Lake Needwood

Course Notes:

· The Montgomery County Parks authority recommends avoiding contact with the water in Lake Needwood and flowing out from it since a biological micro toxin produced by an algae has been detected in the water and could cause severe illness if ingested. None of the beginner courses cross water flowing from the lake but they do involve travel on trails along the shores. Water flowing out of the lake is the main source for Rock Creek. All courses have mandatory crossing points and course legs involving these have been drawn accordingly. White, Yellow and Orange course legs are bent to go around the lake shore and make the courses appear longer than when normally measured in straight lines for orienteering. The runners on the Orange and Brown courses should cross the lake exit waters on grass along a fence immediately below the dam and above the exit pipes,. Advanced courses do cross Rock Creek south of the lake dam however these crossings are arranged to utilize mandatory auto or foot bridges. Advanced and Intermediate courses do cross some tributaries to Rock Creek but this water does not flow from the lake where the algae is growing. There has not been a lot of rain as of the writing of these notes so streams and marshes may be dryer than mapped.

· Running in the forest is generally fast but the hills can be steep and tall with few reentrants. Due to the length and steepness, it is not recommended that runners move up to a higher/longer course at this event. The Green course is the steepest at just over 4%.

· Advanced and Intermediate courses pass near a golf course and a land fill. Beginner courses pass near an archery area. The park service has signs for the archery areas but there are no signs for the landfill or the golf course. All 3 of these areas are out of bounds and are mapped accordingly.

· The Lake Needwood and Lake Frank stream valley areas contain some nice open forests and broad ridges. However, the derecho storm in June knocked down a lot of branches and trees. Uncounted map updates have been made for this but it is possible that one will encounter unmapped rootstocks or other deadfall. Single, sometimes large fallen branches are not mapped but fallen trunks generally are. The deadfall has fairly distinct edges. Fallen trees still stand often 3m high thus obstructing view and adding to the navigation challenge. Patches of deadfall tend to be arranged in lines parallel to the direction that the winds blew. One can usually pass between these quite quickly. If you associate the deadfall patches correctly, they may aid your navigation.

· There are some areas of invasive grasses in the forest. Much of this is shown on the map with the low vegetation symbol but the growth may be beyond what has been mapped. These grasses are hardly visible in the winter but this event is occurring just past the end of Summer so the grasses do hide fallen branches and some other features. Invasive grasses tend to pervade forested lowlands where there is enough water but the courses are mostly above them.

· Areas mapped with the rough open symbol are generally high and slow at this time of the year.

· For the Blue and Green courses, controls 6 and 9 are fairly close together. Dyslexics and anyone holding the map in an orientation other than north edge furthest from the eye beware.

· For the Red and Blue courses, a previously unpaved trail near Lake Frank has been paved within the last year. The map reflects this correctly however some unmapped temporary orange flexible plastic fencing bordering parts of it may still impede travel. If you find this obstacle in your route choice, look for gaps that exist.

· Advanced courses may encounter some new but unmapped metal fence posts in the forest. So far, no fencing has been attached to them.

· All courses cross roads or involve routes along them; even White and Yellow. As in other parks for orienteering, the roads are not closed so participants should stay on shoulders or yield when crossing. Extra caution should be taken if in the parking lot near the start and finish. Note that there is bicycle traffic on the main paved Rock Creek Trail which begins just south of the start/finish parking lot.

· It is coincidental and highly unusual for QOC local meets, yet none of the courses beginner through advanced, use reentrants as a control feature. In fact, most controls are point features.