Additional 3BC Description
The Venue
The Babcock Division of Gallitzin State Forest might be described as a mountain-bog area.
Much of it is relatively flat and in those flat areas there are many places where
seasonal marshes formed. In addition, there are multiple areas of more permanent larger marshes; and because of both underground and above-ground
coal mining, some of the permanent marshes show evidence of mine-acid drainage. Ten of the marshes are mapped as uncrossable because of depth
and/or the presence of mine-acid drainage.
Because of the flatness, most of the stream systems are quite complex, especially Babcock Creek (the main stream in the area). In addition,
there are many rough-open and semi-open areas scattered throughout the flatter parts. These areas range in size from perhaps 100 sq m to 5000 sq m
and are sometimes recognizable by ferns growing in them. There are also a few remnants of farm fields in the southern part of the area.
There are many rock features: boulders of all sizes up to as big as a small house; boulder fields (some hundreds of meters long), sections of rocky
ground (also some hundreds of meters long), cliffs 1 to 10 meters high, trenches, a few rocky pits and a few caves. Some boulders are so large that
they have bushes and trees growning on top of them; I regard these as "pillars".
The land is about 90% open forest, although many trees have low-hanging branches that can be annoying.
Most of the areas that are green are in current or former deer pen areas. There are 15 current deer pens, easily
recognized by the high fence that surrounds them and trail that goes around the outside. All deer pens may be entered, however only through one
of the yellow gates - these are marked on the map. The same can be said about exiting a deer pen.
Some deer pens have very thick tree growth or undergrowth; but a couple can be traversed reasonably
easily - several were logged recently and now have a tangle of rides and rough open areas.
However, the interior of many deer pens has NOT been field checked.
There is also a 600-acre section in the NE part that was formerly a strip mine and is mostly rough open.
There is little evidence of wildlife in the area. A few deer and turkeys were seen; there were signs of bears but no sighted animals.
The sparsity of wildlife may be due to the lack of food; there are not many nut-producing trees or significant berry patches.
I am told that there are copperheads in the area; however, during field checking, the only snakes I saw were harmless.
The portion of the Babcock Division that we are using covers approximately 6000 acres (9.5 sq mi). I added
about 500 acres since the 2024 3BC.
The Map
The map was made over a 30 month period starting in mid-2019 with a few updates and additions each year since.
I describe it as almost an orienteering map because when
I make an orienteering map I like to have my
tracks a bit closer together when I criss-cross an area in order to be sure I don't miss anything important. I should point out that
the visibility is excellent at Babcock almost any day of the year. So, if I only got to within 50 m of some spots, I don't think I would
have missed much - maybe some small rocky areas or light green patches or small depressions or small seasonal marshes.
My standard for mapping boulders was 0.9 m or higher;
there are many boulders out there that did not make the grade. There a few slightly smaller boulders mapped in areas where there are
no other discernable fewtures. I mapped areas
as boulder fields if I thought there was a reasonable chance that someone could break an ankle when crossing if they were not careful.
The boulders in the boulder fields may range from 0.3 m high to 4 m high; the map does not distinguish.
Areas of rock that I thought did not pose a significant
danger are mapped as rocky ground. It is possible that some of the areas mapped as seasonal marshes will not be wet; however, it
will be Spring; so that is not very likely. If it is an exceptionally wet Spring, some of the permanent marshes that are surrounded
by or adjacent to seasonal marshes may have spread out a bit. The only use of the "distinct vegetation boundary" is for sections of
evergreen forest; there are many places in the southern half of the area with mixtures of evergreen and deciduous trees with no boundary shown
because there is no distinct boundary.
The Event
The 3BC has two races, a 3-hour and a 6-hour. Last year, several competitors managed to clear the course, including one that did it
with considerable time left over. This year, I have attempted to make the course more difficult; to reflect that, I have also
increased the number of score points available. Even though the land is fairly flat, I expect the need for careful off-trail navigation, the fact
that there are few trails and the need to circumnavigate some boulder fields, marshes and deer pens to slow competitors down.
There is no kitchen available at the event site, in fact, there
is not even an indoor pavilion. And the outdoor pavilions can accommodate only about 15 people each. So, we will have food;
but it will be more of the sandwich-snack-fruit variety rather than a cooked meal.
Teaser
Here is a link to a group of photos, most of which show the actual feature at control locations that will
be used in the 2025 3BC: 2025 Controls
There are 40 control sites but only 24 are shown - I thought this collection showed some of the more picturesque
sites.