FernLeaf Wilderness Campus Orienteering Race 2026

DATE AND TIME

• 8:30AM – 9:30AM – Check-in is open
• 9:40AM – Mandatory pre-race meeting
• 9:55AM – 5-minute, map-open planning period starts
• 10:00AM – Mass start
• 11:30AM – Finish
• 12:00PM – Course closes – please return to the Finish
• 12:00PM – Results, recap, food truck, bask in the glow

OVERVIEW

Join us for FernLeaf’s 2nd Annual Wilderness Campus Orienteering Race, where we return to the forest with only a paper map to find hidden checkpoints! Suitable for all ages and requiring no experience, this will challenge you both physically and mentally.

This year’s race will be a timed, 90-minute adventure where you (or your team) must accumulate as many points as possible and return to the finish. Controls (small markers in the field) will be more plentiful, smaller, and tougher to find than our inaugural race! Planning and problem solving will be the name of the game as you scramble and skitter around campus with our colorful and detailed orienteering map. It will be a mass start, so expect a bit of chaos once the clock is ticking!

This year’s race will once again be open to the general public, drawing experienced orienteers, adventure navigators, and map geeks from far and wide. Orienteering is known as “The Thinking Sport,” and draws a clever and thoughtful type of person like you, so expect to make some new friends who share the FernLeaf philosophy.

This activity is family friendly and accessible for all ages, but it does go on (and off) our hiking trails so be advised that it’s more than just a walk in the park. Individual (soloist) tickets are $25 and Team (group) tickets are $40 and are good for up to SIX people. FernLeaf’s Food Truck will be onsite and ready to remedy your inevitable hunger when the race is over at lunch time.

All proceeds from this event come back to support FernLeaf’s Adventure Sports programming and other such endeavors. We thank you and hope to see you on May 2nd! Lastly, please remember our campus-wide NO PETS policy, and thank you for understanding.

REGISTRATION – Same-day registration is available from 8:30-9:30am, but PLEASE PRE-REGISTER AT EVENTBRITE HERE. Minimizing race-day registration helps keep us on schedule, so thank you!

THE MAP

• Field-checked orienteering map at 1:4000 scale with a 5 meter contour interval
• The Wilderness Campus is a feature-rich, wooded forest, rugged and wild, full of boulders, dry ditches, and thickets. It is very steep and dense in places, especially after Hurricane Helene. Wear comfortable clothing that can get dirty.

PAST EVENTS

• Results and pictures from the inaugural 2024 Orienteering Race
• Getting Lost on Purpose – FernLeaf’s article about the 2024 race, by Sam Rule