Rootstock Racing

The Crooked Compass Adventure Trek

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into. What you are doing is exploring.”
~Wendell Berry, The Unknown Wilderness: Kentucky’s Red River Gorge

About

​The Crooked Compass Adventure Trek is part-adventure racing, part-rogaining, and part-walk in the woods! Solos and teams of 2-4 will travel by foot, using pre-plotted, water-resistant AR-style, USGS maps as they locate as many checkpoints as possible within the time allotted. For those new to adventure racing, this is a great introductory event that will challenge and give you a taste of the sport while still being accessible and fun. The Crooked Compass is also the perfect training ground for bigger events, whether you're taking on a 24-hour adventure race, the five-day Endless Mountains Adventure Race in June, or Rootstock's fall event...which is TBD, either our fall Stockville or possible a NEW adventure race!

Leave No Trace Ethos

We work hard to collaborate with local land managers and owners to respect and preserve our amazing outdoor resources. We abide by  Leave No Trace's 7 Principles  and also follow USARA's LNT guidelines in our course design and permitting. We ask all of you who join us on this amazing journey to review LNT's guiding principles and review USARA's statement concerning the Leave No Trace ethos. Thank you for working with us as we strive for responsible use and stewardship of the outdoors!

The Crooked Compass with a Twist!

While absolutely an adventurous trek, THIS year, we MAY include some mountain biking in the course. If we do, we will have registration options for those looking to keep things traditional and stick to their feet. We hope to update later this fall, but for those who like biking, we might have an extra crooked twist for you in 2026!

2026 Details

DATE: April 18, 2026 (permit pending)
DURATION: 8 hours (most likely, possibly 10)
LOCATION: Pinchot State Forest in the orbit of Wilkes Barre, PA
DIVISIONS: Solos and single- and mixed-gender teams of 2-4 racers
PRICE: $95/racer (Registration opening soon)
​DISTANCES: TBD

Registration

We will hopefully open registration in the next few weeks as we finalize some details and make more progress with permitting. Stay tuned for more information regarding the event and keep an eye open for information on registration!
Pricing includes:
  • Unique, personally-designed, scouted, and set course
  • 8-10 hours of challenging navigation in Pennsylvania's beautiful state forest system
  • Water resistant maps; 1 set per racer
  • Quality race swag (examples: beer stein, t-shirts, mugs, buffs, etc.)
  • High quality insurance coverage, including extra indivdual medical coverage
  • Post race feed
  • Credit-prizes toward future Rootstock events (divisional winners)

Schedule*

SATURDAY:
6:00AM - Registration and map distribution
8:00AM - Race starts
4:00PM - Finish line closes (assuming an 8 hour duration)

​*Schedule is preliminary and subject to change

Race Maps

At the Crooked Compass, each participant receives their own set of maps (unless a team notifies us that they don't want multiple sets ahead of time). Maps are printed on water-resistant paper and they may be printed on 8.5x11 or 11x17 paper pending on the course design. Maps are preplotted and also tend to include the checkpoint clues. While we strive to use standard 1:24000 scale, we sometimes print at 1:30,000 if it allows us to print the entire course on one sheet. 

Please follow the mandatory gear list closely. We may conduct spot gear checks on the course, and racers who do not have mandatory gear will be penalized for each gear infraction

Coming soon...

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into. What you are doing is exploring.”
~Wendell Berry, The Unknown Wilderness: Kentucky’s Red River Gorge