EMPO Challenge details
When: Any time between September 21 and 27, 2020 at your convenience
When: Any time between September 21 and 27, 2020 at your convenience
Where: Western side of Moreau State Park, in the higher elevation Palmertown Range area. Don't enter the park at the gate, save your money and legs. Best leave your car at
Where: Western side of Moreau State Park, in the higher elevation Palmertown Range area. Don't enter the park at the gate, save your money and legs. Best leave your car at
Trail head parking can be busy on weekends. If all parking spots are taken, find an alternate parking spot nearby.
Trail head parking can be busy on weekends. If all parking spots are taken, find an alternate parking spot nearby.
How to get to the start: Walk up on the green ("Baker") trail (heading south from the parking area) until you reach a major trail junction (red trail left and right), this is where your course starts and also ends. (Triangle on your course map.) The attached map on the right shows the trail head parking area marked with P and the start with an S. The walk up to the start is about 1 mile and you will climb about 500 feet. As an upside, the course itself will have very little climbs. The start (and finish) looks like the picture below, you can't miss it. However, there are no streamers or other markings at the start / finish location.
How to get to the start: Walk up on the green ("Baker") trail (heading south from the parking area) until you reach a major trail junction (red trail left and right), this is where your course starts and also ends. (Triangle on your course map.) The attached map on the right shows the trail head parking area marked with P and the start with an S. The walk up to the start is about 1 mile and you will climb about 500 feet. As an upside, the course itself will have very little climbs. The start (and finish) looks like the picture below, you can't miss it. However, there are no streamers or other markings at the start / finish location.
What to expect on the course: You can time yourself on the course and send it back to me, but this is not a race or even an event in the usual sense. Control locations will not have control flags (bags), no SI timer units, no pin punches, not even control codes. Just pink streamers on trees, like on the photo on the right.
What to expect on the course: You can time yourself on the course and send it back to me, but this is not a race or even an event in the usual sense. Control locations will not have control flags (bags), no SI timer units, no pin punches, not even control codes. Just pink streamers on trees, like on the photo on the right.
The terrain is gorgeous with great visibility, which helps navigation. This help is needed, as the plateau has a very limited trail network. I recommend heavy use of the compass to make sure your direction between controls is what you planned for. Reading larger contour features and marshes (blue striped areas) will also be key to success on the course. In case you are completely lost, you can always go back to your last known location or follow a direction to find one of the trails, that surround the courses.
The terrain is gorgeous with great visibility, which helps navigation. This help is needed, as the plateau has a very limited trail network. I recommend heavy use of the compass to make sure your direction between controls is what you planned for. Reading larger contour features and marshes (blue striped areas) will also be key to success on the course. In case you are completely lost, you can always go back to your last known location or follow a direction to find one of the trails, that surround the courses.
Course maps: The easiest way of getting the maps is downloading them from this page. They come in PDF format and it requires, that you print them out at home on regular letter sized paper. I recommend putting the map in a plastic bag, as home printed maps are usually sensitive to sweat or rain. Map scale is 1:7500, which means 1mm on the map equals 7.5m in the park.
Short 3.6km
Course maps: The easiest way of getting the maps is downloading them from this page. They come in PDF format and it requires, that you print them out at home on regular letter sized paper. I recommend putting the map in a plastic bag, as home printed maps are usually sensitive to sweat or rain. Map scale is 1:7500, which means 1mm on the map equals 7.5m in the park.
Short 3.6km
Control descriptions (ignore control codes, controls will not have any numbers on the terrain)
Control descriptions (ignore control codes, controls will not have any numbers on the terrain)
In case printing is not an option for you, please contact Phil on the email address you sent PayPal payment to. He will mail out maps upon request for an extra fee.
In case printing is not an option for you, please contact Phil on the email address you sent PayPal payment to. He will mail out maps upon request for an extra fee.
