GPS-O
Anyone?
Mendon Ponds Park
The "O" stands for Orienteering ----- and I hope
you know what GPS
stands for!
Together, the GPS and the "O" mean that you use your GPS to
negotiate an orienteering course as you search for specific
permanent controls (markers) based on Latitude and Longitude
coordinates.
Various orienteering organizations maintain permanent
orienteering courses in many cities. For example, the Rochester, NY Orienteering
Club has permanent courses set up at Durand Eastman Park,
Letchworth State Park, Mendon Ponds Park, and Webster Park. The
courses are set up so that a person can take a topographical map,
with the location of several controls indicated on the map, then go
out and physically locate the controls. They then mark their course
punch card (provided with the map) with the letters that are on
each control. The orienteer then sends his completed course card to
the club and the club issues him an award.
To complete the course, the orienteer has to be able to read a
topographical map and use a compass to orient his map properly.
Between the compass and the identification of landmarks on the map,
he can find the location of each control. Some of the controls are
easy to find (on or very near to a trail); some are of a medium
difficulty (off trail but on a distinct land feature), and some are
still more difficult to locate (off trail with no specific
features).
This is a unique opportunity for GPS'ers to become familiar with
traditional orienteering while still using their GPS! Through the
cooperation of the Rochester Orienteering Club, you will be able to
obtain a topographical orienteering map of the course in Mendon
Ponds Park,
Durand Eastman Park,
Letchworth State Park, and
Webster Park. These courses have had the Latitude and Longitude
recorded for each of the controls. You could use any other maps you
have available, but the club maps are very detailed and therefore
probably more helpful. The club also has a clue sheet, for each of
the points to be found, and a course punch card to document your
progress.
The orienteering maps, and other course materials, are available
on-line under the course link below or you can purchase the
materials at The Map Shop, Northfield Common, 50 State Street,
Pittsford, New York 14534, (585) 385-5850.
GPS Location of The Map Shop
N 43 05.404 -- W 077 30.614
As mentioned above, those who complete the course
without a GPS are recognized by the club with an
award. If you use a GPS, you are not currently eligible for an
award.
So … get your GPS, a topo map, a list of clues, your course
punch card, and let's do a GPS-O!
MENDON PONDS PARK - WAYPOINT
INFORMATION
(Recorded with a GPSMAP 76S using an external
antenna) |
|
Waypoint |
Map Datum - WGS
84 |
Latitude
(ddd mm.mmm) |
Longitude
(ddd mm.mmm) |
| Control #1 |
N 43 01.930 |
W 077 32.877 |
| Control #2 |
N 43 02.294 |
W 077 33.857 |
| Control #3 |
N 43 02.184 |
W 077 33.003 |
| Control #4 |
N 43 00.642 |
W 077 33.958 |
| Control #5 |
N 43 00.374 |
W 077 33.986 |
| Control #6 |
N 43 01.458 |
W 077 33.101 |
| Control #7 |
N 43 00.377 |
W 077 33.728 |
| Control #8 |
N 43 02.257 |
W 077 33.544 |
| Control #9 |
N 43 01.887 |
W 077 33.117 |
| Control #10 |
N 43 02.174 |
W 077 34.266 |
| Control #11 |
N 43 02.052 |
W 077 34.143 |
| Control #12 |
N 43 01.723 |
W 077 33.250 |
| Control #13 |
N 43 01.733 |
W 077 32.978 |
| Control #14 |
N 43 01.564 |
W 077 33.287 |
| Control #15 |
N 43 01.704 |
W 077 33.443 |
| Control #16 |
N 43 01.084 |
W 077 33.471 |
| Control #17 |
N 43 01.544 |
W 077 34.479 |
| Control #18 |
N 43 01.000 |
W 077 33.368 |
| Control #19 |
N 43 02.080 |
W 077 33.450 |
| Control #20 |
N 43 01.473 |
W 077 33.412 |
| Control #21 |
N 43 01.293 |
W 077 33.477 |
| Control #22 |
N 43 01.173 |
W 077 33.509 |
| Control #23 |
N 43 01.100 |
W 077 33.551 |
| Control #24 |
N 43 00.992 |
W 077 33.604 |
| HOW TO LOG
YOUR VISIT:
Due to the length of this cache,
you may log an entry when you have found 12 or all 24 controls.
Your log entry must include the control numbers (not the letters)
that you found. In order for the log to stay on the cache page, you
will have to verify that you have found the controls by e-mailing or
messaging me the control numbers and the corresponding letter for each
control. Posts to the cache page which are not followed up with an
e-mail verifying the results will have to be
deleted.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE DO NOT POST
THE LETTERS OF THE CONTROL NUMBERS WHEN YOU LOG YOUR VISIT. ONLY
POST THE CONTROL NUMBERS THEMSELVES. THE LETTERS GO IN THE E-MAIL
TO ME AND ON THE PUNCH CARD THAT YOU SUBMIT TO THE ROCHESTER
ORIENTEERING CLUB, IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO.
I would also suggest that you take
a compass with you in case you loose satellite
signal.
I hope you enjoy this
cache! | |
Waypoints:
Right click on the link to download
the coordinates in EasyGPS/ExpertGPS
format. Note that you may need to specifically
save it as a ".gpx" file as some mime types result in it being
saved as an .xml file.
You can find out about and download  here. |
Instructions:
Right click here to view the
instructions, the hints, and the course punch card in PDF format.
If you don't have a PDF viewer, you can download  here. |
Map Detail
This is a USGS topo map that was
generated using Topo! software. The controls are identified by a
marker, but they are not numbered. This should help you to navigate
around hills, lakes and other obstacles.
Right click on the link to save the Mendon Ponds Park
Map to your
computer. | |