Green Means Go (as in Go Looong)

So I'm antsy to do an advanced orienteering course and DVOA is hosting an event at Hibernia.  How can I pass this up?  Dog wants to go and he wants to bring his buddy M1.  Sounds good.  Then K-Rocks wants in with her buddy Bunky.  Hmmm . . . this might not go according to plan.

Can you spot Krocks?

I love taking the young ones on adventures, but  a green expert course with 4 young adventurers might be pushing things.  But it's Hibernia which I know well, so things can't go too badly.  Except for my estimate of our time.

The motivator— ice cream if we finish under 2 hours.  But 90 minutes in and only 1/3 of the course done, the motivator morphs to ice cream if we just finish.

Things would go quicker if I just found the check points myself, but then my flock would feel like I'm just dragging them through the woods.  So I focus on navigating.  Get us close and let them hunt.

Bunky tying her shoe a little lighter after losing it in the mud

After two hours they're still going strong, but starting to look tired and we face some steeper climbs.  After three hours they're not up for the bushwacking needed for the last few checkpoints.  Fortunately, they can sense the finish is close (and the promise of ice cream).

Then the big finale—the stream crossing at the end.  Doesn't look too deep, but the water's moving quickly.  I go out partway and help M1--who falls, but catches himself before taking the full plunge.  Then K-Rocks and Bunky ford the stream with Dog taking up the rear flank, as the crew cools off a bit in the knee deep waters.

Our feet squish up the final climb to the finish and the girls dash to finish first to show that girls rule.

Final time: nearly 4 hours.  Worst  time in the category.  In fact, by the time we get back it looks like they've already picked up the rest of the checkpoints.  But I'm pretty sure none of the others shepherded a herd of 9 and 11 year olds.  It was definitely an accomplishment just for them to finish. And now it's so late that we need to focus on dinner instead of ice cream—until later.