Double-Up Score-O

Join us for a Score-O event at the New Hope Overlook section of Jordan Lake on Sunday March 29. In this event, your goal is to collect as many points as possible within the allotted time. There is no set route—you can visit the controls in any order you choose.

Registration is closed

Special Twist: “Double-Up” Controls
Some controls on the course will be designated as “double-up” controls, meaning their point values will double every 30 minutes. These will be denoted as “2x” on the control description.

Elapsed Time (in Min)	Value
0–29:59	1 point
30–59:59	2 points
60–89:89	4 points
90–120	8 points

Event Timing and Rules

• Map Handout starts at 10:00 and you can use as much time as you want to plan your route
• Start Time: Any time after 10:00 AM (but you must finish by 2:00)
• Time Limit: You have 2 hours from your start time or until 2:00 PM, whichever comes first.
• Maps will be printed at 1:10000 on an 8-1/2 x 14 (legal) sheet.
• Trails and access roads will NOT be printed on the map. Once you receive your map, you are not allowed to reference any other maps except those posted by the park on kiosks.
• Note that clearing the course will require you to get your feet wet.

Late Penalty
If you return after your 2-hour limit or after 2:00 PM, you will be penalized 3 points per minute, beginning immediately after the deadline.

Control pickup will begin promptly at 2:00, and help with pickup would be appreciated.

Registration will close at 9pm Friday, March 27.

There is no entrance fee required at the park.

Ruth and I would like to welcome you to our house adjacent to the Birkhead Wilderness Area in the Uwharrie National Forest for a weekend of Radio Orienteering and Classic Orienteering. Below is a registration button and details of the weekend plans.

Some of this information will change. Be sure to check back just before the event for the update.

When:

• Friday Noon – 10pm Apr. 3, 2026
  • Night-O 8:30pm – 10pm
• Saturday 9am – 10pm Apr. 4, 2026
  • Pizza Dinner Saturday at ~4:30
  • Night-O 8:30pm – 10pm
• Sunday 9am – 2pm Apr. 5, 2026
• Control Pickup Sunday 2-4pm
  • Any help is greatly appreciated. The orienteering controls are needed for the following week’s Umstead event.

Where:

• Asheboro, NC
• 1725 Gray Owl Road
• 35.6346680703153, -79.88024674672587
• Directions: 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!

Orienteering Courses

The expert courses have a 1km walk to the start and finish at the house.

• Explorer Beginner through Expert. Max 8k
  • The start and finish are at the house
  • The Explorer course consists of all the controls, beginner through expert. You take as many or as few of the controls as you like without a time limit. Just return before 4pm.
  • Beginner controls are 50-59
• Brown 3.6k Expert
• Green 5.3k Expert
• Red 6.7k Expert
• Blue 8.9k Expert
• Night
  • The Night course also includes all the controls, however there is a 1 hour time limit. You may start at or after 8:30 and must return by 10pm
  • The start and finish are at the house

Since Radio-O isn’t much fun if you know where the foxes are, you should do any radio-O courses before any Orienteering courses.

The Birkhead Hiking Challenge

This is a separate event piggy backing on the Gray Owl Weekend. You can check in and out and share the Pizza dinner Saturday evening (if you are back in time). You will need to download and print the PDF from a separate store product. Details are in this article. You do not need to register for the Gray Owl Weekend unless you intend to do one of the other courses.

Radio-O Courses

(Tentative Schedule subject to change)

Classic 80m

• 9am-3pm Fri, Sat, Sun
• 80m foxes 3.53
• Beacon 3.60
• 1k walk to start, finish at the house
• Distances
  • 5 foxes 4.7k
  • 4 Foxes 3.4k
  • 3 Foxes 2.5k

FoxO 

• 9am-1pm   Fri, Sat, Sun
• 1-2  – 3.55 MHz
• 3-5 – 3.57 MHz
• Beacon – 3.6 MHz
• Start and finish at the house
• Distances
  • 9 foxes 5.4k
  • 6 foxes 3.7k

Sprint

• 1pm-4pm   Fri, Sat, Sun
• Slow 3.55
• Fast 3.57
• Beacon & Spectator 3.60
• Start and finish at the house

Classic 2m

• 9am-3pm Sat 5.5k
• 1k walk to the start, finish at the house (different start from 80m)
• Distances
  • 5 foxes 5.7
  • 4 foxes 4.1k
  • 3 foxes 3.1k

LiveLox

• All the orienteering courses are in one event and the code is specific to your course.
• Each of the Radio-O courses is considered a separate event
• The radio-O LiveLox replay requires a password so you won’t accidently open them by mistake. You will get the code when you finish your radioO course.

Accomodations:

Event Directors: Joseph and Ruth

Resources for Beginners

Check out these videos. The first one is our 15 minute class. Then there are two short ones, one introducing an orienteering map, and the other how to use a Thumb Compass – which we can loan you to try out on your course.

• An Orienteering Class (Video 14:24)
• An Orienteering Map Explained (Video 3:52)
• An Orienteering Thumb Compass Explained (Video 1:26)

Event Notes

Map Notes

There are lots of controls out there considering everything is on one map, so be sure to check the code on the control to be sure it is on your course.

Non Standard Symbols

Note the upper bridge symbol where there isn’t any trail or bridge. This indicates an area that may be easier to cross especially during low water.

Note the lower bridge symbol around fallen trees. This indicates that you can cross on the trees if you are brave. Make sure the logs aren’t slippery before you cross in them.

Controls in the woods:

You are likely to see controls out there that aren’t yours. Here is what is out there

• 80m foxes have regular controls with a diagonal blue stripe hanging with an ORANGE ribbon 181-185 3.560 MHz

• 2m foxes have regular controls with a diagonal blue stripe hanging with a PINK ribbon 121-125 144.50 MHz

• Orienteering controls have a vertical blue stripe

• Sprint controls are striped poles with an SI-box on top. No flag.

• FoxO controls are a black pole with an SI-box on top. No flag.

The US Champs were held in Maryland this year.  The format is a Sprint, Middle distance and Long.  The Middle is a short very complex forest course and the Long is similar to our regular events.

BOK had a great representation! We sent 10 people to the champs and did quite well.  

• Ruth F75 – 1st in both the Sprint and Long – US Champ
• Phil M35 – 2nd in Sprint – US Champ
• Lina F45 – 2nd in Middle – US Champ
• Tanya – 3rd MGreen
  • Tanya picked up the wrong map, so instead of competing in her age category she ended up in M-Green. (Women are allowed in the men’s courses and that was the class she could be in based on the map she picked up). This class was not elegable for US Champ title.

The following maps are of the Brown-X courses.

The Sprint was on the University of Maryland campus with competitors running all over the place finding the flags in little nooks and crannies around the buildings. 1:3000

The Middle was either ridiculously complex or subtle at the Fran Uhler Natural Area at Bowie State University. 1:5000

The Long (which really isn’t that long) was at the Bacon Ridge Natural Area which has terrain similar to what we are used to but much steeper and higher ridges. 1:7500

We had a great turnout at Cane Creek Mountains on a beautiful spring day, with 57 starts including two high school JROTC teams, many families, and several first-time orienteers. Participants were surprised by the challenging terrain, which truly felt like being in the mountains. It was especially fun to see beginners finish one course and […]

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We had a great day for both regular and radio orienteering at Woodpecker Ridge. The rain held off until the last of us were on the way home. Runners found Paul’s courses both challenging and fun. We set out to add more detail to this map since out last event here. I managed to break […]

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