Night time nature walk

Night Land Navigation... essentially a night time nature walk where you run directly into nature, vice looking for it. It finds you. Some barbed wire, bear trap sized fighting holes, trees, shrubs, vines, vines with inch long thorns, spider webs, hissing bugs, neck high holly branches, and "uhhohh, oh God, oh nooooo..."...SPLASH..."Oh God, uhhhh shit." Creeks. Although similar to walking through my room at night, this is the description of the jungles of Quantico, not the jungle that is the status of my room every time I leave after a relaxing weekend at home. (at least I have the moral courage to admit I have a problem.) So here's the deal. There are two "improved roads" aka gravel roads which are "parallel" to each other. Along one road are little white ammo can's (boxes) with black letters A-J painted on them. Along the other road are the same white ammo can's with black letters on them M-Z painted on them. You are given a card with 4 starting points, two on each road, as well as a Magnetic Azimuth (the angle you shoot on your compass from that box which will get you to your next box), and a distance. Since you cant see the numbers on the compass in the dark ( you cant use a flashlight) and there are only 2 glow in the dark strips on the compass (which line up to point you in the right direction), there is a bezel ring which clicks in 3 degree increments to allow you to set an azimuth very close to your exact azimuth. The ring clicks so you can feel how many clicks it is taking you to get to your azimuth so it can be done in the dark. You also convert your distance into a night pace count which is usually one and a half times the distance of your normal pace count. At this point, go to your first box. Set the compass, line up the glow strips, and follow the direction the compass is pointed blindly. This is dead reckoning. There is no terrain association, there is no looking at maps...this is all done by putting your head down, watching the compass and plowing through the woods as smoothly as possible.

This is where all those elements come in....Ok, so you shoot your azimuth, you're ready to go, put your head down, and start walking... whack. That is your first realization that this is going to be a long night. You can't see anything except for the minor illumination, and the glow from your compass...oh btw, there are no flashlights allowed, except to write the letter on the box you found on your answer card. So there you are, pushing through the brush, successfully shielding your eyes from branches, flies, and holly brush. And then you start going down hill. You pause for a second, you hear someone sliding down a hill followed by a trail of expletives. Then here it comes, SPLASH. They not only fell 10 feet down a steep hill, they landed in the creek. The next sound that is uttered is not the water splashing over the person, but rather the person moaning from the realization that they just wrecked themselves, their card is probably soaked and they're probably going to chafe for the rest of the night as the mud cakes.

Another common experience is the pushing and shoving required to get through the endless holly branches and the vines with inch long thorns on them. You get to a point where you end up picking up a stick to warn you of incoming branches, then duck your head, cover it with your hands and arms, then while still staring at your compass, you drive your way through the obstacle, clearing everything in your path until...yep, you guess it, you pile drive your head into a tree. If you dont end up driving your head into a tree, you will smack you legs into that shin high log that fell last winter.

Anyway, I think you get the point. Quantico at night is like wrapping a diaper full of indian food around your eyes and then telling you to play golf.