Having fun in the woods

May 5th there will be this adventure race in the Hitchiti and Team Big Foot decided to take advantage of the organizer's instructions and learn map reading skills today. I met Hillarie, Kim and Beth this morning to learn how to use a topo map and then, after an hour of instruction, we were on our own in the woods. Hillarie showed real talent being our navigator, but all four of us got a lot better at it by the time we'd tramped 8 miles through the woods, following some of the trails on the map and bushwhacking other times. We found 13 of the 15 way points, one of which you see in the photo. That red thing hanging from a string below the orange and white flagging is a hole punch, and each punch had a different pattern it would make. We had a "passport" that had 20 squares marked on it and as we would find a way point that was numbered on our topo map, we'd punch the corresponding numbered square on our passport. Only two of the way points were on a trail, the rest were hiding in creek beds or along spurs or down in gullies or hanging on a steep slope overlooking the Ocmulgee River. We squished along in the pouring rain figuring out strategy to maximize finding the most points with the least amount of back tracking. Thankfully, the temps are rather warm for this time of year and we weren't cold and wet, just wet and muddy. We had a great time and we walked the entire thing. When we finished, we checked in with the instructor and then met up at The Rookery for a most wonderful hamburger and beer. Now I've had a nice shower and nap and am just about ready for bed. Tomorrow I'll meet JoAnna and Elaine and ride the Hitchiti with India.

Race day is May 5th, the weekend before the ride and tie in Asheville. I love figuring out ways to spend time in the woods. What do people do who don't spend time in the woods? I can't begin to figure it out.