I shot a new azimuth and ended up in the same spot as before. I didn’t find my point so I headed further east and ran into another point which I plotted (EIB had just been out there so the coordinates were printed on the posts). I found my way up the trail just as the sun was rising, shot my azimuth, and headed into the jungle. One of my points was one that I couldn’t find on the pre-test (it was also off of a trail that doesn’t match what is on the map) whereas the other point had good terrain I could use as a backstop (it was in a valley) so I figured it was my best shot. Once again, I thought I had it in the bag. The morning of the retest, I plotted my points, ran out the (figurative) gate and snatched my first 3 points right away. Unfortunately, the trails on the course do not match what is on the map (at all) so my planned attack point didn’t work and I spent my remaining time looking for the point before I had to return back to the grading shack since I would have busted time anyway.
I had one point that looked like it was right off a trail and a second that was in the southern sector that is notoriously thick and difficult to navigate so I went for the point that was in the middle of the course. On the test day I thought I had it made because I found my first 3 points in an hr and 42 minutes in the dark.
I found 3/5 points on the pre-test which wasn’t great but I had a really hard card and it was my first time doing night land nav so I wasn’t too discouraged. If you get 5/5 points in 4 hrs you don’t have to go out the other two mornings for the test and re-test.
The brush at Red Diamond was still pretty thick but the leaves had turned color and some were falling so it wasn’t as bad as during the spring/summer supposedly. When I went out the first time, it was end of October.
I’m three months late posting an update but better late than never right?Īs I learned the hard way, your land nav experience will vary from company to company, and depending on the season.