Rogaine Training Hike -- It's Not About the Hair

Photo by Scott Drumm, Columbia River Orienteering Club
Knee-deep in wildflowers, Mike Bitton (far right) tries to keep up with members of the Columbia River Oreinteering Club during an April 22, 2006, training hike.

Apparently, waaaay before the miracle hair-growth medicine, Rogaine (capital "r"), there was rogaine (lower-case "r"), an orienteering sport that required competitors to travel long distances on foot between orienteering control points with nothing but a map and compass to guide their way. That's the kind of rogaine I'm talking about. It's not about the hair.

Today I went with several members of the Columbia River Orienteering Club (whose unfortunate acronym and more common name is CROC) to do a "training hike" for the upcoming Big Muddy Rogaine 3 orienteering competition May 13 in Central Oregon.

We hiked up, across and down Seven Mile Hill, the wide, barren mountain that sits behind the town of The Dalles, Ore. My altimeter said we started our hike at 600 feet above sea level. When we topped out on Seven Mile Hill, to a breathtaking view of the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Adams, my altimeter said 1,800 feet above sea level. A 1,200 foot jaunt up a mountain is a little more serious a "training hike" than I'm used to! We ate lunch at the top, then made our way back to the car. Subtracting the 30 minutes we took for lunch, the hike took three hours.

When my friend Scott Markham told me about the elevation gain and loss involved in this training hike, it was as if my knees piped up and said, "Hey! Buddy! Did you hear that? Twelve-hundred feet up, and 1,200 feet down. Ibuprofin! Trekking poles! Ibuprofin! Trekking poles!" As you can see in the photo above, I took my trekking poles along for the hike. I also administered Ibuprofin as necessary. Smart set of knees I got! I wasn't even sore after the long drive back to Portland!