Patuxent River Park

Patuxent River Park sits on the west side of Jug Bay near Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on land that was an airfield in the 1930s and a Nike anti-ballistic missile site in the 1950s-60s before being farmed; remnants of that history, including old airplane and equipment parts, still turn up in the woods as course features. The British Army is also said to have marched through the area in the War of 1812 en route to burn the White House. Patuxent is the more recent home of QOC's season-ending Chase event and picnic, the longest continuously running non-championship orienteering race in the country.

This is one of QOC's least steep venues, with a gentler mix of wooded areas, open fields, and waterways that offers an easier navigational challenge than the club's hillier parks. The terrain is classic ridge and valley, with broad, flat ridges and streams running through many small side re-entrants; advanced courses cross several small streams, most narrow enough to step or jump across. Large rootstocks are common in the woods but are never mapped or used as controls, while a black "X" symbol marks old man-made debris from the site's earlier uses. Vegetation mapping is generally accurate, with the Nike Fields area a known exception that has filled in more than shown on the map.

The flatter terrain and open sightlines make Patuxent a comfortable venue for beginners and families, while still offering enough route-choice variety, and at the Chase some genuinely novel course formats, to interest experienced orienteers too.

Events are based out of the barn and pavilion area off Croom Airport Road, with ample parking on both sides of the entrance road; watch for runners along that road as you arrive.