Finding the Way

STORY BY Kimberly Burger Capozzi

The members of the Evans City Boy Scout Troop 399 didn’t know which way to turn. The forested path had already taken them in confounding loops and across puzzling intersections. And it was a really hot day—maybe better for swimming than trudging through the woods. Ahead was a Y in the path, with no signage indicating the correct direction.

But the scouts weren’t lost. They were orienteering, a competition in which participants navigate through the woods to different points marked on a map. It often requires switching paths or going off marked trails completely. Getting a little mixed up is just part of the game. The boys pulled out their compasses and conferred over a map, deciding to take a right. They were soon rewarded with the sight of a white and orange flag dangling from a tree at Control No. 39, one of nine spots they would find at the event hosted by the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club.

“They are persevering, they are working through it. And they are still having fun, which is important,” says adult troop leader Thomas Pichieri. Orienteering will help prepare them to be on their own in the outdoors, he added.

“It’s all about confidence,” says co-leader Rodger Lees. “Once you get into the woods and you look around, things become all the same. And so you have to understand how to orient yourself to where you’re at, to get yourself out of a situation.”

Orienteering started in Scandinavia in the 1800s as military training, and today competitions are held all over the world. The Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club holds about 10 meets each year around the region, with courses for beginners up to advanced athletes. They usually take place in wooded locations, including Laurel Highlands sites like Laurel Ridge State Park, Keystone State Park, and Forbes State Forest. Orienteering may also be held in cities, at night, and on bikes or skis. A variation with established paths is accessible to competitors with physical disabilities.

While compass skills are valuable, orienteering is about far more than simply finding your way in the woods. It’s almost like working a maze. Orienteers rely on specially designed maps that show elevation and terrain features, like Ys in the trail, cliffs, and boulders. What appears to be the obvious path is often not the most direct way to go.

“Physically it’s a lot of exercise; mentally it’s a lot of exercise. There’s a lot you get out of it, both in your head and in the rest of your body,” says Jim Wolfe, president and founder of the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club. “It’s a different kind of puzzle, and one that’s outdoors. Some people do it to get out into nature. Families come out because they see it as an interesting activity that the whole family can enjoy.”

Bruce Patterson of Peters Township decided to try orienteering as way to be active in his retirement, and, to his first event, brought along his son Scott Patterson of Green Tree. Both men enjoy traveling and exploring new places. Early in his career, the elder Patterson spent 10 years in the U.S. Air Force in air traffic control. He flew airplanes and always liked maps. Orienteering sounded like it would be a cinch.

“I think we had a false sense of confidence,” Bruce Patterson says shortly after learning that the pair had missed the first two controls on the map. “I heard that military people often aren’t as good at it as they think they would be because of a different set of skills,” he says. “And obviously it’s true. This is nothing like aiming an airplane.

“Here, the compass just gives you a rough idea. But it’s what you see on the map that’s all important.”

The club’s beginner course map covers about 2 kilometers and introduces participants to basic skills. The novice course extends to around 3 kilometers and takes the challenge up a notch, with trickier terrain and less direct use of marked trails. Orienteering competitions are timed, and the aim is to finish as quickly as possible. But for newcomers, it’s perfectly acceptable to complete it at the pace of a comfortable hike.

The challenge grows with the competition level, and the most advanced courses may cover up to 10 kilometers. Competitive orienteers may run the course—unless they choose a route that requires wading through water or climbing a steep hillside. The best advanced courses don’t make use of trails at all, Wolfe says. At that level, participants must know the international map symbols, have a well-developed sense of distance, and be able to associate terrain details on the map with what they see in front of them.

Introduced to it by a friend, Wolfe started orienteering in 1977 while living in Massachusetts. In 1981, he joined the faculty at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a computer science professor and became involved in the competitive collegiate orienteering club there. He served as adviser until the IUP club folded in 2003, and then he started the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club.

Wolfe has created many of the course maps in use by the club, and he has authored detailed information about orienteering for the club website at www.WPOC.org. The group welcomes newcomers to competitions and holds a brief instructional class at the start of every event. Advance registration on the website is recommended and costs just $6 for a map.

“If I didn’t do it, didn’t try to get people interested in orienteering, what am I left with if I’m interested? I can drive to an event out of state or far away. That’s an awful lot of driving and it would only be for competitions,” he says. “If I can make the maps around here so that the orienteering can happen here, I have other people around who would also want to participate.”

The Western Pennsylvania Club can boast a member of the U.S. Performance Team and World Orienteering Championship competitor—Sydney Fisher, a materials engineer living in Venetia, south of Pittsburgh. Fisher started participating in the sport in 2015 with her husband, Kevin, and the couple regularly travels around the country for competitions.

Fisher says there’s always more to learn in orienteering and new challenges to encounter, particularly since the courses are always different. It takes time and experience to master the skills, she says.

“There’s definitely a learning curve with orienteering. It takes everyone a while to get really good at reading the maps. Certainly don’t feel discouraged if you’ve gone out a few times and have gotten turned around,” she says. To newcomers, “I would say start easy and don’t try to progress too quickly. It’s easy to maybe overdo it and try a course that is too difficult, and then you get discouraged. Progress slowly at the level your abilities are progressing.”

Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club at www.WPOC.org

Orienteering USA at www.OrienteeringUSA.org

International Orienteering Federation at www.Orienteering.sport