WPOC has worked with Stackhouse Park and Adrienne Oldham, a local girl scout, to set up permanent orienteering courses in  Stackhouse Park .  This is one of the few  true permanent orienteering courses in Western Pennsylvania.  The purpose of a permanent orienteering course is to provide a continuous opportunity for the public to experience orienteering whenever they desire.  Regular orienteering meets will still be held in Stackhouse Park; but the permanent courses are always there.

As of 31 July 2006, all 20 control points for the courses are in place in the park and a method of map distribution has been set up - pick up the map at the Ranger Station, Luzerne Street entrance to the park.  The driving directions given on the "Maps and Directions" page leads you to the Luzerne Street entrance.  Maps are free; but it is requested that you enter your name in the log book if you take one.  We want to get an idea of how much use is being made of the courses.

The maps are preprinted with the location of the controls and the clues (feature descriptions) for each control.  Each control location has a metal pole 2-3 feet high with an red and white orienteering marker on the top.  The marker is about 4 inches square.  There are three suggested courses on the map:  short, about 1.6 km (7 controls); medium, about 3.3 km (12 controls); and long about 5.9 km (19 controls).  However, there is no requirement that the controls be visited in the order specified.  So, anyone can improvise his/her own course out of the 20 controls.  Controls do not have punches; so, you are on your honor regarding whether or not you find each one.

Each suggested course has several "easy" controls so that novice orienteers can find them.  But, each course also has at least a few "difficult" controls so that advanced orienteers can enjoy practicing on them as well.  The courses were designed for their various lengths and are not to be associated with any particular skill level or course color scheme.

What You Should Do:
1.  Go to the Ranger Station and sign in on the log book.
2.  Pick up a map from the map box.  Both the log book and the map box are located on the front of the Ranger Station.
3.  If Jim Pasco, the ranger, is there, say, "Hello."  If there are no maps in the box, ask the ranger for more.
4. Go out there and enjoy the courses.