CROC orienteering event this weekend! Hope to see you there.

Catherine Creek is the closest area to Portland with advanced orienteering terrain: open areas and woodlands for cross-country running, with great views of the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood.

To maximize these features and give you more time to enjoy them we have expanded our new map and designed a challenging long-distance event for intermediate and advanced orienteers. The Goat course is 10 km, traversing steep rocky terrain with a lot (400 m) of climbing. A shorter version of this course (a 6.6 km Kid with 300 m of climb) will be available. E-punch will be used on these two courses only.

A beginner course of about 1.5 km will be entirely on trails but won’t stint on the above-mentioned scenery.

Start times: Registration is at 10 a.m. The Goat and Kid courses will have a mass start at 11 a.m. There is a four hour time limit.

Beginner course start times are from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.; the course closes at 3 p.m.

Updated Course Setter's Notes (as of 9-3-08): The Columbia Goat at Catherine Creek will be a real Goat, not like those three other Goats that CROC has had. Those were flat and fast. Wimpy. Okay, ORCA's Dutchman Goat was a real Goat. This year's Goat will be a long, steep, and rocky challenge. And probably hot, too. There will be different maps for the Goat and Kid, so you have to select your course before you start. Both courses will take you to new areas of the map.

Course lengths:
Goat 8.6 km, 400 m climb
Kid 6.3 km, 300 m climb
Navigation will be a mix of intermediate and advanced.

Cliffs don't go blindly following the connection lines and run off a cliff. I suggest you look for trails.

Poison oak plenty of it, of various colors. But the course setter hates the stuff, and planned controls accordingly. Poison oak is mostly mapped as green lines on the map. There will be good route choices around the big areas. You may have to step around little patches. And for your comfort and enjoyment, there will two marked routes (using flagging tape) to guide you though some unavoidable P.O.

Other plants Seeds and stickers have been a problem. You might want gaiters.

Water did I mention it will be hot? And you will be climbing, descending, climbing, descending, climbing ... (you get the idea). There will be two water stations, both at trail intersections marked on the map, not at controls. The first will be at about 1/4 of the way. The second at about 1/2, and again at 3/4 of the way. You might have to go slightly off a straight line, but my advice is: drink.

Wildlife perhaps some deer. I have not noticed any ticks this year.

Rest rooms none, nada, nil, zip, zilch. Plan accordingly. There is a McDonald’s in Bingen, and a poor outhouse at the lake about a mile before Catherine Creek.

Finally, for more fun, visit the Huckleberry Festival in Bingen, WA.


Costs: $5, club members; $7, non-members (includes one map). Additional person (11 years old and older), $2. Extra maps: $2. E-punch rental: $3.

Directions: Catherine Creek is located 7 miles east of Hood River on the Washington side of the Columbi River (Hwy 14). Take Interstate 84 from Portland to Exit 64 at the town of Hood River. Turn left and cross the toll bridge toward White Salmon, WA. Turn right onto Washington Highway 14 and travel about 5.8 miles to Old Highway 8 and turn left. Another 1.4 miles brings you to the parking area.

Vanessa Blake: vblakeor@yahoo.com, (503) 803-7495