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 enjoyed near perfect weather and a brand new map of the New Hope Overlook portion of Jordan Lake. Many were surprised by how steep and rugged the terrain was, and the three expert-level courses did not take it easy on runners. Several people asked me how much further south this new map extends. The […]
BOK’s second event of the weekend was a chance to see friends again, boast or commiserate about Saturday’s results and redeem oneself on a course with less climb and fewer long legs. The orange course was maybe a little easier than normal, but in general runners expressed satisfaction with the courses. We even had one […]
We had a fantastic orienteering event with a welcome break from all the recent rain! With 44 participants registered, it was a great turnout. Control #47, aka the “dreaded pit,” gave some folks a bit of trouble, but everyone eventually found their way. Huge thanks to William Allen, Dave Waller, Brian Pike, and Vladimir Stemkovski […]
Join us for orienteering for everyone from Beginner to Expert. On October 6th, BOK will be hosting an Open event at Carolina North Forest and we will have the full gamut of courses. Park at the Orange County Health Department and walk to the start at (35.947362657988855, -79.06679473169443)
Start times will be from 11:00am to 1:00pm with control pickup starting by 3:00pm. Registration is closed Register with the button below by Friday, October 4th at 5:00pm so we can make sure to print a map for you. We’ll be pretty busy with events this weekend, so it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to accommodate late registrations.
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 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.)
Expert orienteers are welcome to join us on Saturday, October 5 as we unveil a brand new map of the New Hope Overlook area of Jordan Lake. In order to introduce competitors to this outstanding area, courses will be slightly longer than usual (brown = 4.3km; green = 6.6km; red = 7.7km). Starts will be accommodated between 10:00 AM and noon, with control pickup beginning promptly at 1:30. Click the button below to register. Note that because this is a Saturday event, you will need to register by Friday October 4 at 10:00 AM.
Map handout and finish will be around the New Hope Trail parking lot (GPS = 35.682575, -79.047723). If this lot is full, there should be plenty of parking at the boat launch parking lot just to the north. Prepare for relatively steep terrain (contour interval = 5m) with open woods. There is a bathroom near the start/finish, and as of Wednesday, October 2nd it was open and operational.
Please note that Fearington Rd. is not passable between Lystra Rd. and US-64. Don’t plan a route to or from the event that uses this stretch of road. I think that Google maps knows about this road closure, and will route you around it. (This note is probably only relevant for people coming from points west of Durham.)
LiveLox for the event can be found here, and should be available on race day.
BOK’s first ever official Adventure Race will be on Sunday, October 20 and will involve biking, paddling, and trekking around the Beaverdam area of Falls Lake. Read details and register for this even here.
Expert orienteers are welcome to join us on Saturday, October 5 as we unveil a brand new map of the New Hope Overlook area of Jordan Lake. In order to introduce competitors to this outstanding area, courses will be slightly longer than usual (brown = 4.3km; green = 6.6km; red = 7.7km). Starts will be […]