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WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back to live orienteering - the original socially-distanced sport! This month we are returning to Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont. This is a great park for orienteering and used to be one of our biggest events of the year. But due to pandemic timing our last event here was Jan 2019 - 3 years ago! That means it will be a brand new challenge for many of our JROTC participants, and a reunion with an old friend we haven't seen in a while for us old-timers.

LLSP has numerous amenities for visitors to enjoy, including horseback riding, paddling, and beach-lounging. We'll be staging at the beach parking area, so feel free to pack your swimwear or perhaps your canoe, kayak, or SUP for a relaxing cool-down on the lake after your course!

This event will have both civilian orienteering and also a standard JROTC competition. A variety of courses will be offered from beginner to advanced (see course list below).

Directions:
Enter through the main entrance to the park on US 27, then follow the paved road and signs to the "beach".

Park Entrance:  ///werewolf.upward.benched

Pay your park entrance fee at the ranger station:
$4 per a single-occupant vehicle, $6 per vehicle for 2-8 people. Park personnel will collect this fee at the ranger station at the park entrance.

Once inside the park, you can find the beach parking area at what3words address

Beach Parking Area:  ///hamster.bakery.matting

Park Web Site:  https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/lake-louisa-state-park

Venue Notes
Lake Louisa State Park contains a wide variety of beautiful Florida habitats. Open rolling hills predominate near the park entrance, but those hills flatten out into lowland forest, palmetto prairies, and wetlands as you go NE toward the big lakes. These lowland areas are occasionally broken up with higher-elevation open areas, which also make for good O-running. A primary stream called Big Creek runs S to N through the main part of the park to empty into Lake Louisa. This creek is too wide to jump and too deep to wade, so it forms a boundary between the western and eastern portions of the event area, which can only be crossed at a few bridge locations. Most runners and courses will be on the west side of Big Creek along with the Start/Finish area. Longer more advanced courses have some controls on the east side, which will require some route planning. You will have many opportunities to hone your route choice skills.

Keep your eyes peeled for deer, turkeys, and other wildlife. Waterbirds are plentiful around the lakes. Spooked me a couple of bunnies while vetting and mapping, so watch for those as well. Look down frequently to watch for gopher tortoise burrows, which are plentiful in the open sandy areas, and are sometimes quite large (watch for the "aprons" of sand around the entrances, and try to stay off them).

We're into the Florida "winter" season now, so some of the off-trail underbrush has died down a bit. There are still occasional vines and briars to keep you on your toes however, and some areas of tall grass. We recommend that you wear leg protection (jeans or gaiters) to prevent scratches if you're going to do an intermediate or advanced course which will see you spending time tromping through the terrain off-trail. Mosquitoes are still around, particularly in the areas close to water (swampy areas extend out from most bodies of water here), so repellent is still a good idea.

Since we haven't been back to this park for 3 years, we have done some map updating here using modern digital mapping methods. Not a complete re-draw, but a significant update, particularly in the areas around the controls.

The map contains a few "out of bounds" areas marked by swatches of purple cross-hatch. These indicate areas of private property, campgrounds, staff-use-only and habitat-restoration areas, and occasionally, hazards that we want to keep people away from. Treat all such areas as if they were fenced off and do not enter. Courses are typically designed to avoid such areas, but occasionally you might be tempted to "short-cut" through an out-of-bounds area. Don't. Our current and future welcome from park personnel depends on us obeying their rules, so please help us maintain our good standing.

Speaking of playing nice in the sandbox, be aware that this is a popular park and others will be enjoying it as well while we are there. The Lake Louisa Beach area where we will be staging is quite popular, and some guests will also be making use of the same hiking trails we will be on. Always be courteous to other park patrons - respect their space, smile, and say hello. Be aware that there will be families with children present. Always remember that your conduct reflects on FLO, your unit, and your school. Let's keep all our reputations spotless!


SUMMARY OF COURSES

White - for beginners. Course is mostly on trails with control points a short distance into the woods. There may be opportunities for those who feel able to take short cuts through the woods. Length 2.6 km.
Yellow M/F - for beginners. Course is mostly on trails with control points a short distance into the woods. There may be opportunities for those who feel able to take short cuts through the woods. Length 3.1 km.
Orange M/F - intermediate difficulty. Mix of on- trail and off-trail, generally relying on the more obvious mapped features. Length 4.6 km M / 4.9 km F.
Green M/F - advanced course off trail and reliant on the subtler features of the terrain. Length 6.2 km M/ 6.0 km F.
Blue - the longest advanced course. Length 8.2 km.

Note that the course lengths mentioned above are measured straight-line from point to point to point. Your actual route on the ground will often be on more winding trails or diverted around obstacles like ponds or dense tickets, so your actual distance traveled will often be 25-50% longer than the stated course length.

If you are new and/or unsure of which course is right for you, ask us at registration and we will be happy to advise you. Precise course lengths will be on display at registration to give you an idea of how far you'll be travelling to complete a course. When in doubt, choose an easier course. If you complete that one too fast and haven't had enough fun yet, you can trade up to the next harder map and go out again!

As usual, there is a 3 hour time limit on all FLO courses, and all courses close at 3:00 pm (1500 hours).

Safety Bearing: The easiest way to get back to the Finish from anywhere on the map is to follow the 1 paved road through the park which leads right to it. This road runs basically N-S through the event area, so you just need to keep track of which side of the road you're on and use a safety bearing of east or west accordingly to get to the pavement. The courses go back and forth across this road, so you'll know both from that and the map which side you're on. Once you get to the paved road, just follow it north to get back.

Typical FLO registration fees are in effect: $7 per Map for FLO members, $9 per Map for non-members and $6 per Map for Groups such as JROTC and Scouts whose leaders register, and pay for, all their groups at once (this group rate minimizes the crowd and the confusion at the registration table and is well worth the discount to FLO registration volunteers!).

We hope you all enjoy the day and this lovely venue. Thanks for coming out, and Bring A Friend!