The normal Monday Match Site is unavailable during February so we have chosen an alternate site not far away. The alternate site will be about 1.4 miles farther for Camp Verde and Rimrock participants, almost an identical distance for Cottonwood and Cornville participants and about 2.5 miles shorter for Sedona participants arriving via The Beaverhead Road.
The major advantage of the alternate site is an awesome backstop, probably the best backstop we have used in 3 seasons. The backstop is almost immediately behind the Course of Fire area and rises at least 15 feet above grade level at the Course of Fire Area. An additional advantage is that the dirt road to the site is in very good condition.
There are several disadvantages to the alternate site, including:
- Small Course of Fire Area will limit or preclude movement.
- The area is sloped so targets will need to be adjusted to remain level for the shooter's sight plane.
- Set up of complex stages will not be possible
- Parking is difficult but "doable."
- The site is only three-tenths of a mile from The Beaverhead Road.
Even though the alternate site is relatively close to The Beaverhead Road, participants and their vehicles will be fairly well screened by vegetation. For example, we doubt that the gear truck will even be visible from The Beaverhead Road.
We spent several hours on January 26 inspecting various possible alternate sites. All sites along Old 179 southwest of the USFS Beaverhead Day Use area were deemed unsuitable for various reasons. Other sites inspected on the southwest flank of House Mountain were also deemed unsuitable for various reasons.
Although the alternate site is not optimal, it is suitable and safe. We will adjust the Monday Match Stage Designs to conform with the Course of Fire constraints.
It should be noted the alternate site is ideally suited for a BUG Match so the only problematic Stage Design issues will be encountered in the second February Monday Match. The BUG Match Stage Designs will be optimized for the favorable geometry of the backstop.
Hopefully, we will have time during the upcoming week for a little holistic low impact landscape management work at the site.
Captions are below each graphic and photo.
The yellow push pin is the alternate site. The left red dot is The Beaverhead Road intersection with
The Cornville Road. The right red dot is 1.1 miles from The Beaverhead Road intersection.
The push pin is .3 mile from the turn off The Beaverhead Road.
The yellow push pin is the gear truck parking area. The red rectangle is the Course of Fire area.
The three green triangles will be the stage locations. The irregular blue area is parking for participants.
The right red line is the top of the backstop. The long line is the distance from the top of the backstop to
The Beaverhead Road--precisely a half mile. We will have the route into the site well marked for the Match.
The backstop rises sharply just to the left of the frame of view. You will be impressed with the backstop.
This is looking back in a Course of Fire area toward where the gear truck will be parked.
This is looking across the three Course of Fire areas.
I couldn't get a good shot of the backstop looking from the firing line because
the sun was right in my camera lens. Suffice to say it is a Most Excellent backstop.
