BPC routes & instructions
Border Patrol Challenge
2024-2025
Guidebook
Border Patrol Challenge Start and Finish times:
Begin on Winter solstice 2024 at 4:19 AM EST on Saturday, December 21.
Finish before Spring Equinox 2024 at 5:01 AM EST on Thursday, March 20.
Blaze orange
You are required to wear at least 200 square inches of orange during hunting season in RI. When is hunting season? It’s easier to tell you when it isn’t. Wear orange. Yellow, green, and pink are not orange, and you can probably get away with those colors in other states. RI is very specific about what they want you to wear. It has to be solid blaze orange (no mesh, no apricot).
15 Border Patrol Challenge routes
All routes need to be done as one continuous activity (Strava is preferred, but Garmin and other apps work too). We recommend using a backup tracking source (ex: watch + phone app = two devices recording your route) because sometimes one device fails mid activity.
You must change the settings on your activity to public before sharing them, or we won’t be able to see them. There are two people reviewing your activity, and it might take them several days to get to it because they both have full-time jobs and other obligations. Please be patient. They will look to see that you completed the route without deviating. The only time that a deviation is okay is if you return to where you deviated from and then continue on your way. For example, you miss a turn and go one mile in the wrong direction (it happens) - retrace your route back to the wrong turn and resume the route correctly. No, you can’t use a bicycle, car, etc. Foot travel only.
Some of the routes combine a few different trails this year, and some are unmarked. Please bring a device that can help with route correction. You can bring a map and compass if you choose, but you will save time by having the route ready to follow on either Strava or on your watch.
Route Notes
Each route link above has links to a route that you can follow on your phone in Strava. You can read the route descriptions from a computer, but those notes are not available on the phone app. You can also download the GPX file to your watch and follow it. However, for most of these routes, we highly encourage you to bring your phone in case of emergency and to help with wayfinding. Some routes are marked better than others. Please bring your phone and read below. Be sure to COMPLETE your loops and do the entire out and back of a route - I don’t want to tell you your activity didn’t count, but I will.
Here’s how this works:
Choose a segment to complete. Pick out your best blaze orange outfit, and put it on.
Drive (or uber, walk, run, ride) to one end or the other of the segment (or somewhere mid-loop).
Turn on your activity recording device/software (Garmin, Strava, Suunto, Coros, etc). Press record (or start, etc).
Run/walk/crawl the complete segment, both out and back or the loop (in one continuous attempt).
Hit “stop” and “save” on your activity recording device/software.
Do whatever you do post-activity, but don’t forget step 7.
Use our submit activity link under the BPC submission tab on the website to upload your activity link to the scoreboard. Make sure that your activity privacy settings are set to “public” or “everyone” so that your scorekeepers and fellow participants can see it.
You can redo any segment you want, anytime you want between now and the last day of the challenge (complete it by Thursday, March 20 at 5:01 AM). Just be sure to check the box as “yes” that asks if this was a redo.
We will check results and update the scoreboard weekly.
Please feel free to share tips and experiences on the group Facebook page.
If you have questions, please check the Facebook page first to see if your question has already been asked/answered. If not, ask away. If it’s a personal question, just email me (Liz) at borderpatrolchallenge@gmail.com.
Please be safe out there, and always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back.
FAQs:
Q: From your comments on Strava route, I see that you can run loops in any direction that you want. That’s good!
My question is regarding the start/finish location. Are the Border Patrol Challenge rules the same as FKT rules, in which you can start anywhere you want on a route, as long as you run the whole route? For example, on West Thompson loop, your Strava route shows a Ravenelle start. If I start in my usual place coming in from the campground at the start of the disc golf course, as long as I run the entire loop, I assume this works as well, but please just confirm.
A: Yes, you can start wherever you want for these routes as long as you run the whole route.
Q: What if I go off course?
A: As soon as you realize you’re off course, backtrack to the place from which you veered off route, and resume the course. Yes, you might have gone off course by 2 miles. It happens to the best of us. Luckily, we let you have do-overs here in the BPC.