forecast is looking pretty good. Current report will be cloudy in the morning and there's a small chance of barely any rain (20-30% of 0.01in) clearing by midday. The ground is great for running, marshes have some but not a lot of water and nearly all the woods are carpeted in leaves and very runnable.