Discussion: Sorry

I wasn't much help to you. I was floundering badly at that point myself.

Don't get frustrated by the Pine Barrens. They can be very tricky due to the subtle topography and parallel features. I was really thrown off by the new/unmapped ditches and trails today though. I'm chalking this one up to the Jersey Devil.

Just as I was leaving the start, Dan B said "watch out for the Jersey Devil!" Invoking him and calling attention to me - this was obviously the cause of all the troubles ! ;)

My usual MO is to not put too much weigh into trails - sometimes that helps and sometimes it hurts. Today it helped. I spiked a few controls by focusing on topo. I had a big error on my #7 because I was running a 'ditch' that I though was a trail. I went round and round on that - wait till you see my RG.
The other thing I was thinking, walking to the start, was that you will not see the trails until you are nearly on them with all the short blueberry plants.
I passed your dad early on - I think he heard my coming from behind with my squishy shoes... didnt take long.

Ahem . . . "didn't take long?" My what TWENTY-FIVE years will do. Ah - kids today.

Sorry for the confusion HM3. I meant I passed BY you, on a trail. and I was talking about how quickly my shoes got wet. I hope I'm running O courses as well as you are when I get to your age.

Sorry to hear about your frustration! I guess it was cold and rainy on top of everything?

Flat terrain maps are very difficult - especially if the maps are old. I like to see at least a few contour features! So if you have relatively few contours then you hope the other mapped objects such as vegetation and trails are in the right place! I have to agree with Tom and Len that small trails have a good chance of not being on the map especially if it is an old map.