Frequently Asked Questions
What is orienteering?
Orienteering is a fun and challenging outdoor activity in which participants navigate their way on foot, using only map and compass, along trails (beginners), or cross-country (expert), or a combination of both (intermediate). Orienteering events are held in woodlands, deserts, grasslands, city parks, or almost anywhere outdoors, and each event is divided into several levels of difficulty: from a fun, non-competitive family outing, to a challenging competitive sport. Events are also attended by serious outdoorsmen and women who want to practice map and compass skills in a safe, controlled setting.
How much time is involved in attending an event?
Aside from driving time, which varies, you should plan for two to four hours at most events.
Image by Stephanie Ross
What is it like to participate in an orienteering event?
Each participant is given a map marked with a series of checkpoints to be visited. In order to complete the course, the participant must navigate to each of these checkpoints and back to the starting point. The object is to use navigational ability to take the best route to each checkpoint.
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Here are some videos which give a nice overview of orienteering:
Yellow Course in the Tucson Desert
Do I need to have a certain navigational skill?
At each event, there are several courses offered which are rated in length and difficulty, from beginner to expert. Beginner courses are typically along trails and other easy-to-follow routes. Intermediate courses are partially on trails and partially cross-country. Expert courses are on difficult-to-follow cross-country routes.
Image by L. Hill
What equipment do I need?
A beginning orienteer should be fit enough to walk at a leisurely pace for about one mile, in an hour, over easy terrain. Expert orienteers are trained endurance athletes, walking or running for many hours over rugged terrain. Wear comfortable clothes appropriate to the season, long pants, a hat, and walking shoes or hiking boots. Many racers wear trail runners or specialized orienteering shoes for cross-country terrain. The only specialized equipment you will need is a compass and whistle. If you forget these items, compasses and whistles are available at the event for a small fee.
What type of map will I use?
Orienteering maps are specially prepared topographic maps showing in detail the terrain encountered in the forest, desert, or urban area.
Image by L. Hill
Is it safe to go off the trails?
If navigating in the outdoors sounds a little scary, then an orienteering event is the place to be. The beginner courses are in carefully selected areas, safely contained within recognizable boundaries so it is almost impossible to get truly lost. In addition, each participant's start and finish time is monitored so that anyone who is overdue will be rounded up by skilled orienteers.
What about snakes, Gila monsters, and cacti?
Basically if you leave the snake alone, it will leave you alone. If you happen to surprise one, just take one large step backwards and another for good measure. The largest snakes in AZ can strike about 3 feet, but most only 2 feet or less.
For Gila monsters, you would need to hold your finger in front of its mouth to get bit by one, so don't do that and you're ok.
For cacti, a comb will remove cholla stems, and tweezers or a small multitool can be used to remove a single large spine or a group of glochids (tiny spines) from a prickly pear. If you don't have any of these with you, you can often remove the cactus piece with two rocks.
I need to learn land nav for a military course. Am I in the right place?
Orienteering is a map-based navigation sport that relies on interpreting mapped features to choose the best route. Most military land nav involves plotting points on some kind of grid and using compass bearings and pace counting to go in a straight line between those plotted points. While the skills you learn in orienteering (especially contour interpretation) will help you with military land nav, it won't teach you all of the skills you'll need.
Image by Stephanie Ross
What types of courses are offered?
At many events we offer separate courses for each skill level, as follows:
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The White course follows mostly trails, is ideal for youngsters and anyone who isn’t comfortable with reading a road map yet, and is typically 1-2 km long.
The Yellow course takes you off of the trails but follows helpful linear features, is a good course for the beginning adult, and is typically 2-4 km long.
The Orange course takes you out “into the forest,” is for the orienteer who is very comfortable with off-trail travel on topographic maps and has intermediate orienteering skills, and is typically 4-5 km long.
The Green/Red courses take you into difficult, complex, and ambiguous terrain, are only for orienteers with advanced skills, and are typically 4-6 km (Green) and 5-8 km long (Red).
At other events we offer a Score-O course in which there are a variety of checkpoints, usually ranging from beginner to advanced, and you get to pick the checkpoints you wish to visit.
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Descriptions for other types of courses offered at our local meets such as sprints, rogaines, mini-rogaines, goats, and others can be found in the event announcement for each event.
Image by C Luis
How can I learn how to orienteer?
At almost every meet there is a free orienteering clinic in which beginners learn the basic navigation techniques and rules of the game, before participating on the course. Intermediate clinics are also offered.
To see if we are offering any special classes on Orienteering, visit our Calendar.
What is Tucson Orienteering Club?
The Tucson Orienteering Club (TSN) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose volunteers are devoted to promoting recreational and competitive orienteering in southeast Arizona. TSN is a member of Orienteering USA, which has about 70 member clubs promoting the sport of orienteering in the U.S. We regularly host monthly orienteering events throughout the year and offer orienteering courses for all skill and experience levels. A free beginner's clinic is offered at most of our events.
Image by B. Brooke. Mannl