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Orienteering in New York City
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A standard orienteering compass may look confusing, but the Urban
Park Rangers can help you to make more sense of it. Photo © M. Lippis,
University of Colorado, Boulder, 2003
Who ever heard of getting lost in New York? Wherever you go, there are maps: in subway stations, in major tourist centers, floating around in the heads of New Yorkers everywhere. Of course, map-reading is always a good skill to have, and, perhaps more importantly for our purposes, it's a great outdoor activity!
In outdoor recreation circles, it's called orienteering. A typical orienteering event, or meet, involves a map and a compass and several set points at various intervals. (Many orienteering maps are to such a large scale that they denote landmarks like rocks, boulders, and tree stumps.) Your job is to collect the points, punching an your card with the unique punch that's located at each point. It's a timed event, so whoever can collect the points in fastest order wins.
Orienteering's a very family-friendly activity. Kids get way into seeing something on a map and then finding it in real life. Dogs love it. And really, how can you say no to your kids and your dog? The activity's built with several different skill levels, so you can really challenge yourself, or just go for a walk in the woods with your friends and family, and still learn something.
This weekend is the perfect time to learn. On Sunday, October 4th, the urban rangers at Sunset Park in Brooklyn will conduct a beginner orienteering event. Meet at 1PM for a quick lesson on map and compass use, and then put what you've learned into effect with a scavenger hunt. The lesson is free, and materials will be provided, so come on out and guarantee that you'll never get lost again. To get to Sunset Park, take the R train to 45th Street and walk east to the park's poolhouse. For more detailed directions, click here.
If you'd like to learn more about orienteering, check out the Hudson Valley Orienteering Club. Their meets occur regularly through the fall, and will give you plenty of practice through these months, when you should be outside enjoying the foliage after all.
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