Grizzly Orienteering's inaugural event took place at the Pattee Canyon Recreation Area on October 4, 2020, a beautiful fall day in Missoula. It was sunny and warm, with temperatures climbing into the 70s by the late afternoon.

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Participants could choose from five course of different lengths and levels of difficulty, ranging from a 2.2km Beginner course to the 5.8km Long Advanced.

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The event was well-attended, with 35 participants ranging in age from 3 to 78! Among them were 22 first-time orienteers, as well as current U.S. Orienteering Team members.

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Grizzly Orienteering would like to thank all the volunteers for making the first event a success! We had an amazing crew of helpers: Will Enger helped hang flags; Tyra Christopherson, Siri Christopherson, and Caroline Sandbo provided awesome beginner instruction; Ashley Kuopus did a shift at the start; Darrell Brown and MaryBeth Rothwell helped make the promotional materials, printed all the maps, helped set up the event, and worked at the start and finish; Alden Wright of the Rocky Mountaineers helped with publicity; Greg Ahlswede made the base map.

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Event results can be seen below. If you are curious, take a look at the routes taken by U.S. Orienteering Team member Will Enger, who had the fastest time on the Long Advanced course.

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***Participants with * skipped one or more controls.