Bert Adams Boy Scout Reservation - October 2, 2005

Meet Director:  Frank Mills

Once again we had a VERY successful weekend of Orienteering at Bert
Adams Scout Reservation.

First, I cannot say enough about the magic Sam works with the map.  I
gave him the changes and new course with 36 controls on Monday, it was
at the printers and ready for pickup by Tuesday afternoon.  We will
surely miss Sam in that capacity.

About 120 scouts participated in the mini score orienteering event on
Saturday.  The got VERY short initial training and were literally thrown
to the wolves to learn by doing.  From my vantage point they seemed to
enjoy it.  They were running and yelling all over the place.  One team
of 2 scouts who had never been orienteering before got a score of 250
out of a possible 280 points on the first 24 markers in about 45
minutes!!!  Others scored as high as 190, 160, 150.  A visiting group of
American Heritage Girls (ages from about Brownies to older Girl Scouts)
participated and did very well.

On Sunday, We had 93 registrations.  About 1/4 of them had multiple
members.  I would estimate about 125 participants.  The weather could
not have been nicer.  I always refer to the Bert Adams event (especially
setup) as my annual tick harvest, but even the ticks were not as bad as
usual.

As usual we had lots of help.  Mike Ferguson showed up early and bailed
me out before I got into too much trouble with registration.  Robin,
Steve, Andreas and Bill all helped in multiple capacities.  We were
broken down and out of there by a little after 3 p.  M.

Once again, our host Ranger David Barron deserves our thanks.  He is
always INCREDIBLY supportive and meets us MUCH more than half-way.  A
Scout leader training event had a banquet nearby and even donated two
cake pans of cakes and pies for volunteers and participants.  They made
a cooler full of ice and cold water available for us.

The only drawback is the map.  The data is old.  Amateurs like me have
made updates, but it really needs a concerted effort at revision by
those of us who know how to do it to GAOC standards.  This is especially
true with the storm this summer.  Much of the area had to be restricted
due to deadfall (some of which are still dangerously leaning.  I
incorrectly had the area marked in red restricted.  I now know I should
have had it marked in "green bar".  It didn't matter for the meet
purposes as I place no markers there, but it shows why we need those who
know what they are doing.

There are nearby scout troops, Order of the Arrow chapters, and adult
volunteers that I have contacted.  Some have met me and helped from time
to time.  Some have great skill in a different type of mapping, and
computers, etc.  The other side of the lake is also available for use if
we had a map.  There ARE aerial photos and "as built" maps of recent
construction and additions over there, etc.  We do not have original
data from GAOC like we did for the North side, but I am told we might be
able to do something with resources we have available that were not
available in the old days.  None of these volunteers will learn much
that will do much good from me; but if we could set up a day and shoot
for it I could probably enlist a permanent cadre of mappers at Bert
Adams.  All they need is competent instructors.

In any event, thanks again for all who helped make this a GREAT
orienteering weekend.