Finding the Way at Kentucky Camp

It's been a year, but I finally made it back to an orienteering meet. After a rainy week, we (E,S,A) ventured out to Kentucky Camp, near Gardener Canyon on the east side of the Santa Ritas. This area is a regular destination for me -- the area offers mountain bike trails, excellent caving (Cave of the Bells, Onyx Cave, Hidden Cave, and numerous others), and trailheads to get into the Ritas. For some reason, however, I've developed a distate for the "east side". This Sunday morning was wonderful. The drive out from Tucson takes about 45 minutes -- I-10 to 83 south and then right on Gardener Canyon Road. I tried out my new dashboard GPS. The most interesting piece of information provided was elevation. I didn't realize how high AZ 83 gets at the "pass" north of Sonoita -- over 5,000 feet. Gardener Canyon road was moist and firm, but the farther we got back towards Kentucky Camp, the muddier the road. We had a great time splashing through puddles in the Forester. Eventually we came upon a slow-moving Pontiac, who let us pass so we could continue to play irresponsibly in the mud. The Subaru slid around a few corners, but otherwise held its line very well, which actually made the driving less fun (but more safe and predictable...). The meet start was atop a alluvial hill with nice views of the rolling alluvium all around, and rocky hills and mountains to the north and west (the Santa Ritas). Erin and I decided to do the Green course (second most challenging) as a team. After a brief intro course, we three set out. We quickly found the first control, and the second... it seemed too easy. I usually run the course, but we took it easy and walked most of it. Sabkha had a good time sniffing around and watching the cows milling around in the distance. She longed to chase them and get "just one bite", but I didn't allow her the chance. We burned through the course in about 1:30 hours. We made a few minor mistakes both in route finding and control finding, but overall we were amazingly accurate.

The morning started cold but after huffing around a few hillsides we warmed up nicely. After finishing, back at the starting point we ate some cookies and sat in the cool breeze surveying the landscape. Sabkha sampled an orange, which she gobbled down rapidly -- to my amazement. She ate most of the orange. The day was beautiful, with good visibility. The Mule Mountains were right across the valley, and the Huachucas looked close to the SE. We could clearly see Miller Peak, where we had stood a month or so before. Alas, I had to get home to prepare for a picnic and the arrival of my friends from Safford. So off we went, splashing as much mud as possible on the way home. Less than a half-mile down the dirt track, we came across a caravan of classic cars, including three or four Model T's. They slowed us down a bit, but we still had plenty of opportunity for splashing through the mud.