PWF Happyland

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March 17
Sunday

Registration for this event will open at 6pm on Monday March 11 and close on Saturday March 16 at noon (the day before the event). Advance registration is required.

Welcome back to Happyland Camp 5 at Prince William Forest Park. This Sunday club event should not be confused with the training weekend that is also going on 16-17 March 2024. Registration for the training event is separate from registration for the Sunday club event. For details on the training weekend, click HERE.

For this Sunday regular event, all timing and procedures will be QOC-standard with a full set of classic courses designed by Rob Field (details below). Parking is limited at the site, so carpooling is strongly recommended (and will save $)! Note that the fee charged for each vehicle has been raised to $20. Although you do not go through the main Park entrance gate to get to Happyland, you are still responsible to pay the entry fee and display the receipt in your parked vehicle. The $20 entrance fee is good for 7 days, so you only need to pay once for the weekend. You can pay the fee at the main entrance, the visitors center about half a mile inside the park from the main entrance or ONLINE. (NOTE: the fee for an annual park pass is $35; QOC members may want to consider purchasing an annual pass for this great park.) Alternatively, holders of the National Park Service's annual America the Beautiful Interagency Pass can enter for free.

A locator map to get from I-95 to Camp 5 and a blow-up of Camp 5 and the parking areas is HERE. After entering the road to Camps 2 & 5 road from Route 619, there will be a parking volunteer at the T-intersection who will direct cars to the right to the small Camp 5 parking lot as long as there is space open and then to the left to the parking field. Given the volume of parked cars likely to be in the Camp 5 parking lot for the QOC training weekend, most participants for this event are likely to be parking in the field. Be prepared to walk up to 800 meters from the parking field to the registration area.

Check-in will be in the Camp 5/Happyland dining hall.

FOR THE KIDDOS: come and try the free "string-O"! As their first step towards becoming an orienteer, kids follow a course marked with string in a small area to find their favorite forest animals (under parental supervision). No need to pre-register, just sign in on the day and enjoy letting your little ones discover their orienteering feet. Look for the signs or ask at registration where the string-O starts - the course will be up from approx. 11am until 3pm.

Volunteers: Sign up for a Sunday "regular event" volunteer slot via this form, or email the Event Director directly for other options.

Groups totaling 8 or more: although you will be pre-registering online (in groups of 4 or less per registration), for their awareness please let the Event Director know of your plans and participant numbers.

Keep in mind:

• There is a park entry fee of $20 per vehicle. See above for details. Note that the 7 day pass can be purchased ONLINE.
• The rest rooms at Happyland are adjacent to the dining hall/lodge.
• All participants must pre-register; there is no day-of registration.
• The size of start teams (groups of individuals orienteering together with one e-punch) on a course must be no more than four (4) individuals (juniors and adults combined).
• No food items will be provided.
• Participants are responsible for meeting all their own hydration needs before, during and after their courses.
• As always, please be off the course no later than 3pm and remember to download at our e-punch station even if you did not finish.
• Beginner's instruction will be available.
• For those new to orienteering, make sure to check out our Your First Event and Orienteering Techniques For Beginners webpages, and if they don't answer any question you have, just use our Contact Form and ask.
• Dogs are allowed in the park but must be on a leash at all times.