Hiking with a purpose

Ok, so I meant to blog this almost a week ago but I kept forgetting. And with all the house distractions it wasn't getting done!
Anyways, I wanted to talk about Orienteering. What's that, you say? Well, imagine the reality show, "Amazing Race," and that will give you a general idea of Orienteering. Ray had heard about this before and he had me check it out online and so we decided to go to our first Orienteering activity last Saturday, the 12th. It's usually held at different locations so this time it was at the Golden Gate Park in SF. We signed up for the beginner's course and was given a map of the park with the checkpoints for the beginners. We also had a card that we would mark when we got to each checkpoint. Next to the checkpoint on the card there would be 3 random pictures (i.e. dog, star, cup) When you get to that certain checkpoint, one of those pictures will be on the sign and you have to circle it on your card to prove you were there. So basically, you have to get through all the checkpoints in the fastest time. To ensure no one follows another group, each team leaves at different times. It quite fun to do. You run around and follow the map and clues. We even tried the advanced beginners, which had 4 more checkpoints, and I got to see parts of the park that I didn't before. We had quite a workout that day! Anyways, I highly recommend to others. Check it out. baoc.org, I believe. The next one won't be for a while, but anyone wanting to join us and form a team or we can compete against one another just let me know!