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Map Guided WALKS

Also Known As Year-Round Events, or YREs

YRE's differ from Hosted Events in some important ways. The route is unmarked and requires the use of a map and written directions. We devote a lot of effort to making these easy to follow. You follow the route on your own, at nearly any time convenient to you. Map Guided Events must be completed during daylight hours for safety reasons.

Year-Round Events begin at a "start box" located at a health club, hospital, inside a large store that offers access at convenient hours, or even the porch of the house of a volunteer. A start box may be a stand-alone podium or a two-drawer file cabinet. Contained inside are instructions, sign-in sheets and maps. You will take an envelope or start card with you.

There is usually a checkpoint along the route, to make sure you walk the entire distance. It would be some permanent feature along the route, such as the name of a statue you will pass, the color of a house along the route or the number of steps on a footbridge that you will cross. Don't forget to bring a pen to write the checkpoint answer on the start card!

Finding Map-Guided YRE's

As with Hosted Events, most clubs offer brochures to lead you to their Map-Guided events. You can usually find a stack of brochures in the podium or file cabinet that makes up the start point.
List of Oregon Map-Guided Walks
List of Washington Map-Guided Walks

Registering

As with Hosted Events, you are welcome to participate at absolutely no charge, though you must still sign the waiver sheet in the Start Box. Those who participate for distance or event credit pay a modest $2.00 fee as usual.

Walk Difficulty Rating

As with Hosted Events, Map-Guided Events are rated on the following scale:

  1. Easy walk on pavement or good trails with no significant hills. It takes the average walker two hours or so to complete a walk with this rating.
  2. Moderately easy. May be on trails that are not as well maintained. No significant difficulty with hills.
  3. Moderate walk. Some difficult terrain, substantial hills and/or steps.
  4. A more difficult walk, perhaps on poorly maintained trails. At the current time, there are no level 4 or greater Map-Guided events in Oregon.
  5. Very difficult, steep hills, rough terrain. For those in good physical shape.

Remember that nasty weather can make an event more difficult to complete! And with Map-Guided Walks, walking alone can also make an event a little harder... These routes are not marked, so you must rely on your ability to follow written instructions.

Finishing

With very few exceptions, the finish point is also at the start point. You will tuck your start card or envelope into a slot or locked drawer on the podium or file cabinet. Use the provided ink pad and event stamp to mark your books, put everything back into the Start Box, and off you go.

Questions?

If you need more information, you can visit one of our many hosted events. volunteers there will be happy to tell you about "YRE's". You can also contact the club that created the event you are interested in by clicking here. Or visit our contacts page and drop us a note. We'll be happy to obtain the answers for you!