An Orienteering Map. The Red Circles represent the locations of the controls. The numbers next the circle show the order to proceed through the course. The small white sheet in the upper right hand corner is a detailed description of the situation around each control. E.g. thicket, east corner

An Orienteering Control. The small punch is used to punch your map to prove you visited the control. Each punch makes a unique pattern

The Southern Michigan Orienteering Club puts on 4-6 events in the Spring and in the Fall every year. These events are open to the public and are typically held on Sunday afternoons. People of all ages and skill levels participate.

Twitter: @SMOC_Michigan

Each participant (or team) is given a detailed orienteering map on to which they copy the locations of the orange and white flags, or controls. The participants then set off into the woods with the map and a compass to locate the controls in a specific order. The winner is the person (or group) which locates all of the controls and returns to the check-in area in the shortest amount of time.

There are other variants (E.g. Score-O, Night-O, etc.) that have different rules. Occasionally the club puts on an event with these alternate rules.

Each event typically has 4-5 levels of competition

• White (Beginner)
• Yellow (Advanced Beginner)
• Orange (Intermediate)
• Green (Short Advanced)
• Red (Advanced)