Long Info

Map Notes

Bacon Ridge base map: 1:15,000 with 5m contours. Mapper: Ted Good. Map uses current IOF ISOM 2017-2 Revision 6 symbols. North lines are 300m apart.

Overall terrain: Multiple large plateaus with steep sides down to drainage areas. Larger drainage areas are flood plains so may be wetter than mapped depending on rain conditions. 

Hillsides are steep and will be quite slippery when wet.

The area has an extensive trail system created by mountain bikers. This means the trails wind all over the place. Area is used by both bikers and hikers. Be alert for bikers so you don’t get run over.

Rootstocks use the green x and are at least 1m high. Those less than 1m are not mapped.

Trails are small foot paths and used by mountain bikers. In several cases the trails have wood platforms across the streams and marshes. The wood platforms are annotated with a wider trail symbol on the map. Rides are old roads/trails. They often have trees across them so are not faster than the surrounding woods but are navigationally noticeable.

Uncrossable cliffs are used for steep hillsides (i.e. large unsafe earth banks). It is somewhat arbitrary as to when a steep hillside becomes and earth bank, and when an earth bank becomes and uncrossable cliffs. Rarely do they have a 90 degree drop. Uncrossable cliffs show where a fall could cause serious injury. Earth Banks are when it would be difficult to get up. There are plenty of very steep hill sides that have no other symbols so pay attention to the contours.

There are only a few mapped rocks and they are only about 1/3 meter (1 foot) high. Most courses won’t encounter any rocks. There is only one rock cliff on the map and it is small. All the other cliffs on the map are dangerous earth banks.

Man Made Features: Black Circles are wooden benches. Black X's are old cars, old metal appliances, and bird feeders on a pole. Hunter stands are mostly ruined and consist of pieces of ladders, or fallen on the ground.

Ruins are below ground (i.e. the basements are all that remain). There aren't any above ground walls.

There is a multi-year effort to remove invasive vegetation: mostly bushes/shrubs/vines. In these areas they often cut the vegetation an inch or two above the ground which can leave hazardous debris and mini stumps. Future areas may be flagged with lots of wire construction flagging. Previously cleared areas often allow greenbrier to start growing.

Light Green is likely close together saplings or spread-out bushy shrubs. Medium Green is closer together bushy shrubs or mountain laurel.

Greenbriar thorns exist in some of the valley/marshes and less so on the plateaus. There are occasional smaller thorn bushes on the plateaus. Most of the thorny areas are mapped as fight. Fight is either impenetrable or very, very slow. There are areas of sparse greenbrier that are still mapped as white woods as it doesn’t slow someone down enough to warrant a green color.

Small areas of Double Green Slash represent fallen trees/debris when in the forest. Double Green Slash in open areas tends to be thorns.

There are a few small beaver dams. The earth wall symbol across the stream was used for one you are likely to see. Stream remediation efforts, which are small water breaks, are not mapped.

Low lying areas may be wet and muddy even when not mapped as a marsh. Mapped marshes tend to have standing water but depending on recent rain, smaller marshes may just be muddy or have an inch or two of water. Larger marshes will have varying amounts of water/depth.

There are three types of out of bounds that should not be crossed. Olive Green areas are private land and shall not be entered. Park boundary uses a thick purple line and crossing it is out of bounds. The Purple Hash area is out of bounds.

Long Course Notes: (Course Setter: Ted Good)

Competitors will need to catch a shuttle from the parking area to the start/finish. Please stay off the road and away from the shuttle drop off area after being dropped off.

There is one start for all courses but two different finishes. White/Yellow/Orange use one finish, and the advance courses use the other. Both finishes are within 100m of the shuttle drop off area. The start is about 150m from the shuttle drop off location.

Clothing drop will be at the shuttle drop location. Drinking water will also be located here.

There are lot of controls in the woods so check control codes.

This area is heavily used by mountain bikers, so be alert.

Hillsides can be steep and slippery so plan your route accordingly. Spiked shoes recommended.

Red and Blue courses cross several streams and will get your feet wet. Green, Brown, Orange may also get their feet wet depending on their route. All advanced/intermediate courses have several marsh options including crossing of one sizable marsh. Crossing that marsh will get your feet wet but the marsh is crossable with decent footing.

It shouldn’t be an issue but all roads are out of bounds.

After finishing, catch the shuttle back to the parking area to download and see results.

Long Model Notes:

There are different scale model maps so print the one you will be using; click for the Long Model map at a scale of 1:7500, or 1:10000, or 1:15000.

The model start is in the farthest parking lot from the park entrance. There is no fee to enter the park. There are porta-johns in the first parking lot as you enter the park.

Model terrain is the same as Bacon Ridge terrain except for the differences described below. Bacon Ridge notes apply to the model as well.

•  Instead of forested plateaus like Bacon Ridge, the model area has ball fields on the plateau top.

•  Model Park built a disc golf course so there is a new trail linking all the tee areas and baskets. So now there are more trails than the Bacon Ridge area in addition to the tee areas (small pavement areas) and disc baskets (in orange). The tee and baskets sit directly on top of the trail so are hard to see on the map. If you can picture the model wooded area without the disc golf it is the same as the Bacon Ridge area.

•  Model Park has more ditches/gullies than most areas of Bacon Ridge. Bacon Ridge has ditches/gullies but not usually as many in such a tight area. The mapping standard/style is the same.