See Where It Takes You

The sport of orienteering is practiced world-wide; including the Portland metro area, where you can enjoy a Columbia River Orienteering Club meet in a nearby park.

 

Heading out on a course with your map, you may find yourself noticing the landscape in a new way, as your attention is drawn to terrain features—boulders, depressions, hills, vegetation—used by the course designer. As you become more and more experienced, and opt for more challenging course levels, the puzzle-solving aspect becomes more absorbing. What is the best way from point A to point B? Would it be better to go over a hill or go around it? Is the trail to the right more efficient than the one to the left? It is this concentration on the map and terrain which gives orienteering its nickname, "The Thinking Sport," and which is the basis for orienteering's ongoing attraction.

 

If you like to run, and want to do courses fast, the abstract symbols on the map must quickly spring to life and match the terrain as you travel through it at speed, concentrating and making decisions. Orienteering might be the next frontier for competitive runners looking for a new challenge.

 

If you are a bicyclist, or like to kayak, canoe, or ski, there are occasional orienteering events which combine and spice up these sports. 

 

Where can orienteering take you? Maybe you will go for a pleasant nature walk and see a new park, or see an old park in a new way. Maybe you will have a great workout. Maybe you will feel a new awareness of your surroundings or even experience Zen-like concentration.

 

Hooked yet?

 

If you do become addicted to the sport, and your speech now features words like "pacing," "handrail," and "attack point," you're ready to travel. At almost any time across the country, clubs have meets scheduled. Try deciphering the slot-canyon mazes at Anza-Borrego, or go ski orienteering in the Sierras. Run with the buffaloes in North Dakota, or the cows in Wyoming. Rope in a partner and try a 12- or 24-hour rogaine. Go to Alaska. Go to Georgia for one of their famous meets. Sleep in a tent. Get blisters. Win a medal in your age group.

 

Any other place in the world you've always wanted to see? Weird rocks in Australia? Castles in France? Need an excuse? The sport of orienteering is practiced world-wide! But there's plenty of fun here in your own back yard. Find a meet on our events page and check it out!