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Snowgaine!
February 16, 2002
Mississippi Palisades State Park
by Kathy Bullard
It was a day to remember: a snowgaine was held, the weather was
beautiful and there was no snow!
About 20 people showed up on Feb. 16 at the Mississippi Palisades
State Park in Savanna for an unofficial 6 hour Rogaine hosted by
CAOC member Kathy Bullard with much appreciated help from Michael
Collins. This was the second annual attempt at a snowgaine in the
park. Last year there was some snow, lots of ice and a lovely steady
rain to thoroughly soak the brave souls who showed up. This year
the snow was almost all gone and the sun was thawing the ground
rapidly, creating some nice mud for the participants to slide through.
Sixteen controls were scattered throughout the park. Competitors
were given pre-marked USGS maps as they arrived, giving them plenty
of time to plan their routes. At 11 a.m. they all took off….
in the same direction! They quickly split up as some teams decided
to climb straight up a steep hill while others looked for a friendlier
route. The terrain in the park is moderate to difficult and not
flat. There are a lot of steep climbs, many ridges and reentrants
and steep creek banks. The trail system is extensive in the north
part of the park, but scarce in the south. The west side of the
park borders the Mississippi River with 100-200 foot cliff faces
that make for some fabulous views across the river. The forest is
a mix of light to dense underbrush and is easy to move and see through
in the winter, but slow running.
Stefan Spirgi and Stefanie Walter of the CAOC were the first team
to arrive, having found 12 controls in five hours. Other teams started
coming in about 20 minutes later. The overall winners were also
from Chicago. Chris Whelan and Guy Johnson found 14 controls with
plenty of time to spare. Russ Hart and Greg Wales, from the Quad
Cities, came in second. They also found 14 controls, but were slightly
penalized for being a minute late. In third, with 13 controls, was
the five member team High Profile, also from the Quad Cities. And
in the "Last shall be first" category was Team Parrothead,
who took the chance to find "just one more" control which
caused them to come in 15 minutes late. Since the controls didn't
have a point value, the "winners" were determined by the
team who punched the most controls within the time limit. Their
strategy was unknown, but it certainly involved sliding down a muddy
hill on their rear ends.
Most of the teams used point-to-point dead reckoning, although
a few caught on to the trail system on the top of the ridges and
used them to get along. The hardest control turned out to be #2,
located about halfway down a very large reentrant. The trails and
access roads were not marked on the map, so the participants didn't
know it was in plain view on an access road that led down the reentrant.
Several teams got together to find it and finally realized they
hadn't gone far enough along a ridge, and were in the wrong reentrant.
Once they found the correct feature, they found the control with
ease! The most physically demanding control was #15, which was on
top of a popular 150 foot rappel site and was the southernmost control.
There was an easy route to the control, but you had to swing far
south to avoid the steep climb north. Only one team hit that control.
Fun was had by all and everyone made it back a little muddy, but
unscathed.
Results:
- Chris Whelan and Guy Johnson (Chicago)—14 controls
- Greg Wales, Russ Hart (Quad Cities)—14 controls, 1 minute
late
- Team High Profile (Gerry, Frances, Adrienne, Diane, Jean) (Quad
Cities)—13 controls
- Bob Graf, Desiree Ried, Jimmy Aidala (Quad Cities)—13 controls
- Stefanie Walter, Stefan Spirgi (Chicago)—12 controls
- Team Parrothead (Scott Schaar and partner) (Quad Cities)—13
controls, 15 minutes late
- Chris McCarthy and partner (Iowa)—7 controls, left early
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