When: Saturday, June 13
Where: Severson Dells Nature Center
Time: 9:30 AM - 12:00 Noon

We seem to live at a time when electronic gadgetry serves as a crutch for many of our activities. Witness the vast array of cell-phones, hand-held GPS devices and mobile navigation systems. Can anyone read a road map anymore? Are we in an era when analytical thinking and personal observation skills take a back seat to blind allegiance to what a machine says? If our technology fails us can we still function and continue with our plans or are we like the proverbial canoe heading upstream without a paddle?

Severson Dells Nature Center will offer the chance to leave your high tech digital route finding devices at home and instead rely on a map (actually printed on paper) and your ability to interpret it. If you’re up for the challenge you can choose to also test your skills with the original “high tech” navigational device, a compass. Best of all is the fact that while you are honing your route finding skills you are surrounded by the woodland, prairie, creek, hills and, of course, the dells of Severson Dells Forest Preserve.

This is an activity known as orienteering, a popular sport in parts of Europe, but existing in relative obscurity on this side of the “big pond.” Many Americans when asked if they can find a particular location blithely exclaim, “I can’t read a map!” This indifference toward map reading and finding one’s way almost seems a cultural norm. However the exploration of our continent was done by those who relied only on basic navigational devices and/or dead reckoning. The likes of Daniel Boone, David Thompson, John Fremont and Lewis and Clark found their way without a map because they were the ones making the map. Many who went through the ranks of the Boy Scouts received training in map and compass and that organization still offers a merit badge in orienteering.

Here’s how it works. Come to Severson Dells Nature Center on Saturday, June 13 between the hours of 9:30 AM and 12:00 noon. There you can check out a map which will have trails, streams, pond and various man-made structures shown on it, along with a series of x’s representing checkpoints which you are challenged to locate. If you choose the easier orienteering route all of your checkpoints will be located along established trails so go ahead and wear your shorts. Those up to it can choose the more challenging route where some of your checkpoints will be off the trail, which means out in the woods or in the middle of the prairie. As you probably already figured out, shorts are not advised for this route. You will need a compass to do the more adventuresome route and you can check one out at the nature center.

A short course on map reading and compass use will be offered at the nature center at 10:00 AM for those wishing instruction before heading out on the trail. Attending the course is not mandatory, however, and anyone can come between the hours mentioned above and head out on his/her own. This activity is a great opportunity for families and individuals to get outside in a beautiful location and learn backwoods route finding skills at the same time. There is no fee for participating. However donations to Severson Dells Nature Center will be appreciated. Call 815-335-2915 for more information.

Submitted by,

Richard Benning, Severson Dells Nature Center