Ultimate Orienteer #4 (Score-O) - Ft. Ebey State Park

Overview:

Come join us for the 4th event in the 2010 Ultimate Orienteer Series on a brand new map at Fort Ebey State Park and adjoining Kettles County Park on Whidbey Island! UO#4 features the Score-O format (also sometimes called mini-rogaine or scramble). 32 checkpoints are circled on the map; you can visit the checkpoints in any order. Each checkpoint is assigned a point value of 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 points and those who collect the most points in the allotted time are the winners! There are 1000 total possible points, but there is a penalty of 20 points off for every minute late. There are 2 categories: 2-hour and 1-hour. The 2-hour results will count toward the Ultimate Orienteer series points. Be competitive or casual, participate solo or in a team of 2-5. Suitable for beginners as most checkpoints are on or near trails. No mountain bikes, however due to safety concerns.  Standard event fees apply (see end of page for list of standard fees).  There is camping available at the park (walking distance from the start) on a first-come, first-served basis for $21/night.

Schedule:

9:30am Registration opens
10:00am Map handout; start planning course
10:30am Mass start
11:30am 1-hr participants finish
12:30am 2-hr participants finish
12:45pm Course closes

Competitive categories:

2-hr:
    Men solo (counts toward Ultimate Orienteer series)
    Women solo (counts toward Ultimate Orienteer series)
    Men's team
    Women's team
    Mixed team

1-hr:
    Men (team or solo)
    Women (team or solo)
    Mixed team

Detailed description:

New map! The map scale is 1:10,000 and the contour interval 5 meters. The map area is approx. 3 square kilometers and the map will be printed on 8.5 x 14 (legal) size paper. Control desriptions will be printed on the map.  The staging area will be at a shelter near the top of a bluff overlooking Puget Sound, the Olymipic Mtns, and the San Juan Islands. Nearby are a campground, a group camp area, and an old gun battery that once guarded the entrance to Puget Sound. There is a long trail along the top of the bluff above the beach and in the north end, the bluff becomes low enough that there is a beach access. This area is very similar to Fort Casey State Park but with fewer gun batteries. The rest of the park consists of forested trails.

The forested part of the park is very unique in that it is one of the few areas in the state that contains ‘karst’ or negative topography, similar to what is found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The area contains 20-30 large (about 50-60 m deep) depressions called “kettles” and many smaller depressions as well. The forest is mostly pretty thick but the bottoms of many of the kettles are free of thick vegetation presumably due to the lack of sunlight that reaches the bottom. When you descend into one of the kettles, it feels like you are entering another world, almost like you were in a Lord of the Rings movie. The contours can be difficult to interpret at times so we have made sure to use a lot of slope tags to indicate what is up and what is down. It’s a very neat area and we hope you can come out and experience it!

Preliminary course stats:

About 11 km straight-line (15 km actual) distance to get all checkpoints. The terrain is steep and some of the trails are very curvy so the going will be somewhat slow. Most of the forest is pretty thick (mapped as fight).  However, all checkpoints will be on or very near a trail and no checkpoint will require bashing through thick underbrush.  Some checkpoints will require climbing over deadfall for a short distance.

Driving Directions:

From Seattle, take I-5 north. Take exit 182 for WA-525 N and follow for 9.3 miles to the Mukilteo ferry terminal. Take the ferry to Clinton (allow 20 min. for ferry crossing). Upon departing the ferry, follow WA-525 N for 22.0 miles where it becomes WA-20 E and continue for an additional 8.9 miles. Turn left at W Libbey Rd and proceed 0.9 miles. Turn left at Hill Valley Drive and proceed 0.7 miles to park entrance (note: these first 2 intersections have a large brown Ft. Ebey SP sign and therefore may not have an orienteering sign present but from this point on there will definitely be orienteering signs).  Turn right onto Valley Dr and proceed 0.4 miles to the park information building. Turn left at N Fort Ebey Rd and proceed 0.4 miles. Turn right into the Gun battery parking lot and follow signs to registration. Driving time on Whidbey Island is approx. 45-50 minutes.

Link to Ferry schedule.  Ferry cost: $7 car & driver each way, additional passengers $4.10 each from Mukilteo only.

The 2 recommended ferries to take in the morning are the 8:00 am (gets you to the park by 9:10am) and the 8:30 (gets you to the park by 9:40am).  If you miss the 8:30, you will be on the 9:00 sailing which gets you to the park by 10:10.  This will give you barely enough time to make the mass start at 10:30 but you won't have the full 30 min. to plan your course.

From the north (or as a slightly longer but cheaper alternative to taking the ferry), take I-5 N to exit 230. Follow WA-20 W for 12 miles. Take a left at the Whidbey Island sign to stay on WA-20 W and follow for 16.4 miles to downtown Oak Harbor. Turn right at the light to stay on WA-20 W and proceed 6.0 miles. Turn right on W Libbey Rd (follow Ft. Ebey SP sign) and follow the directions above.  Driving time from downtown Seattle is about 2 hours.  This is about 15 min. longer than taking the ferry assuming that you would arrive at the ferry 15 min. prior to departure.  This route is potentially faster on the way home from the event as the ferry line can get long on Sunday afternoons and you may have to wait a ferry.