Backwoods Orienteering Klub, founded November 15, 1978 sponsors events and teaches orienteering in the North Carolina piedmont, around Raleigh, NC.
We invite you to try orienteering with us. Everyone is welcome at all our events. We always offer beginning, intermediate, advanced and expert courses (routes through the woods) at every Regular event.
We will use Livelox so you can see your route on the map after the event along with everyone else on your course. This is great both because you can learn a lot about route choice, and fun to see how others’ choices affected their run. The easiest way to use Livelox is to download the Livelox app to your phone. Then when you start open the app on your phone and click “Start Recording”. Then after the event, the event will be published on Livelox.com and you can select your “Class” which is the same as your course. Then you will be offered the event to choose so you can see your and everyone else’s routes. (You can also upload your route from your GPS watch or Strava.)
Help with control pick-up would be greatly appreciated.
We are planning a three day event in Asheboro, NC at Gray Owl with all the Radio-O formats, 80m, 2m, Sprint & FoxOring. The terrain at Gray Owl is very similar to Morrow Mountain where the US Champs are being held
Saturday May 10, 2025
80m – 9am – 5pm
**FoxO – 9am – 5pm
Sprint – 3pm – til…
Pizza Dinner – 5pm
Sunday, May 11, 2025
2m – 9am – 5pm
Sprint – …from – 11am
**FoxO – 9am – 5pm
Monday, May 12, 2025
FoxO – 9am – 5pm
**Note that while Sprint will interfeer with FoxO because they use the same frequencies it is not the other way around because the FoxO transmissions won’t reach the Sprint areas. That said, Sprint isn’t using 3.54 MHz, so there is a short 2.9 FoxO course using only those controls that can be done while the Sprint course is on.
80m: We will be using the OK2BWN 80m Transmitters at 3W which is likely the same transmitters that will be used at the Worlds. The course will fit on Letter size paper at 1:10,000 (5 foxes Streight Line=SL=5.9k Efective Length=EL=7.6; 4Foxes SL=4.1 EL=5.3; 3 foxes SL=3.1k EF=4k)
80m Classic(Jiri Foxes)
80m Foxes
3.58 MHz
3 W
“MOx”
80m Beacon
3.60 MHz
3 W
“MO”
2m: We will use Charles’ 2m transmitters. Definitely these will be used for the US Champs. The course will fit on Letter size paper at 1:10,000 (5 foxes SL=5.8k EL=7.4k; 4 foxes SL=4.6 EL=6.1; 3 foxes SL=3.5k EF=4.4k) I have done my best to locate the transmitters where there will be multiple reflections so you can get good practice before the US Champs and Worlds.
2m Classic (Charles Foxes)
2m Foxes
144.50 MHz
1 W
“MOx”
2m Beacon
145.55 MHz
1 W
“MO”
Sprint: We will use OK2BWN 30mW transmitters on bamboo poles. The sprint will fit within the 300m exclusion zone for the other courses. The sprint is now a full 12 fox sprint, and is designed so it can be run as one full sprint SL=2.3k or each half separately. Slow SL=1.1k Fast SL=1.2 The Sprint will run continuously from 3pm on Saturday until 11am on Sunday, so if you are staying over you can do the sprint as a night course. (The finish beacon and the spectator beacon are one in the same.)
Sprint (Jiri Foxes / Bamboo Poles)
Sprint (Slow)
3.52 MHz
30mW
“Mx”
Spectator (Beacon)
3.60 MHz
30mW Orange stripes
“S”
Fast Sprint
3.56 MHz
30mW Pink Stripes
“Ox”
Beacon
3.60 MHz
3W
“MO”
FoxOring: (SL=5.5k EL-7k; Short SL=3.6 EL=4.8) Charles’ FoxO transmitters. Definitely these will be used for the US Champs. The course will fit on Letter size paper at 1:10,000. Since the Classic courses are all in the same area as the FoxO, I recommend that you do a classic course before you do the FoxO.
Foxoring (Charles Foxes)
Foxoring Foxes
3.52 MHz
10 mW
“MOx”
3.54 MHz
10 mW
“MOy”
3.56 MHz
10 mW
“MOz”
Foxoring Beacon
3.60 MHz
3 W
“MOz”
Pizza Dinner: We will host a pizza dinner Saturday afternoon.
The Start and Finish for all the formats will be close to the house, registration and gathering area.
Camping and Hotels: Camping is available on our property as well as nearby comercial campgrounds. There are also a variety of Hotels in the area.
Location & Directions: 1725 Gray Owl Road, Asheboro, NC. (35.634843, -79.881873) There is a control on our mailbox at the intersection of Hopewell Friends and Gray Owl Road. Drive 1/4 mile on Gray Owl and take the first left turn onto our driveway. Drive 1/4 mile to the turnaround, turn around and park only on the right side (east side) of the driveway as you are heading back out. Do not drive on the grass at all! Do not park in the turnaround!
It was a beautiful day for some orienteering at Horton Grove Nature Preserve on April 26th, 2025. Opened in 2012, Horton Grove Nature Preserve is the largest public preserve managed by Triangle Land Conservancy. It has nearly eight miles of trails, with plans to expand to over ten. The trails honor the Black families whose […]
Join us for an advanced classic orienteering event on Saturday, April 26th, 2025, at Horton Grove Nature Preserve, which is located 10 minutes west of Butner, NC
Please register here before 9:00 PM on Thursday, April 24, to ensure we have enough maps.
On the day of the event, you will park in the northern parking lot (6879 Jock Rd, Bahama, NC)
The start is open between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Make sure that you finish by 2:30 PM because we will begin clearing the courses at that time.
You must return to the check-in area after completing your course. This is where we will download your results.
Advanced courses: Off-trail navigation is necessary. There is usually a “catch feature” or an “attack point” within 100m of a control. Trails can frequently be used as a route choice, but are usually not the best way.
Expert courses are all as complex as the terrain allows, with minimal use of trails, and differ only in length. The Brown course can be printed at a scale of 1:10000 upon request.
Advanced (Orange) 3.2 km, map scale 1:10000
Expert Short (Brown) 3.9 km, map scale 1:7500
Expert Medium (Green) 5.7 km, map scale 1:10000
Expert Long (Red) 7.1 km, map scale 1:10000
We will use LIVELOX so you can see your route on the map after the event, along with everyone else on your course. LIVELOX is great because you can learn a lot about route choice, and it is fun to see how others’ choices affect their runs. The easiest way to use LIVELOX is to download the LIVELOX Recorder app to your phone. Then, when you start your course, open the app on your phone, click “Start Recording,” and then “Stop Recording” at the end of your run. Later in the day, the event will be published on livelox.com, where you can select your course for viewing. Uploading your route from your Garmin or Strava account is also possible.
There are no bathrooms in this preserve, so plan accordingly.
We are planning a three day event in Asheboro, NC at Gray Owl with all the Radio-O formats, 80m, 2m, Sprint & FoxOring. The terrain at Gray Owl is very similar to Morrow Mountain where the US Champs are being held **Note that while Sprint will interfeer with FoxO because they use the same frequencies […]
We will have an ADVANCED event at Cane Creek Mnts on Saturday, May 17, 2025. Use northern parking area. GPS: (35.958118, -79.420857) The event starts at 9.30 am and everybody must finish by 1.30 PM. Note the early start/finish window! We will have advanced courses available at this event:Brown – 4.0km, Green – 5.7km, Red […]
This is great both because you can learn a lot about route choice, and fun to see how others’ choices affected their run. The easiest way to use Livelox is to download the Livelox app to your phone. Then when you start open the app on your phone and click “Start Recording”. Then after the event, the event will be published on Livelox.com and you can select your “Class” which is the same as your course. Then you will be offered the event to choose so you can see your and everyone else’s routes. (You can also upload your route from your GPS watch or Strava.)