GrizO Bitterroot Weekend NRE
Sat, Sep 20
|Florence
A weekend of spectacular orienteering at some of our nicest venues. Saturday: Middle Distance National Ranking Event at Soft Rock Recreation Area Sunday: Classic Distance Regional Event at Larry Creek Recreation Area
Time & Location
Sep 20, 2025, 9:00 AM – Sep 21, 2025, 4:00 PM
Florence, Florence, MT 59833, USA
About the Event
A weekend of spectacular orienteering at some of our nicest venues.
Saturday: Middle Distance National Ranking Event at Soft Rock Recreation Area (Corvallis, MT)
Sunday: Classic Distance Regional Event at Larry Creek Recreation Area (Florence, MT)
What?
Two days of high-quality orienteering in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, south of Missoula.
Saturday will be a middle distance NRE at Soft Rock Recreation Area.
Sunday will be a classic distance regional event at Larry Creek Recreation Area.
Both maps were last used for the 2024 Pacific Northwest Orienteering Festival.
Terrain description Soft Rock:
Welcome to the beautiful Soft Rock Recreation Area! Nestled in the foothills of the Sapphire Mountains, this is a true hidden gem, popular with local hikers and mountain bikers. You can check out some terrain photos here and Livelox of a previous event here. The mapped area consists of two distinct parts: a prairie-like section covered in sagebrush and a forested section covered in ponderosa pine and featuring steep, rock-covered hillsides and reentrants. All courses spend the majority of their time in the latter section.
Terrain description Larry Creek:
Welcome to Larry Creek! The woods are tremendously open with little to poke, stab, scrape, or otherwise maim, making it a speedway for the orienteer. Elite orienteers will be able to run uninhibited by the terrain and quickly identify strong plans for every leg. With paces on the order of 5:30/km for M21, every minor error will have a proportionally much larger effect on your result. Can you truly go at maximum running speed without any mistakes? This map will give you the answer, and the challenge will lie in finding that threshold. You can check out some terrain photos here and Livelox from PNWOF 2024 here.
Accommodations
The group campground at Larry Creek is booked from September 19-21.
Plenty of hotels are available in Missoula and a few more in Hamilton / Stevensville.
Registration
Registration will be done through Orienteering USA's Event Register system.
Event Officials
Event Director: Emily Johnson
NRE Course Setter: Siri Christopherson
Vetter: Boris Granovskiy
Registrar: Allison Brown