Night O training with new gear

Last night Mike, Dennis, and I headed out to Hemlock after dark to do the fixed orienteering course. We were looking to bone up on our night O skills but also try out some new gear that our sponsors had sent us. Mountain Khakis sent us some newly rename  Granite Creek Covertible Pant (Formally Snake River Convertible Pants) and DeFeet sent us some socks. When racing I always wear convertible pants with tri shorts beneath. I find they not only offer the best protection when bushwhacking through heavy undergrowth, but also provide the flexibility of being able to remove the legs in warm weather and not having to increase the load in your pack by too much. In the past I have used both North Face and REI branded convertibles and was keen to see how the Mountain Khakis held up.

DeFeet had also sent us some of their Trail 19 socks. I am a big believer of the new style wool blend socks and was looking forward to testing another brand apart from my standard Smart Wools.

We met at around 10pm and set out to individually clear different sections of the course before meeting back at a central checkpoint. The evening was perfect. It was a warm and clear night, and although there were a few bugs, if I kept moving, they didn’t bother me too much. The wild deer eyes that lit up in the night were sort of creepy at first but were overshadowed by the large number of cobwebs that I kept plowing through. I somehow managed to miss my first checkpoint but fortunately ran into my second point, which was almost on the same bearing. From there I cleared two more points before making my way to the meeting point. I met up with Mike who was on his way to another point and realized we were not quite where we thought we were. After getting to a known good point and reshooting a new bearing to the last point we located the meeting checkpoint. By that time we had been out about two hours and figured Dennis has probably gone back to the cars.

Heading back we met Dennis on the trail. He was sporting his latest fashion accessory, a large snake. That guy is crazy. He found it on the trail and thought we would like to meet it. Check out the picture. 

Back at the cars we reviewed the new gear. The pants were excellent. The evening had been very hot and we had been sweating heavily. My other pants had always tended to cling and become heavy in those conditions but the Granite Convertible had stayed light, did not cling, and did not try to drag themselves off my butt. With lots of pockets for utility items and great performance, I will certainly run my next race in these pants. The DeFeet socks were great too. They were extremely soft, wicked well, and kept my feet dry. Although we probably only trekked a few miles, they felt like they would be great at preventing blisters. It was a fun evening and it is always good to get out in the dark and test navigation skills with good friends.