Multnomah Village Permanent Orienteering Course

Want to practice your O-skills, stay in town, explore a neighborhood with interesting terrain, and give yourself an unfair advantage in the annual January Urban Night-O? Then check out CROC’s first ”urban” permanent orienteering course, Multnomah Village.

The course is designed to take you to the more unusual nooks, crannies, staircases, garden art, parks, community gardens, viewpoints, high points, rough roads, and trails of this pleasant SW Portland neighborhood. The entire course is about 5.5 miles long, and at a moderate walking pace should take about 3 hours to complete.

Unlike a normal O-course where the control points are flags placed the morning of the event, this permanent course uses fixed objects such as fire hydrants, signs, trees, etc. At each control point marked on the map, your course question sheet has a multiple-choice question about that point. Answer it, then move to the next control.

Officially:

  • The course starts and finishes at the Lucky Lab pub (7675 SW Capitol Highway, Portland).

  • Visit the controls in the proper order (1, then 2, then 3, etc.)

  • Complete the course all at one time.

Unofficially:

  • You can start anywhere you want.

  • You can walk as much or as little of the course as you like.

  • You can visit the controls in any order. Just get out there and have some fun!

Notes:

  • You do not need a compass to do the course, only decent map reading skills.

  • This course can be done on a bicycle, but note you will have to carry your bike on some stairways.

  • Multnomah Village is served by Tri-Met bus # 44.

Every year in January, CROC puts on a night orienteering event in this same area. While none of the permanent course questions are the same as those used in the January event, the map is the same. Practicing on this permanent course ahead of time will be an advantage in the January night-O, hint hint!

See the map and control descriptions here

(Files are on Google Drive and will open in a new browser window)