Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine    June 7-8 2003   near Antelope OR
Team Navigeeks:  John Bartholomew (CROC) and Michael Bruns (CROC)

In true Rogaine form, Mike Bruns and I start off Sat.
morning with a feast - and Mike's quite a camp gourmet! 
Bacon, eggs, fruit juice, coffee, fruit...and we never
even started the pancakes.  The maps are handed out INSIDE
the hash house - the huge warehouse building we're camped
outside - a first for many of us "seasoned Rogainers"
(another name for orienteers with an "endurance problem").
Mike and I planned for about an hour and a half - focusing on 
creating a route that would: not cross over ridge systems
uncessarily, watch overall elevation carefully, pass by
water controls often enough, head through enough high point
controls, ignore low point ones that aren't on our immediate
route, provide easy nighttime navigation (ie, lots of roads)
and even have some good scenery. We plan on two loops,
coming back through the hash house for a late dinner.

After Mal's final "pep talk", we're off - with Mike and I
the very last team to head up the hill to #33! And then
we're scrambling about, looking for a control that isn't there.
Damn! Fooled by the map scale again, so we head up further to find
the control. For the next few controls, we pass by and gain sight 
of Carl and Linda Moore, familiar Rogaine attendees, several times.
We have a few more controls on our loop than they do,
but it's reassuring to see they've chosen a similar initial path.
As the heat of the morning rises, we easily find #84, #51 and
#101. It's obvious that while the hills are beautiful, they hide
some ugly secrets: the knee-high grass conceals ankle-turning
chunks of volcanic rock, and there are meadows of "cow ground",
dried-up muddy patches made rough with deep and widespread
hoof prints.

We angle down towards our first water stop, and our first wager is
on: Mike says we're not far enough west along the road, I say we are.
And Mike's right, for the first time of many for the coming day.
We tank up quickly amidst several other teams at control #58
and depart.

Instead of a straightforward hop to #86 (the old Rajneeshi lookout tower)
via #21, Mike and I opt for a fast cross country journey to #57 and
then #62, before the long climb to #86. It's here that we start feeling
the heat - it's slowing me down more than Mike. We've been keeping up
a serious pace: 500 points in well under 4 hours, but it might
be starting to take it's toll already. Not good. I'm so tired at
the tower that I sit down for a 10 minute food and water break,
and forget to take a picture of the tower...! Again, quite a few teams 
visit the tower control during our brief stop, including (I think)
the Sweaty Bettys, the only 5-member women's team.

But then our route gets easier - we descend a fast and easy 700 feet
to #45. As team Homer leaves the control I see a control card on the
ground and holler up to Brad Weyers a few yards away - he's grateful.
Mike and I hit the 4WD track that heads nearly all the way to #61.
Again, more teams at the control and in the area. For being such a big
ranch, we're encountering quite a few other teams on the trail!
Then on to #50, where we have to make a decision: a more straight
line towards #102 (which we hadn't planned on visiting, but there's
water there!) or head down the big reentrant below us and then
up the streambed. We opt for reentrant plus streambed, only the first
of which turns out to be a good decision. It's a hard, brushy slog
up the steep-sided stream. Hot and slow, too. I'm really beginning to
drag, but Mike is still going strong. We make it to #102, and top up,
but I'm forced to sit in the shade for about 15 minutes. I'm finding I
really can't eat the food Mike is offering me. It's unappealing,
and I can only take a few nibbles at a time.  A team that we saw at 
our last control (one of the, yes, TWO three-member Russian teams!)
arrives and says they hated the hard, rocky route from #50. They wish
they'd tried the streambed instead. We tell them we wish we'd tried
their route...! [Mike considered this our worst route choice of the
day; I think it was 50/50 either way, without any advance knowledge].

Partially rested, we decide to take the high road to #85 to avoid
the streambed again. It's generally easy going, though we have to detour
up and back through several large reentrants and tough out one
long sidehill traverse. We notice a bunch of ATV tracks along the way -
Mal and Les must have come through here when course-setting!
Eventually, we arrive on the spur, but can't find #85. After 15-20
minutes of searching low then high, Mike spots our mistake - we're
even higher up the spur than we thought! We spot the cliff above the 
control and descend to find it, just as another team is departing.
By now, I've noticed that the backs of my arms are feeling really hot.
My sunscreen has worn thin, and my arms are getting really sunburned.

We traverse to #52, but I'm forced to rest in the growing shadows
in the reentrant below the saddle where the control is obviously
hung. The heat of the afternoon is really hurting. I'm wheezing 
badly on steeper uphills, which I've never done before, and it's
beginning to worry me. [At this point, I'm swearing that I'm going
to give up this sport, and do something easier, like watching my son
ride his bike while I sip cold beverages in the shade...!] I'm
feeling hydrated well enough, and I can eat a bit now and then, so we
press on to #66 and then water stop #35. As the sun is setting and
we're on generally level ground, I can move at a good speed again.
At the water stop, we arrive just after Les Stark has appeared to
top up the water supply, along with the local community TV channel
reporter who's covering the event.  Yes, ten hours into a Rogaine event,
in the middle of nowhere, we're being interviewed about how we feel,
why we do this sport,  what kind of underwear we have on, etc. Kind
of bizarre, in a way, but a welcome distraction. After another 15
minute break, we start our climb to the hash house in the falling
evening light. We later discover (at the finish line) that we failed
to punch our control card at this control, as we were interviewed
immediately upon our arrival - fortunately, Les is willing to vouch
for our appearance there, so we don't lose the 30 points.

In the fading light, we lose the 4WD track to #54 several times
and end up navigating by contours. We spot the lights of another
team searching several knolls to the NE of the control and use
those to guide us right in. We swing west of #80 and come in along
the streambed (easier this time!) and climb slowly to the saddle.
We see the lights of another team on the ridge opposite us, likely
on their way to this control. We rest a ways down the hillside
for a few minutes before climbing uphill to 36. I'm still having 
to rest every so often up the steeper sections, but the
cooling night air feels really good. We're all alone out here
now: no other teams, no other lights, and it's cooler and quiet.
We feel like we're the only ones roaming the Big Muddy Ranch.

We nearly walk past #36 - I spot something man-made to our right,
and pan my small LED headlight across it. A small, wavering glint 
comes back. (I prefer my stronger hand-held flashlight for 
searching; I didn't bring it on our first loop, as I was sure
we'd be back at the hash house by dark...!) I'm glad our club bought
that highly reflective tape for this event! A brisk walk downhill to
the hash house and we're feasting on some of great tasting chili...

Mal's wife Bonnie is a nurse, so I ask her about my problems
this afternoon, especially the wheezing. "Classic symptom", she 
replies, "of heat exhaustion". Several others have had it today, too.
Well, at least I'm not alone. Mike assured me that if we made it back
to the hashhouse and ate and drink ourselves silly, we'd be OK.
And he's right yet again. With about 75 minutes rest, nearly a gallon
Gatorade/juice/water/coffee in me and a ton of chili, I'm ready to
go again, full power. Les reappears and looks surprised at my
recovered condition as we head out of the hash house.

We easily get a series of near-the-road controls that looked perfect
for a few hours of nighttime travel: 22, 41 and (mostly cross-country
to) 60. #60 was another saved-by-the-glint control, though we knew we
were near. Some sort of generator was running on a truck on the road to
#41 - really loud, creating a huge racket on an otherwise still night -
and we could still hear it most of the way to #60. I'd bet there was no
wildlife for a mile around that truck. Then came the forced night march -
nearly 2 miles to #30. The evening was cool, we were full of dinner,
so we moved fast! We talk a bit on the road to #30, but that dull sensation
of being awake at 3am is settling in. A quick replan at 30 (to attempt
81 and 100 - I was concerned, Mike was confident!) and a few minutes
break, and we're off. We've caught sight of only one other team since
we left the hash house several hours ago - it's feeling kinda big and
lonely out here in the dark at times. 

We cut over too early and searched for a few minutes too far north 
of #40, finally finding our way south to the stone arch and cave.
(Cool control location!) A steep but quick route got us up and over to 
#68, in a small maze of spurs. After a brief search, we find the
control, though higher than we'd expected. Finally - we spot another
team out here!

Mike then managed some of the best navigation I've seen to get us 
over to #81 - cross-country and then down and up through a series of small
reentrants, and then cresting a small ridge to bring us fact-to-face
with the hill above #81. Completely "blind" all the way, and we pop out
exactly where we needed to be - I'd sworn we were off course based on 
one hill I was staring at off to the north, and obviously had
misinterepreted. Mike just nailed it.  We scoot downhill to #81,
and then further downhill into the canyon above #100. 

This was definitely the most beautiful and amazing part of the map
that we covered. (Everyone else who went here seemed to agree!)
It was a small but steep canyon, with amazing volcanic 
formations and colors. I hope the few pictures I took here
come out! Even the walk from #100 to #24 (another fast march) 
held some great views - eroding intrusion dikes, tall hills
towering above us, just amazing. [I should have taken a few more
photos here, but the light wasn't good enough yet.] No time to
rest at water stop #24, we have a lot to do in the remaining 4
hours to the finish line. We pass one other team, on their out
to #100 as we're heading back in from it - it's a long way back
to hash house from out here...!

The climb to #87 seems interminable - the hill looks every bit of its
400 foot height. When we crest the top, we find it's only a knoll
on the way up - the real peak is another 150 feet up! Aaagh! At least
we can see the flag and another team there. We rest briefly in the
shade by the top, and Mike convinces me to gamble trying #53, #42 and #64
on the way back in. I worry too much and say let's drop 42. OK,
we'll decide at #53. We take the long way around the basin beneath
#53, but the climb is bearable. 

We make it to #53 with Mike leading and me just following. 
The morning is already heating up noticeably, I'm starting to slow down.
Not good. We have miles to go still. I agree to try #42, given 
that we should have the time, and it's actually a better elevation
profile than a straight route to #64, up and over and back down a hill,
but with a 4WD track to lead us most of the way. We're moving slower,
contouring around, wasting distance but conserving energy to #42. We
hit the ridgeline too low and spend a few precious minutes searching
several knolls and staring at the map until we realize that, yes, 
we're too low. We find #42 on the next big knoll up the ridgeline.

We execute a good line up the ridge, across and down to #64 in the
growing heat. The open downhill travel to #64 feel good; we find it
easily. We head out to the road via a tight reentrant, which turns out to
be a steep and rocky waterfall gully in wetter weather! Not dangerous,
but a neat ending. We decide to abandon any attempt to get to #27 and
#25, or even possibly #31 near the hashhouse. We're beat, we're sore,
we're hot and getting to the finish sounds like a really good idea
right about now. "We're not going to win this thing anyhow." we says to
oursleves, "but let's lose any points coming in late." The last ridge
and gully in to the finish line, though small by comparison, hurt as mush
as any of their larger cousins from the prior day. We're glad to be done:
a little over 20 minutes to spare, 43+ miles underfoot, 5500+ feet of
elevation gain and 1810 points to show for our efforts.

As it turned out, we managed an overall second place finish, only
30 points off the lead, and first in the men's open 24-hour category.
We were both really surprised and pleased by this high a finish - especially
given how I'd felt and how slow I'd moved on Saturday afternoon.
Then again, all the other teams had shared these conditions, too. After
analyzing at our split times (any wonder now why we were the Navigeeks?),
I found that Mike and I kept a nearly perfect 2 mph pace on the trail for
the entire event: day, night, uphill or down. In the end, that's what
makes for a successful rogaine - keep your wits about you, and just
keep on going...

- John Bartholomew