Kings Landing

[10].

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White and Yellow course runners will start and finish near the registration area.
Orange, Beige, Brown, Green, Red and Blue course runners, after registering for their courses, will board the shuttle bus for a scenic 15 minute drive to the remote start. PLESE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO PARKING AVAILABLE AT THE REMOTE START. DO NOT DRIVE OR PARK THERE. Runners will finish near the remote start, then board the shuttle bus for a 15 minute return trip back to the registration area where they should download their e-punches.

Note on moving up a course: The White, Yellow courses are normal level of difficulty and it would be fine to move up to a harder course. But this is probably NOT a good event to try moving up to Orange or above for the first time. The advanced course legs within the NRMA will demand careful route choices and strong map reading skills, dealing with unmanaged park terrain, an almost total lack of trails, and may be a tad bit more physically challenging.

Terrain: The original 260 acre Kings Landing Park map was merged with the newly mapped (2022) 960 acre Huntingtown Natural Resources Management Area (NRMA) which borders to the north to make 1220 acres of orienteering terrain. This is the third QOC event to be held utilizing the NRMA with many map refinements made over the last year. Only Orange and above courses will venture into the wilderness of the NRMA.
There is one paved road that bisects the Kings Landing Park. It is the entrance road and expect cars on this road. Runners should use caution crossing this road. The woods and fields are open and very runnable, and visibility is excellent in both the park and NRMA. Don’t let the easy runnability lull you into a false sense of security. This park has some of the steepest terrain in QOC’s inventory. It looks benign on the drive in, but what you don’t see will give you burning thighs. Parallel errors have been known to happen in this park.
The terrain is classic ridge and valley, with broad, flat ridges, lots of deeply incised spurs and reentrants and large marshes. The slopes are steep and can be as many as four to five contours high. These steep slopes may be slippery if it is or has been raining or snowing. Spiked shoes and gaiters are recommended.
While Kings Landing Park is well-maintained with many manicured areas, the NRMA is just the opposite. With the exception of several cultivated fields which are leased to local farmers, the entire NRMA is an unmanaged, unimproved natural area in the process of being reclaimed by mother nature, with traces of civilization dating back to both colonial times and farming in the 1930’s-1960’s.
White and Yellow Course will be entirely within Kings Landing Park. All other courses will be entirely in the NRMA.
The mapped light green tends to be areas with saplings and closely spaced trees. There is minimal clingy/grabby vegetation except in cleared areas near the road. But dead fall can always be an issue in unmanaged areas like this. Most major areas of deadfall are mapped with vertical green lines, unless they are inside an already marked green area where marking them would just add to confusion.
Individual minor deadfall is generally not mapped unless it blocks a narrow route. The darker green tends to be areas of Mountain Laurel (a woody, stiff evergreen bush) that you can generally struggle to get through, though it will be at a slow walk/crouch and you may have to zig and zag around the stiff branches. They are dense, taller than 6 feet, tend to leave scratches, and can be disorienting. Dark Green means dark green. The visibility is excellent throughout the park except in the Mountain Laurel thickets, which dominate in the central area of the NRMA. The vegetation boundaries should be used judiciously and with caution when navigating in the Mountain Laurel! The rides in the NRMA are in the process of being reclaimed by mother nature. At least one of the mapped rides dates back to colonial Maryland. Some less discernable rides have been mapped as less distinct trails where appropriate. Some parts of the rides may appear more like wide, shallow erosion gullies but if you use your imagination, you can almost visualize the horse and wagon traffic transporting tobacco to market. Don’t expect to use the rides as a clear, quick running path as most are blocked intermittently with deadfall or vegetation. One ride was cleared by hunters this winter so it may prove to be more runnable. All advanced courses will cross the one limited access paved road in the NRMA. It is virtually never used except by the rare park ranger visit or farmer. I expect no traffic on this limited access road and you should be fine to cross it or use it as your route choice dictates. Within the NRMA, there is a large amount of broken ground, particularly along the sides of what once were roads. Only prominent knolls (4ft or higher) are mapped in these areas. In areas away from the broken ground, smaller singular knolls may be mapped. Otherwise, the map would look like it had measles.
This map of the NRMA is a work in progress (and can only be field checked during the non-hunting season!) so any comments on improving the map are welcome.