More Ripley - Sprint and Night-O
Camp Ripley is an interesting place to orienteer. Since it's a military reservation (and the largest winter training facility
in the country for all branches of the service), there are rules and regulations and procedures. As long as you follow them, everything
is good. (Of course, none of us ever considered any alternative.)
It starts at the entrance - there is only one, on the south side. You drive between two massive stone pylons and are directed to a manned gatehouse
where you need to state your business. "Here for the orienteering event" has always gotten a wave through, though. It's still a long ways to the start
area at the far northern end of the reservation. First, there's a couple miles of flat, developed area with a square road grid and many buildings of
indeterminate purpose. The speed limit is either 30 or 25 mph "strictly enforced". After that, you arrive at a gate with a building to the left with a
sign "All traffic must stop." This is Range Control. As in artillery range.
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A Story with a Moral
I came across this very short little story a couple days ago, while re-reading some of Grimm's fairy tales on Project Gutenberg. It's usually titled
The Old Man and his Grandson, and it's hardly a fairy tale, so that's probably why I don't remember it from the (abridged) collections I read as a child.
Anyway, I was so struck by it that I went and read it in the original German.
Of course, not a lot of my readers are familiar with German (and to be fair, I'm pretty bad at it too), so I figured I'd offer up a translation as well.
Part of the reason I tried it was just to see if there were any words or phrases or nuances or shades of meaning in the original that were left out in the translation.
Although my vocabulary has dropped to near zero by now, the grammar is still familiar enough that I was able to piece it together with the help of a dictionary. Of course,
it helped that I'd read the one translation already, too! Mine is barely different, simply because it's such a short and simple piece of prose. So without further ado:
Der alte Großvater und der Enkel
Es war einmal ein steinalter Mann, dem waren die Augen trüb geworden, die Ohren taub, und die Knie zitterten ihm.
Wenn er nun bei Tische saß und den Löffel kaum halten konnte, schüttete er Suppe auf das Tischtuch, und es floß ihm auch etwas wieder aus dem Mund...
Click through the link to see the rest of the original, and even if that doesn't interest you, be sure to read the translation in green.
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Back to Camp Ripley
The weekend of the 16th I finally broke my self-imposed hiatus on things orienteering-related, and headed up to Camp Ripley for a weekend of MNOC events.
Camp Ripley is a 53,000 acre military reservation jointly managed by the U.S. National Guard and the Minnesota DNR. Because it's so large, been around
for so long, has such controlled access, so little development, and lies on the eastern edge of the Alexandria Moraine, it contains some the most pristine
glacial kettle terrain in the upper midwest, easily rivaling the Cat's terrain from the 2009 U.S. Champs.
This event was a little more low-key, though. Joe Sackett, Charlie Shabahzian, and Maricel Olaru came up from the Chicago area, and a couple of PTOC and OK
folks as well. The rest of the field was filled out by the usual MNOCers. Unfortunately, the entire weekend was cold, drizzly, and rainy, but once we got
into the terrain that was the last thing we were thinking about.
Day 1 Middle course. Click to enlarge.
As usual, analysis behind the link.
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Two Hundred Millimeters
The second lens I bought for my SLR (other than the one that came with it) was a 200 mm fixed telephoto lens that opens up to f/2.8 for those low light situations.
I've been slowly learning how to use it over the last few months, and here are some of the results.
Juniper seeds are yummy.
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All Natural Potpourri
No, I haven't stopped playing with my toys. A potpourri of more nature photography from the past few months.
Paddling
Lake Superior, in fog.
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Florida Coast to Coast - Part I
Welcome back...
Last week we had the old team reunion in Florida for the 10th Annual Coast to Coast race. Mark, Will, Suzanne, and I were the racers, and
Rozzi, Danny, Perry, and Candy were there for support. This year's race started on the Gulf coast at Crystal River and covered 214 miles to the
Atlantic coast near Daytona Beach.
Our effort was dedicated to the memory of Mark's stepfather Larry Sartory, who kept us all laughing before, during, and after the 2007 race. Larry passed away
from lung cancer the following year.
Even getting to the start line was a bit of an excitement. The Coast to Coast has always allowed racers to bring their own
boats, and after the debacle in the '07 race, we were determined to have some quality paddling sections. So Suzanne did a bunch of calling
around, looking for any place that had good tandem kayaks for rent. Our best option ended up being two 21-foot fiberglass kayaks
from Chequamegon Adventure Sports, which were unfortunately 9 hours away in Minocqua, Wisconsin. I drove out to pick them up the
Friday before we left, and delivered them to Plymouth for subsequent overland transport to Florida. Mark, Will, and Perry left on Monday
morning with the two kayaks and Dave's trailer behind the pickup truck.
Which blew a front axle at 2 AM outside Chattanooga.
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The "Devil Track"
What a great name for a river! It's up on the north shore of Lake Superior, starting in the swampy headwaters of Minnesota's northeasternmost county,
flowing south and east until it reaches a choke point in the coastal hills near Sawtooth Bluff and backs up as Devil Track Lake. The next four miles downstream from
the lake, the river cuts a deep gorge through the Proterozoan rock and finally lets out into Lake Superior a few miles east of Grand Marais. In spring melt it
becomes a completely wild river, full of twists, bends, cascades, occasional waterfalls, and very few places to climb out of the gorge that's often filled wall to wall.
By late summer, however, the flow diminishes enough to expose much of the canyon floor, and the river becomes an attractive target for a little bit of "canyoneering".
A few days ago, I just so happened to be in Grand Marais, and took that opportunity on a cloudless Sunday morning.
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A Dose of Humility
Last week the Gnome Hunters headed out to New Hampshire to race in the
Untamed New England
expedition race. We fielded a four-man open team; me, Brian, Rick and Dave. Liz and
Chris came out as well, but since it was an unsupported race, they could treat it as a real vacation.
Let's just say that our performance was a bit of a disappointment. And it all started with the portage wheels. (Depending on who you ask, it might have started even earlier.)
I also navigated too conservatively at times, and that meant we lost time to most of the rest of the field.
That's not to say we didn't have a good time and see some beautiful sights while navigating through the wilds along the Canadian border.
We didn't get to see as much of it as we hoped, but at least we did keep plugging away and finish a short course. Many of the teams didn't make it through the second night
(always the black night of despair) and in the end, 12 of 41 teams dropped out or went unranked. Brian has a detailed
writeup on Facebook
that describes it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Sunrise from the summit of Magalloway Mountain.
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We, the Navigators, Remember
Posted Sun, July 25, 2010 - 10:21 PM
hawaii, navigation
(photo by Will Kyselka)
The Hawai‘i news
has been busy lately with the news that
Mau Piailug has passed away at the age of 76. He was the navigator of the
Hokule‘a on its maiden voyage from Hawai‘i to Tahiti, a teacher to David Lewis, Nainoa Thompson, and many others, and largely responsible for ensuring the
survival of traditional Polynesian oceanic navigation into the 21st century.
Although my wary personal relationship with water may keep me from ever setting foot on a voyaging canoe, I'm still amazed by what he, his peers, and his
students have been able to accomplish.
Knowledge can be a fragile thing, at times. Thank you for keeping it alive, Mau.
Equality!
Found, on West River Road at the Greenway underpass. Within full view of thousands of commuters.
Click on the photo for a high resolution version.
I guess it was for Augustus :)
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