This is “orienteering” 

When you want to go to a place you’ve never been, you usually call for directions. Then, you look up the location on a map which has highway and street names and numbers.

But, what if you lived in the St. Louis area 200 years ago and wanted to find friend’s cabin in the woods? There would be no telephones. There would be few, if any, named roads or streets and probably no building numbers. 

Bobby Sutherland and fellow scouts and leaders from Troop 739 last month got a taste of what it would be like to find their way in the wilderness.

So did a group of youngsters from the Kingdom Kids Academy for Florissant. 

They took part in a meet sponsored by the St. Louis Orienteering Club. The competition was in Babler State Park in far west St. Louis County. 

Orienteering is from the word “orient.” That word can mean the Far East, such as Japan and China. But, it also means “to familiarize yourself with new surroundings.” 

In St. Louis, the orienteering club sets up courses in the woods. The people go into the forest with only a compass and a special map that shows hills and valleys, and maybe some prominent rocks or trees.

More experienced oriententeers take part in competitions to see who can find their destination the quickest.

Thirteen-year-old Bobby has had some previous orienteering experience. He’s already earned his scouting merit badge for orienteering. In fact, he’s only one merit badge away from qualifying as an Eagle Scout. 

“I like to learn how to find my way in the woods. I haven’t been lost yet,” he said. 

Others who participated with Bobby in the more advanced course were 12-year-old David Price, 12-year-old David Hashagen, 12-year-old Jason Williams and 15-year-old Kevin Gettemeyer. 

Price said he had gone through an intermediate course with his father. Hashagen said, “I got lost once but that was because one of the controls got knocked down.” 

Williams said he likes orienteering because he likes using maps and the compass. The orienteering maps are called “topographic maps.” That’s because they have special marking that show where there are hills and valley. 

In other words, the maps show the “topography” of the land. 

Ten-year-old Mary Elizabeth Mingo was one of the Kingdom Kids students who was going on an orienteering course for the first time. She was there with her sister, nine-year-old Ebony, and brother, seven-year-old Byron, along with 10-year-old Christopher Smith.

They were accompanied by adults Dave Mingo of Black Jack and Billie Davis of East St. Louis. Davis works at Kingdom Kids Academy, a private school in Florissant. 

Mary Elizabeth said, “I like the outdoors but I don’t like bugs.” She was in luck. Most of the bugs were gone because of the cold, windy weather in November. 

Al Bromley is president of the St. Louis Orienteering Club. He was race director for the Babler State Park competition. 

Before the participants arrived, Bromley and his helpers laid out the courses through the woods. There were beginners, intermediate and advance courses. The shortest course was 1.9 kilometers while the most advanced course was 4.5 kilometers. 

The object of the competition is to find several “controls” which are put at different parts of the course. The competitor tries to find each control spot, punch their race ticket at each spot in order and get around the course in the fastest time.

You get a feeling about the courses by reading the last instruction from Bromley. It said, “Remember, horses have the right-of-way. Run off the trail to avoid them.”