Orienteering with Map & Compass by the Hooch + Free Cookout

IN A NUTSHELL: Interested in improving your map reading and wilderness navigation skills in a fun and exciting way?  Again this year our friends in the Georgia Orienteering Club (GAOC) have invited the Atlanta Outdoor Club to help them celebrate National Orienteering Day.  Join our AOC "subgroup" for this big annual free event that's fun for adventurers of all levels of experience.  Even includes a free Hotdog Cookout, complete with munchies & drinks!  Several dozen other guests of the "O Club" and many of their members will be participating as well.
  We AOCers will first meet upstairs at the check-in building for a special private 45-minute Tutorial refresher on the basics of map & compass use.  Then, during our moderately paced "O Hiking" we'll get lots of practice using our compasses and special "Jones Bridge" topo maps to find our way between a series of "orienteering control flags" in the wooded terrain by the River.

WHERE & WHEN?  Our AOC "subgroup" will meet at 9:30 AM at the Special Events building (a.k.a. "Education Center") in the beautiful "Jones Bridge" section of the Chattahoochee River Nat'l Recreation Area-(CRNRA)—see detailed directions below.  We'll assemble upstairs in the building's breezy covered top-floor deck where our AOCers will introduce one another and take part in our Tutorial session.

MAP & COMPASS REFRESHER TUTORIAL:  After introductions we'll conduct a special private-session refresher for our AOC group in fundamental map and compass skills and the sport of Orienteering. Bring your own compass if you have one -otherwise you're welcome to use a free "loaner" compass.  The clear plastic rectangular "protractor-style" of compass is preferred, available at WalMart for about $6.00.

GROUP REGISTRATION and AOC "WAYFARING" GROUPS: We'll have special free "group registration" for the AOC—no need for you to register individually.  The GAOC's volunteers plan to have enough of their free detailed color topo maps of the area on hand so that at most you'll have to share with just one other AOCer.  As worked well on previous AOC orienteering events we'll divide into about three AOC "wayfaring groups" for these group O hikes.

"O HIKE" PLAN:  Beginning at about 10:30 AM each of our AOC wayfaring groups will set out (at our assigned staggered "start times") to find a series of "control flags" in the terrain near the river.  The "Yellow" O Course that we'll hike and practice on this year will have the flags typically no more than 50 yards from the nearest trail, riverbank, etc.  We’ll apply our map and compass skills and jointly agree upon appropriate "attack strategies" to locate the flags based on their marked locations on our maps. We’ll take a relaxed "wayfaring" pace, although many O Meet competitors that day will be trying for maximum speed between controls.

FREE O DAY COOKOUT! Stick around awhile after our orienteering adventure for this Hotdog Cookout beside the Special Events Building, with food & refreshments provided by the GAOC (~12:00 noon - 1:30 pm) as part of their big O Day celebration. If it's convenient for you to bring a small item to contribute to the picnic, please do so (e.g., a covered dish, small entree or side item, dessert, etc.) —although our O Club friends expect to have plenty of hot dogs, chips & dip and other munchies, various side items, cookies and drinks on hand for everyone to enjoy!

WHAT IS ORIENTEERING? It’s a sport that blends the fun of a scavenger hunt with the adventure of navigating between flagged checkpoints in unfamiliar natural terrain. We "orienteer" using a detailed topographic map, a simple magnetic compass and our judgment as to which route to take between checkpoints (partially hidden white & orange flags) whose positions and surrounding land & water features are shown on the map.  GPS units are normally not used or allowed.  We’re fortunate to have in Atlanta a very active not-for-profit "O" club. GAOC volunteers prepare highly detailed "O Maps" and organize year-round O Meets and public education programs at parks and wilderness preserves throughout north Georgia—go to www.GAOrienteering.org for more details. Membership dues are only $8 per year (or $12 per couple) and non-members are also welcome to participate in GAOC events—typically about twenty O Meets per year, all in beautiful natural areas near Atlanta.

FROM the I-285/GA 400 INTERCHANGE in NORTH ATLANTA:

1) Take GA-400 North about 9 miles and exit at Exit #7A, GA-140 East, "Holcomb Bridge Road".

2) Take Holcomb Bridge Road eastward toward Norcross about 4.5 miles to the traffic light at Barnwell Road.

3) Turn Left onto Barnwell Rd, and go just 0.8 mile to a special park entrance road on your right which should be marked by one or more small low-lying orange-white-black "ORIENTEERING" signs. (NOTE!: This entrance is about a mile before the public entrance road used for other AOC hikes. Except for this and other special occasions it usually has a locked gate.)

4) Turn Right onto the Entrance Road and park in the designated area near the large Special Events building.  The CRNRA has kindly WAIVED their usual $3 CRNRA parking fee for "O Day" participants!

5) Our AOC subgroup will gather at 9:30 AM for introductions and our "Map & Compass Tutorial" session in the spacious covered upper deck of the building—up one flight of stairs from the GA Orienteering Club's registration tables, which should be marked with a sign. (Note that dozens of other Orienteering Club guests and members will also arrive during the day for the general orienteering meet, picnic, and other O Day festivities.)

FOR A MAP and/or CUSTOM DIRECTIONS from your specific point of departure, go to Google.com/maps and input this address as your destination:

    3802 Barnwell Rd, Johns Creek, GA 30022

Although this is a "dummy address" it accurately pinpoints the Barnwell Road entrance point into Jones Bridge CRNRA Special Events Building parking lot.
If you use GPS Navigation with your vehicle the following Lat/Lon coordinates of the parking lot entrance road may come in handy as your "destination" in conjunction with the above directions:  33.9911,-84.2592

No Charge!—Free Event with Free Parking!