Friday, May 4, 2012

The Promise of Summer

Summer Summer Summertime
May Day used to be considered the beginning of summer, and (at least this year) it seems those old pagans might be on to something.  Even if the rain doesn't hold off, the worst La Nina or onshore flow or persistent Arctic trough, or whatever it is Cliff Mass is going on about these days can't prevent the sun from setting before 8, 8:30 or (eventually) 9pm, and when the sun is up that long, it's bound to be warmer come 3pm, 5pm or 7pm.  It's time to start thinking about PuzzleHuntContesting in summer.

Summer in the Northwest means planners and hunter/contesters get more bold.  Events start later (or sometimes, much earlier), are held in further-flung locations, and include more and varied twists.  The companies that charge large entry fees (and, to be fair, award large prizes) wisely hold off their races until the summer months when people won't be scared off by the threat of rain.  Local entities like Seattle Parks and Recreation feel confident putting on family-friendly competitions in August that could be disastrous in March.  To help you with your summer planning, here's a rundown of the many PuzzleHuntContests you can participate in.

The Great Urban Oyster Race Challenge

An inspiration to race designers everywhere

After The Amazing Race debuted, various companies sprung up with various races meant to give folks the Amazing Race experience without actually going very far.  Teams are required, you have to run (or sometimes bike or bus) around solving puzzles and performing silly and/or semi-embarrassing challenges.  The entry fee is typically pretty high ($50-$100 or more for a team, although you can sometimes get discounts via Groupon or similar services), but the prize money is also fairly high.
The past few years, Seattle Parks and Recreation has put on a 'Family Amazing Race' in Magnuson Park in August sometime.  We will know more when the summer schedules come out.

Orienteering

Follow the red lines
Orienteering is the sport of navigation, usually on foot.  There are two local orienteering clubs, Cascade Orienteering Club (COC, larger, based in Seattle) and Sammamish Orienteering Club (smaller, based on the Eastside), both of which put on events throughout the year in the Puget Sound region.  During the winter, they hold meets at locations ranging from Mt. Vernon to Olympia (basically, anywhere you could rationally drive by the typical meet start time of 10am).

But come summer, the gloves come off.  Sammamish mixes it up by holding meets in Eastside parks on weekday evenings, with a hot dinner provided.  Cascade opts for longer courses in more distant locales, and usually also includes one canoe orienteering race.  I like canoe orienteering, but I'm terrible at it, usually ending up cutting through lilypads (don't do this) or going the wrong way around an island or two.  See the June BEAST race if you want more canoe orienteering.

If you find yourself attending more than a couple of these or similar events, join one of the orienteering clubs, as membership in any club gets you a discount on all events for year, which will pay for itself quickly.

  • Score O - May 6, Shoreview Park.  In a Score O  (or rogaine) format, you try to find as many checkpoints as you can in a time limit.  Start at 10:30am if you want to go for 90 minutes, 10:30 or 11:15 if you only want to do 45 minutes (and show up earlier for registration).  There will also be a standard beginner course (where you must visit the checkpoints in order).
  • Port Gamble Rogaine - May 12, Port Gamble.  Again, find as many checkpoints as you can.  But this time you can be out for 2, 4, or 6 hours, and you can ride a bike (or do half foot/half bike).  Port Gamble is more of a wilderness experience than the usual orienteering parks, but still not so distant or wild that you have to go through a lot of preparation to do it.
  • Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, May 23, Robinswood Park, Bellevue
  • Long O - June 2, Moses Lake.  In the Sand Dunes area around Potholes Reservoir, followed by
  • Kid and Goat O - June 3, Fishtrap Lake.  Fishtrap Lake is in the channeled scablands near Sprague, a beautiful location.  I believe Kid and Goat is like a classic course, except everyone starts at once, and you're allowed to skip a small number of controls.  So you end up following others, until you (or they) decide to skip one.  Make an Eastern Washington weekend of it; the weather should be nice for camping near Moses Lake or Sprague.
  • Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, June 13, Kelsey Creek Park, Bellevue.  The website says 'Search and Rescue O', but I have no idea what that means.
  • Long O - June 30, Salmon La Sac.  Make a weekend of it at what (I hear) is one of the most beautiful camping locations in the state.
  • Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, July 18, Big Finn Hill Park, Kirkland.  With a big barbecue aftewards.
  • Paddle O - August 5, UW Waterfront Activities Center.  Rent a canoe, or bring your own (kayaks are okay as well).  Don't forget the sunscreen, and watch out for thick lilypad patches and swans (those guys are nasty).
  • Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, August 8, Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island.  If it's sunny, bring your bathing suit and have a swim afterwards.
  • National Orienteering Day - September 15, Woodland Park.  Very beginner friendly.
  • Salmon Days Orienteering - September 22 or 29, Lake Sammamish State Park
  • Three15er 24 Hour Rogaine - September 29-30, Naches, WA.  Shorter options will surely be available.  3, 6 and 12 hours would be my guess.
There are more events even farther afield (in BC, Oregon, and beyond) listed on the COC website, as well as some events that are being planned but have yet to be finalized enough to go on their calendar.

 

 Urban Orienteering

You'll never look at a utility pole the same way again
If you do orienteering in Seattle, compasses are largely pointless, and you really aren't going to become truly lost, so these events function more as an in-city scavenger hunt.  Basically, you get a map with a number of locations, and you try to visit as many as you can within a set period of time.  Street Scrambles are the most prevalent these days, but they were created as warmup events for the (potentially) marathon Night and Day Challenge.  On the other end, Hood Hunts are a shorter, lower key version that typically take place over 1 square mile.  

Note:  The following Street Scrambles and Night and Day can be done on bike or foot, except for the Fremont Oktoberfest event, which is foot only.

  • Hood Hunt Sunset Hill - May 5 (Saturday), 10am.
  • Gig Harbor Street Scramble - May 26, free.  Cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to a nice little town that puts on this free event to help get its residents in shape (and to attract out-of-towners across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge).  Hint:  pay attention to the contour lines; the gentlest slope out of downtown is to the north.
  • Hood Hunt Moses Lake - June 2.  In conjunction with other Cascade Orienteering Club events the same weekend.
  • First Thursday Adventure Run - June 7, Green Lake.  First Thursday runs are a unique monthly race that's sponsored by Road Runner Sports at Green Lake.  There's only one (gigantic) map with the checkpoints, which is revealed at 6pm.  Each checkpoint gives you raffle tickets, and at 7pm you return for the raffle which features thousands of dollars in prizes.  If that's not enough, there is cheap beer, and the chance to win more prizes at the after party.  In case you're wondering, the $25 event shirt (which gets you double raffle tickets) is worth the investment if you want to win a prize.  But it's also okay to just walk to a few checkpoints and enjoy the cheap beer.  'Like' Road Runner Sports on Facebook for reminders and to see the monthly 'secret' checkpoint.
  • Issaquah Street Scramble - June 24.
  • First Thursday Adventure Run - July 5, Green Lake.
  • Seattle Night and Day Challenge, July 28-29.  Basically a gigantic Street Scramble that covers most of Seattle and starts at 4pm, with options for 90 minutes, 3 hours, 7 hours, and 16 hours.  16 hours gets you a real 'night and day' experience.  I prefer the 7 hour option, which still gets you some night, but with less of the hangover after you pull an all-nighter.  If you clear the course (I almost did it once; forgot the Locks closed at 9pm, dammit), you'll go around 70-80 miles.
  • First Thursday Adventure Run - August 2, Green Lake.
  • Bainbridge Street Scramble - August 18.  I assume this will be kind of like the Chilly Hilly, except with more checkpoints, better weather, and fewer people who fall over at the bottom of the hill because their derailleurs rusted out over the winter.
  • First Thursday Adventure Run - September 6, Green Lake. 
  • Fremont Oktoberfest Street Scramble - September 23.  Foot only, with a course designed by Yours Truly.  I like coming up with a theme for my checkpoints; the great thing about Fremont is that I can always find enough checkpoints to make the theme work, since Fremont is full of random crazy details everywhere you look.
More Hood Hunts are planned; you could even design one yourself in your favorite Hood if you wanted.  Plus you can always go back and do old ones (the maps and questions are online), although some of the checkpoints may have vanished.

 

Bike events

Bad idea, or terrible idea?

 

This year Seattle is sending a couple of riders to the North American Cycle Courier Championships (i.e., to join a bunch of uncouth bicycle messengers raising havoc in another city).  As fundraisers and warmups, a group of folks have been putting on alleycats (checkpoint bike races) all year, with progressively crazier themes:  Staircases, Disabled bikes, and (the latest) Dumpsters.  Reward such creativity by attending one of these; prizes are usually surprisingly good.

On a more permanent basis, Go Means Go has been putting on bike events around town for four years now, including the pre-Easter Resurrection Race and an all-night Scavenger Hunt on the longest (weekend) night of the year.
  • Dead Bike Drag - May 5, 1pm, Denny Park.  Teams of two, and one of your bikes gets disabled by having its chain removed.  I hear the course is only about 3 miles long --- sounds like a good spectator sport.
  • Dumpster Champ - May 19.  This could be the most gloriously disgusting idea ever - an alleycat where you have to dumpster dive at the checkpoints.  Conveniently, I can't participate.
  • 9-5 Scavenger Hunt -  June 16-17, Gasworks Park.  That's 9pm to 5am, folks.  Caffeine stops and breakfast are provided to help keep you rolling (and send you on your way back to your bed to sleep it off).  Or you could do like my friend Dave, who always shows up at the beginning, rides home to sleep, then comes back at 5am for the breakfast.  Form a team if you're serious about winning, because, apart from the late night time frame, this is a classic scavenger hunt where you need to acquire as many things as possible from a long list.
  • Tour de Watertower - July 22.  A punishing race to all of Seattle's high hills ('cause that's where the watertowers are, baby).  Since the towers and the starting/ending points are widely known, this race favors speed and endurance over route planning.
I assume there will be even more alleycats announced as the weather gets better.  See also the Urban Bike Adventure, above.

 

Adventure Races 

Racing adventurously, TRIOBA style
Classic Adventure Races feature biking, running and paddling out in the wilderness somewhere, often for 24 hours or some similarly exhausting period.  The TRIOBA race is like that; BEAST races are at the other end of the scale.  No paddling at BEAST races (except the June event), no wilderness (unless you think Lynnwood is wilderness) and meant to be done in an evening.  Make no mistake, though, you could end up dehydrated and exhausted on a gravel trail in the suburbs if you don't know your limits, so you should have some racing experience under your belt, or at least take it easy the first time out (says the guy who barely managed to bike home from Newcastle a couple of Augusts ago).


  • BEAST race #2 - May 17, Lynnwood.  To make up for the fact that there is no paddling, the BEAST races usually include a 'surprise' challenge like croquet, or disc golf, or the surprisingly-difficult-after-you've-biked-10-miles Winnie the Pooh puzzle.  Otherwise, expect a few miles of running and 10-15 miles cycling on some suburban trails you probably didn't even know existed.
  • BEAST race #3 - June 28, UW Waterfront Activities Center.  Start off with canoe orienteering (the WAC rents canoes), come back after a break for the running/biking section.  This is the most beginner-friendly of the BEAST races, in the most urban locale and near the solstice, so you get the most daylight.  In other words, a great first adventure race.
  • TRIOBA 24 Hour Adventure Race - July 7, Cougar, WA.  "There will be 15-25 miles of flat water paddling, 50-75 miles of biking, and 20-30 miles of trekking and trail running."  I assume this is a great experience if you know how to navigate in the backcountry, but for your own safety, you should stay with tamer events if you do not.
  • BEAST race #4 - August 7, Issaquah.  Did I ever tell you about the time I was on a BEAST race in Maple Valley and the course got me so confused I ended up going to the other end of the Cedar River Trail before I realized I was heading east instead of west?  Bring a compass.
  • TRIOBA Sprint Adventure Race - August 18, Ellensburg.  20-30 miles of biking, 5-15 miles on foot, no paddling, 5-10 hours total.  If you're looking for the next step after BEAST races, this would be a good place to start.

Miscellaneous

  • Run Brain Run - Ongoing public scavenger hunts at Pike Place Market (first Saturdays), Central Library (third Saturdays) and Seattle Art Museum (first Thursdays).
  • Battle for Seattle - May 19.  Photo scavenger hunt, but you have to be a UW student to participate (and half your team has to live in the dorms).  It's put on the RHSA, that's why.
  • My hunt - The smart money says in June, I will have got my act together and have another puzzle hunt ready.  Featuring free entry and prizes that were deliberately chosen to not be worth cheating for.
  • Bikemania - July 19, Magnuson Park.   As part of the Cyclefest put on by Cascade Bicycle Club, there will be a treasure hunt, presumably just for kids.  But you could ride along with your kids.  You know, to 'help'.
  • Gumshoe 5K - August.  A charity event where you walk around Greenwood and solve a puzzle using clues you find along the way.
  • Diamond Dash - August, usually.  Free entry.  Prizes:  a local jeweler puts up a ring purportedly worth something like $6000.  2nd prize is also nothing to sneeze at.  You run around a small area downtown solving clues using a mobile phone application called SCVNGR. 
  • Canlis - If I were a betting man, I'd say we see another Canlis contest before the summer is out.  See their 60th anniversary menu hunt or last year's key hunt if you don't know what I'm talking about.  And join the Menu Hunters Anonymous Facebook community if you want to stay in the loop.

That should be enough for now.  Let's summarize for the next month

Required gear for Letterboxing.  Maybe.
This week's wildcards;

The Run Brain Run events (see above) are every other weekend (including this Saturday).

A company called Search Tempest is running an Internet-based contest they call a scavenger hunt; I don't
know about that; you just find and submit strange eBay listings.  Judge for yourself.

I just stumbled upon letterboxing, which sounds a lot like geocaching, but with more elaborate (and not usually GPS-based) clues.  More investigation is required.

Let me know if you know of any other PuzzleHuntContests coming up.



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