Learning the ways of pre-GPS navigation

• In orienteering, participants choose routes between points marked on a highly detailed map; there are a dozen or so points on an advanced course.

• Each point is called a “control.” It’s a distinct feature like a trail junction, rock or structure, marked with a white and orange flag.

• Routes between points are not specified. Map colors show vegetation density, from orange and white (open terrain) to dark green (thickest vegetation, including blackberries).

source: Columbia River Orienteering Club

BATTLE GROUND LAKE STATE PARK — After some serious map-reading and compass work, Lucas Carter and Joel Weinmaster navigated their way to the first control marker of their budding orienteering careers.

It was the wrong marker.

So the two 11-year-olds consulted their map again, doubled back on the trail, and saw another path.

“That would work,” Weinmaster said. It did, leading them to the first checkpoint that actually was marked on their map.

As Mike Poulsen sees the sport, it didn’t take the two Vancouver boys long to learn an essential part of orienteering. Pushing your limits means getting lost. And Poulsen is an international-level competitor, placing ninth in a world championship.

“I get lost frequently,” he said.

Poulsen is a member of the Columbia River Orienteering Club, which hosted Saturday’s event at Battle Ground Lake State Park.

Vancouver resident Glen Cafferty — another former world-championship competitor — was the meet director. As the club’s mapping coordinator, Cafferty designed four courses for different levels: beginners, advanced beginners, intermediate and advanced.

“The maps have features like a trail junction,” which identify the control points, Cafferty said.

Look for marker

Markers are orange and white fabric. “Once they’re standing at the control, they should see the marker with no problem,” he said.

Participants insert a digital “key” into a check-in device at each marker.

Weinmaster and Carter took on the “yellow” course for advanced beginners, a 2.5-kilometer route that stayed on or near the established trail.

Dan Weinmaster, Joel’s dad, said the orienteering session will help the two members of Boy Scout Troop 328 advance in rank.

Cafferty gave the trio a quick introduction before they set out. But reading a map is not the same as looking at your surroundings; the Scouts had to learn how to reconcile those two perspectives.

“It’s pretty hard,” Carter said.

It doesn’t take long before participants gain a level of comfort in the woods, Poulsen said: “They feel confident.”

While 90 percent of people do it as a hike, Cafferty said, orienteering can be combined with pretty vigorous outdoor activities.

There are versions for canoers/kayakers, skiers and mountain bikers; two Columbia River club members will be part of the U.S. orienteering team at the mountain bike world championships.

The advanced runners who took on Saturday’s 4.8- kilometer “green” course can bring a steeplechase approach to the sport. To them, trails are optional. They use their maps to navigate the fastest routes between points.

“There is a balance,” Poulsen said. “The faster you run, the less accurate you are at navigating. You can always run a little faster or navigate a little better.”

Minutes vs. seconds

Vanessa Blake, another club member who was helping at the check-in table, has her own way to measure the difference between recreational and international-level runners.

“If I blow a control point, it costs me five or six minutes. If they blow a control point,” she said, nodding toward Poulsen, “It’s five or six seconds.”

“It can mean being on the wrong side of a bush,” Poulsen said.

He wears his check-in “key” on his right hand so it’s always, well, handy. For on-the-go navigating, he holds his map in his left hand and wears a compass on his left thumb. That way, the compass is always on his map, said Poulsen, who is an Oregon state toxicologist.

“A lot of scientists are in orienteering,” he said. “It’s a puzzle sport.”