Orienteering in Story

Hi everyone!  During this past weekend. We took advantage of the unseasonably mild weather and tried our hand at a permanent orienteering course located in the Hoosier National Forest (HNF) near Story, Indiana.  And, the whole town is apparently for sale!

This is a 25-control course that was created in 1993 and lies within a rugged portion of the HNF.  If you are wondering what is meant by “control”, that is the marker that you must find using the orienteering map.

You can get these maps by downloading here from the USDA Forest Service.  In two hours, we ventured 2.9 miles to location control points 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.

We debated trying for #17, but it was getting late and we nearly got lost trying to find #23!

Our route. You can easily get away from it all in this part of the forest!

The terrain was very rugged, and we covered an elevation charge of 750 feet.  Not much wildlife was visible, although we did see a flock of Sandhill Cranes flying overhead.

Control Point #21

This was our first orienteering outing since Mendon Pond over the holidays and we plan on two more events in a few weeks.  We are not pros at this by any stretch but have a good time on the course.

Streams like this one were really helpful in navigating the terrain and we are getting the hang of reading the topographic maps.  But we still have trouble gauging distance and tend to overshoot the controls.  More practice needed, I guess, but if you have any tips on this, please leave a comment!