Crow’s Nest: Biggest. Event. Ever. (Delaware Valley Orienteering Association)

I bet you didn’t know we can fit 70 cars at once into our ten car parking lot with 20-car overflow on the grass. Luckily the time of year was right and it wasn’t too wet (or too dry!) to park on the recently-mowed stubble of our meadow. Crow’s Nest has never seen a group this size before.

But the 120-plus people who participated in the orienteering courses didn’t seem like a big crowd at all. The course starts are purposefully dispersed in time so out in the woods you might only see an occasional one or twosome passing by. Neighbor Jack was tilling his garden within sight of the starting tent and told me he had no idea of the total number of people who were now spread out in the preserve. Yesterday’s courses also made use of only the southern half of Crow’s Nest Preserve, so future courses will be quite different.

The weather was cool and cloudy until the end of the day—so probably ideal for those who run the course (but cold for me, directing traffic in the parking lot).

I believe the courses were well received, and the new map that debuted that includes Crow’s Nest is beautiful and precisely detailed. It is the “French Creek South” orienteering map and joins French Creek North, East, West, and Central. The folks who came to try out the courses were a fun bunch, all ages—even young Owen completed the beginners’ course (in his mom’s backpack). Most of them had never been to Crow’s Nest Preserve before. Many thanks to the folks from DVOA who organized the event.

Posted by Daniel Barringer on March 26, 2012.