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.
Three Sundays (not consecutive) – Sep 6, 13, and 27
Learn Radio Orienteering (ARDF) as the pros learned it. Nadia Scharlau got her start in ARDF at age 13 and went on to become a world champion, and taught classes to beginners who became world champions themselves. She still uses the same no-frustration, step-by-step approach she used to learn the sport. Now you can learn that way too.
There will be a 5-control 80m classic course (3.5- 4.5 km length) for class graduates and experienced radio orienteers. Experienced radio orienteers wanting to run the classic course for practice must also register.
Details
Dates Three Sundays (not consecutive) – Sep 6, 13, and 27
Location Address: 6898 Stagville Rd, Bahama, NC 27503 GPS:36.141983, -78.851534 This is a private residence not far from Horton Grove. Please drive slowly on the gravel roads and park only in the indicated locations near the house. Do not drive into other driveways (this one is marked “6898” on a stone pillar at its entrance).
Start Time: 11 am (Everyone should arrive by 11 am)
Course Closes: 2:00 PM (but class finishes earlier)
Event Director: Nadia Scharlau, KO4ADV
There will be two unique class sessions with new material for those who can attend both days. The third session is a short course for individual practice and also serves as a make-up day for anyone who missed an earlier class. Both class sessions and the practice course are available all three days. (But you can only participate in one activity per day because they are held concurrently.) If you can’t make all three, attend the day(s) you can.
Class 1: A short beginner course with constantly operating transmitters. You will learn how to use your receiver.
Class 2: A longer beginner course with “cycling” transmitters. You will learn how to efficiently locate radio-orienteering “foxes”.
Class 3: Go solo on a “cycling” beginner course to practice your skills / Make-up day.
We will be hiking the courses together as a group, so please arrive on time to avoid getting left behind.
Equipment
All necessary equipment will be provided at no charge. New concepts will be introduced in sequence at each session; if you can’t attend all sessions, come when you can. Previously covered concepts will be reviewed each time, so you can jump right in.
Those who have completed the first class session can elect to use a competition-grade receiver, which can be rented for $5 per day. A competition-grade receiver operates much like the instructional receivers used in the classes but offers improved sensitivity and frequency stability, providing an experience closer to that of competitors. Renting a competition-grade receiver is optional, but suggested for those who have completed at least one beginner class.
Those who complete the first two class sessions should acquire the skills needed to participate in BOK’s 80m radio-orienteering practice events.
Expert orienteers (i.e., those who have successfully completed a brown, green, red, or blue course) are welcome to join us for any or all of our annual coastal orienteering weekend. This year we will hold three events: a virtual sprint through the historic downtown of Beaufort, middle distance courses on Shackleford Banks, and classic courses on Bear Island. Read all about this event by expanding the headings below, and then. . .
3:00 PM Sprint course opens in downtown Beaufort and is open through Sunday.
Saturday, September 19
8:25 AM Low tide
8:30 – 4:00 Island Express Ferry departs Beaufort, every half hour
9:00 – 4:30 Island Express Ferry departs Shackleford, every half hour
9:30 – noon Start window for middle distance courses
1:00 Courses close. Control pickup begins
2:53 PM High tide
Sunday, 20 September
8:54 AM Low tide
9:30, 10:30, 11:30 Park ferry leaves from Hammocks Beach visitor center.
10:00 – noon Start window for classic courses
10:00 – 5:00 Park ferry leaves Bear Island on the hour
2:00 Courses close. Control pickup begins
3:33 High tide
Getting to the Venues/Lodging
Friday: Beaufort Historic District. The sprint course begins at the east corner of Front and Queen street, just outside the Inlet Inn (GPS coordinates = 34.715836, -76.663590). Please note that the town of Beaufort will charge $3 per hour for street parking in the downtown area, and most parking areas have a four hour limit. There are free parking spaces along the roads a few blocks away. Read more about the town’s parking policy here.
Saturday: Shackleford Banks.
Most competitors should take the Island Express ferry to the island. It is possible to take your own boat or charter, but note that kayaking around Beaufort inlet can be extremely dangerous and is not recommended. Cost for the ferry is $24. Ferry service is not part of your registration fee – you must purchase your ferry ticket(s) yourself, preferably in advance, online from the link above. (Make sure that you purchase tickets to the west side of Shackleford – not the east.) Please note that the town of Beaufort will charge $3 per hour for street parking in the downtown area, and most parking areas have a four hour limit. There are free parking spaces along the roads a few blocks away. Read more about the town’s parking policy here.
Sunday: Bear Island.
Most competitors will likely take the park ferry to the island. Cost is $10 for adults; $5 for children (younger than 13) and seniors (62 and older). Ferry service is not part of your registration fee – you must purchase your ferry ticket(s) yourself. Unlike the Shackleford ferry however, there is no online or advanced ticket purchase – they must be purchased in person from the park’s visitor center on the day you use the ferry. Note that many people may want to take the 9:30 ferry. You may need to show up early to be assured a spot on this ferry, or be flexible with your plans.
A second option for getting to the island is to paddle from the visitor center to the island. There is a blazed kayak trail approximately 3.5km one-way from the visitor center to the island. This trail is rated easy to moderate, although you will be working against the tide. If you paddle out, when you get to the island, do not wrap around its east side toward the campsites. Rather turn west when you reach the island and use the small public kayak landing area just to the east of the ferry dock.
With respect to lodging, there are many airbnb listings in and around Beaufort/Morehead City, as well as a variety of hotels. Depending on your Friday/Saturday plans, it may alternatively work best to find lodging around Swansboro. It is possible to camp on Shackleford Island and Bear Island, as well as on the mainland at Hammocks Beach State Park. It looks likely that several of our participants will be camping at Hammocks Beach (mainland). Write the event director (email below) if you’re interested in coordinating with these folks.
General Conditions
Other than a small pit toilet, do not expect any park infrastructure on Shackleford. There is no water, electricity, trash bins, or shelter.
There is park infrastructure on Bear Island, including fresh water, electricity, showers, and flush toilets. There may also be an open concession stand, so bring cash. These amenities are on the south (ocean side) of the island, approximately 800m from the start/finish area.
For both venues, plan on running on sand and interacting with prickly pear cacti. Mosquitoes, flies, and ticks can be terrible on these islands, so you are strongly advised to bring a strong long-lasting insect repellent.
We will not be able to hold this event if the ferry operators suspend service because of inclement weather (typically high winds). If weather looks like it will affect the event, we will contact registrants via email with further information.
Event Descriptions
Beaufort Sprint. The map will be printed at 1:4000 scale with a 2.5m contour interval. It will use the ISSpOM (sprint) symbol set, but will not have the full detail of a typical sprint map; it will only be lightly field-checked. This will be a “self serve” event without BOK personnel at the start or finish. There will be one virtual sprint course (i.e., without physical control markers), tentatively 2.4km. You will need to install and activate Usynligo on a smart phone in order for your visits to the controls to be registered. The event will also be available on MapRun and LiveLox; but we are not recommending their use for everyone because the meet director cannot figure out how to get these apps to either register a control visit in real time on your phone (LiveLox) or record your results for comparison with the group (MapRun). Instructions for using Usynligo as well as a .pdf of the map will be emailed to registrants on Thursday night (or possibly, at the latest, Friday morning). If you cannot print your own map, we will make arrangements to get you one.
Shackleford. The area will not have been exhaustively field-checked; however vegetation and contours should be depicted quite accurately (modulo recent beach erosion or accretion). All maps will have a 1m contour interval, with depressions indicated by blue contour lines. Because the predominant ground symbol on the map is “rough open” (typically mapped as light yellow), on this map rough open will be indicated with an extremely light yellow in order to enhance its contrast with the brown contour lines. See sample map snippet below. Maps for the brown course will be printed at 1:5000 scale. Maps for green and red courses will be printed at 1:7500. Tentatively, course distances are 2.7 km for brown, 3.7 km for green, and 4.1km for red. The start will be approximately 300m south of where the ferry lets passengers off, and the finish will be near the start. Both the start and finish are about 500m from the island’s only pit toilet and pier.
Sample snippet from the Shackleford Banks map. Note the blue contour lines indicating depressions, the extremely light color yellow indicating rough open, and the blocky (lidar-based) vegetation mapping.
Bear Island. Field-checking quality will be similar to that of Shackleford. Maps will have a 2.5m contour interval, with depressions indicated in the customary way – with brown slope lines. Maps for all courses will be printed at 1:7500. Tentatively, course distances are 4.0km for brown, 5.5 km for green, and 6.7km for red. The start will be at the park kiosk approximately 200m down the path from where the ferry lets passengers off. The finish will be very close to the ferry dock.
Please bring your own map cases.
All courses will use SPORTident equipment (but not Air+) and will be available for viewing on LiveLox. LiveLox codes for your courses will be provided in the pre-race email.
There will not be pre-assigned start times; however the event director will try to exert some control over the start intervals between runners on the same course and/or runners visiting the same first control. Thus, you should be prepared to wait at the start.
Help with control pickup will be greatly appreciated; and will be necessary at both island venues.
An email with last-minute updates and details will be sent to registrants a few days before the events. (So if you register late, you may not get this information in time.) If you need additional information between now and event weekend, especially if it will enable you to decide how/whether to register, feel free to email the event director (Dave) at dw.orienteer@gmail.com
On Sunday, September 6 we will have an orienteering event at Horton Grove Nature Preserve in Bahama, NC. The event is open only to ‘expert’ orienteers – those who have successfully completed a brown, green, or red course.
Please register here before 9:00 PM on Friday, September 4, to ensure we have enough maps.
Courses: Red – 7.8km, Green – 5.5km, Brown – 3.6km
Check-in at the main parking lot (GPS coordinates = 36.142298, -78.843700) to receive your map. Please note that Horton Grove has no bathroom facilities, running water, or electricity. You can read more about orienteering in Horton Grove here. In the case of the parking lot being full, we received permission to park on a side of the main road.
Most events that have a mass start benefit from larger numbers of participants, and the Fox Chase is no exception. We had about twice as many participants as usual for this event, so for 90 minutes the forests, fields, and trails of Carolina North buzzed with the intense activity of over 60 orienteers. I especially […]
It is that time of the year again! Take this opportunity to buy or renew your BOK Annual Event Pass for 2026-2027. It is good from September 1st, 2026, to August 31st, 2027.
If you want to save BOK the transaction fees, you can pay with Zelle.
It isn’t obvious, so when you are in the cart choose “Checkout”, then you can choose Zelle.
If you are on your computer, use your banking app on your phone in the Zelle section to scan the QR code and pay. Next scroll down and click “Place Order”.
If you are in the BOK store on your phone, first scroll down and click “Place Order”, then go into your banking app and pay with Zelle to “Joseph@BackwoodsOK.org“
More information about the annual pass can be found here.
It is that time of the year again! Take this opportunity to buy or renew your BOK Annual Event Pass for 2026-2027. It is good from September 1st, 2026, to August 31st, 2027. If you want to save BOK the transaction fees, you can pay with Zelle. More information about the annual pass can be […]
On Sunday, September 6 we will have an orienteering event at Horton Grove Nature Preserve in Bahama, NC. The event is open only to ‘expert’ orienteers – those who have successfully completed a brown, green, or red course. Please register here before 9:00 PM on Friday, September 4, to ensure we have enough maps. Courses: Red […]
Expert orienteers (i.e., those who have successfully completed a brown, green, red, or blue course) are welcome to join us for any or all of our annual coastal orienteering weekend. This year we will hold three events: a virtual sprint through the historic downtown of Beaufort, middle distance courses on Shackleford Banks, and classic courses […]
Three Sundays (not consecutive) – Sep 6, 13, and 27 Learn Radio Orienteering (ARDF) as the pros learned it. Nadia Scharlau got her start in ARDF at age 13 and went on to become a world champion, and taught classes to beginners who became world champions themselves. She still uses the same no-frustration, step-by-step approach […]
