Orienteering is the sport of finding your way with map and compass, the most popular variant being probably foot orienteering, although there is also mountain bike and ski orienteering. The playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada is a very special environment: there are no nearby landmarks, not even contour lines. The staple of desert navigation is bearings on distant landmarks (David Seidman, Wilderness Navigator) and dead reckoning (Mark Johnson, The Ultimate Desert Handbook, chapter 9), so be prepared to get out of your vehicle with your precision compass. (If you can read Spanish, you can click here for an overview of precision compasses, my favorite: Suunto KB-14) Needless to say that a GPS is not allowed. Wildly driving around won´t help you very much, the usual orienteering control markers are scarcely visible in the immense desert. It will be necessary to identify distant mountain tops from the map and use them as landmarks.
Walter Schuit is a mountain and wilderness navigation instructor from Europe, he has set courses for foot orienteering in Spain. It is his third visit to the Black Rock Deseert. He will spend a week in the desert, experimenting with distance navigation techniques and studying the effects of the curvature of the earth. He will set up a course with 8 to 10 control markers, with a straight-line distance between them of 50 miles. Originally he planned to set up a course just for himself to test his precision, but once it is there other people can participate.
As material to bring he suggests a precision compass and binoculars, protractor, ruler, pen and/or pencil, calculator perhaps for distance calculations. Declination is 14ş17´ East (July 2011 - according to www.ncgd.noaa.gov). Maps will be provided, based on USGS 100.000 maps but on a smaller scale, around 150.000. All controls are situated on the playa, there are no nearby features that can help you in your navigation. It is like navigating on Lake Tahoe, with the difference that you can get out of your vehicle and your vehicle won´t drift away. Controls will be large black garbage bags filled with sand, they contrast well with the light colored desert sand. They will be marked with a small orange-white orienteering sign, have a number and a two-letter word, that you should copy on your card. Vehicles, with one or more passengers, can leave at any time between 9 and 12 a.m. Your starting time is the moment you receive your map.
Be back before 7 p.m. Even if you give up, pass through the finish (same place as start). The whole thing is informal and experimental. It is more or less a rogaine: visit as many controls as you can or want in any order. Although the world speed record on the ground is from the Black Rock desert (more than 700 mph), a safe speed will be below 30 mph. Don´t read map while driving! You may come across deeply rutted and almost invisible "roads". A 4WD with good clearance (because of those ruts) will be necessary. Carry enough gasoline, water and food for another day. Gas and food are available in Gerlach and Empire. Carry extra clothing, nights can be very cold out in the desert. A shovel might be useful if you get stuck in the mud - some places may be wet and muddy. A darker color of the ground should warn you: wet! Once you´re out, you are on your own. There is no cell phone coverage. Distances are enormous for walking out. (I might find you when I recollect the controls on Sunday.) Results (controls visited plus total time) will be published as soon as possible, (sorry, no internet in the desert), follow the link on this page.
First start is at 9 am., from the 12 mile playa access, (12 miles North of Gerlach that is). A fee of $10 per vehicle is due. Access to the playa itself is free. If you want to participate, you can register below, before 0 a.m. monday 8th of August. I have maps printed on monday, before I drive off to the desert.
If you want to join the Perseids Campout (see http://blackrockdesert.org ) , they will camp approximately 7 miles North of the 12-mile playa access up the west track road and then 3 miles due east.
Register for the Black Rock desert orienteering event (till Monday 8 at 0 a.m.)
Results - not yet
