Beaumont Permanent Orienteering Course
by David Fisher
The St. Louis area has two permanent orienteering courses. The courses are located at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Rockwood Range, and Beaumont Scout Reservation. The Rockwood Range permanent orienteering course map can be purchased from the St. Louis Orienteering Club for $5. The Beaumont Scout Reservation permanent orienteering course is open to all registered members of the Greater St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. To use the course, all a unit has to do is make a reservation with the Greater St. Louis Area Council and purchase the map from the ranger when you check in.
The Beaumont permanent orienteering course consists of 21 control locations. The 21 control locations were designed so that they could be divided into four different courses each with a different level of difficulty ranging from beginners to expert. Each course starts and ends at the scout skills hut in the scout craft field. You can use one of the pre-designed courses or design your own course and event using the control locations.
This past October I had the opportunity to check out the 21 control locations for the council's map and compass committee. My troop was attending our district's Camporee so I came out early on Friday evening (~5:15 pm) and did a loop consisting of the 6 easternmost controls, 7-12. I thought about doing some night orienteering so I took my flashlight with me. The first couple of controls were fairly easy since they were next to a trail. The third control was a "spring in rock outcrop near stream". This one was a little more difficult since it is located in some thicker vegetation. Since this was a water feature and knowing it had rained a few days earlier, I was looking for some water. As it turned out the spring and stream were dry except for a pool of water at the base of the rock outcropping.
After reaching number 10 I climbed 40 meters up the hill to the trail on top of the ridge. Now all I had to do was follow the trail to the trail junction and take the small side trail to the control. In the twilight of the evening I walked right past the trail junction. Noting that the trail was heading in a northwesterly direction I knew I had missed the trail junction. After studying the map I turned around and looked for the hilltop where the trail junction was located. At the hilltop I turned east and followed the terrain to the control. I did not see the small side trail until I turned around and saw the trail markers on the trees. Even though the side trail was well marked, it was not very visible from the main trail. To attack control 12 I planned to follow the trail to the hilltop and walk down the east-west reentrant. My backup plan was if I missed the first attack point I would go to the field and walk down from the north to the sink hole. Not wanting to cut in too early and make a parallel error, I walked right past the first attack point and was standing in the field before I knew it. I walked down the hill and saw a huge sink hole. Now that it was starting to get dark and I did not want to climb the hill or contour all the way around the hill to 6 I walked back to camp.
On Saturday I got up early and had a nice hot breakfast and then headed up to Wright Lodge for the annual fall map and compass training session. On my way I stopped by control locations 3, 4, and 5. After crossing the creek from where we were camped, I used the two southernmost Cub Scout campsites as attack points for control 3 and 4, a knoll and a boulder, respectively.
After checking-in with our committee chairman, I learned that one of the trainers could not make it, so I had to help teach the session on orienteering techniques and course design. This left only enough time to do a short loop in the morning. I decided to do the northern section 6, and 13-15 and save the main southern loop for another day. This section turned out to be an easy loop with a lot of climb. The only real decision I had to make was how I wanted to go from control 6 to control 13. From 6 I decided to go east through the woods to the main trail and up to the field. The trail route was probably easier but it was longer. As a rule of thumb, if one is walking, the direct route is usually the quicker and more interesting route.
The following Friday was a warm sunny fall day, a great day to go out and enjoy a walk in the woods. Being off work, I called Pat Martchink (Director of Camping) and got permission to do the southern section of the Beaumont permanent orienteering course that afternoon. After lunch I drove out to Beaumont and spent a couple of hours walking in the woods. Finding the 8 control locations I was looking for was fairly easy since the first 5 were all in the same valley and the last three are along a distinct ridge.
I parked at Wright Lodge and walked to control 1, the power pole. From #1 I crossed the bridge and climbed over the hill to the main trail. Just past the latrine was the depression where control 2 was located. I crossed to the west side of the stream bed and followed it to the next big reentrant. Up the reentrant a short distance was control 16, a rock face. After a short walk down the trail/stream bed, the valley split in two with control 17 being located a little farther along on the western fork. Eighteen was just down the trail from 17. The next two controls were up on the ridge, so I climbed a steep hill to the ridge 50 meters above the valley floor. Sure enough, control 21 was at the small saddle on the ridge. I then walked to the trail and followed it to control location 20. Nineteen required a little more concentration. I followed the trail around keeping track of the reentrants on the right and left until I was above the correct reentrant. I scrambled down to see control 19 above a huge cliff face at the head of a rocky draw. From 19 I climbed up to the spur and followed it back to the trail. From there it was a nice quiet walk to my car.
Having completed the Beaumont permanent orienteering course and having had an enjoyable walk in the woods, I checked out with the ranger and headed home.
