Wyandotte County Lake Park

February 6, 2010
Course Setter: Dan Welch
Weather: cloudy, 4 inches of snow, 35 degrees

Wet roads and sloppy snow greeted Possums at Wyandotte County Lake Park this Saturday.  The limited snow fall allowed our Possums to take advantage of the back Park roads temporarly closed to vehicle traffic.  It turned out warm for some that returned to home base near the boat launch ramp in sweaty T-shirts.  Other Possums returned with seriously muddy tails.
 
Both the Red and the Green Courses were longer than the distance marked on the map due to detours around Lake edges and both Courses shared a steep ascent of the Missouri River bluff.  This Course designer was amazed at the number of creative routes Possums chose to depart East Hill and discover the next Control at the toe of the Lake dam.  No two routes seemed anywhere near the same.  One Possum reported that the short uphill distance between the two Controls on the Missouri River bluff made the Course.  Only one Possum took the longer but easier loop to the west while all the rest choose the most direct route almost straight up the steep bluff.
 
Only a few Possums chose the Orange Course which featured two Controls on the Lake edge and another at the foot of an opposite hollow.  The Yellow Course was an unexpectedly popular Course woven into other longer Courses but with a markedly differnet route that offered good compass practice.
 
The contours used for the new Event map were all new based on Lidar information.  They are a distinct improvement over USGS contours.  The new map was printed as a raster template of the map overlay causing the loss of some very tiny but useful gully symbols.  Another small bobble was made for the location of the final Control for all Courses which caused confusion until maps were hand corrected.  Even with these defiencies it was a better map than any previously available.      
 
Thanks to Dick Neuburger and his ever present patience, Nick Hockman with his treats, Reta Roe for her registration effiency, and Paul Clatterback who took over as Timer when he returned from running the Green Course.  And thanks to our invisible helper, Kevin Shipley, that secured the new Lidar data and keeps our map files orderly. 

Submitted by Dan Welch