This event is part of the BAOC 2018 Summer Series.
Adventure in the cool shade of the redwoods! Celebrate 40 years of orienteering in the park where it all started (for BAOC, that is)! The map has gone through many versions over the years, and the recent ISSOM map clarifies some of the mysteries that lingered over the years in the gently undulating plateau region that used to flummox many (or, most) of the expert orienteers. However, that's not to say that it's totally tamed.
Schedule
9:00 AM – Registration opens; you can register anytime until noon
9:30 AM – Beginner's clinic instruction (free)
10:00 AM – Starts open; you can start on courses anytime until 12:30
2:00 PM – Courses close, checkpoint pick-up begins
At registration, all juniors must be accompanied by parents or legal guardians, or bring with them a waiver signed by their parent or legal guardian (the registration form is available here (PDF/100KB)).
The beginner's clinic provides an introduction to orienteering and enough instruction to be able to complete a beginner (White) course. See more about the beginner's clinic below.
Everyone must check in at the Finish by 2:00 PM and download their E-stick even if you don't complete your course, so we can have everyone accounted for and start checkpoint pick-up on time so those volunteers can get home.
After you finish, enjoy free snacks and refreshments, and socialize with other participants!
Costs
The following fees apply at this event:
$3 for juniors (age 8 through 20) on the Beginner course
$8 for adults on the Beginner course
$5 for juniors on the Advanced course
$12 adult member price for the Advanced course
$18 adult non-member price for the Advanced course
$1 for a compass rental (optional)
$5 for an electronic fingerstick rental (if you don't own one, you'll need one to complete the course)
$15 for the lowest-cost individual one-year BAOC membership (optional)
Note: We are able to accept payment only by cash or check—no credit cards or electronic payments.
For extra people on a team (i.e., completing the course together), add $5 per adult on the Beginner course or $7 per adult on the Advanced course (with lower prices for juniors).
If you have the inclination (and can start before 12:30), you can do a second course for a much-reduced fee.
More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ. All the prices are also shown on the standard entry form (PDF/100KB), which you can print and fill out in advance to save some time at the event. (You will need one entry form for each group of people going on a course together.) Please note that the form has a second page for signatures of group members.
"Hands-on" Beginner's Clinic Course
Pioneered by the pioneering Jeff Goodwin, and implemented by Daniel Šebo, "we will be offering a repeating, guided, short course at the beginner's clinic. The course is only 600 meters, with 7 controls and 20 meters of climb. All the controls are accessible from trails, and someone will walk all the beginners through it." (You could be that someone—contact Rex if interested.)
Here are the details:
We're going to offer a bonus course and clinic for orienteering beginners at the Joaquin Miller event. To build on the usual ad-hoc introductory clinics, we've set up a mini-course for folks to try out before they take on the beginner course.
OK, so how does this affect me?
If you're interested in orienteering, but haven't pulled the trigger yet, this is the perfect opportunity to get your feet wet. The clinic will provide all the essential info you need to take on the beginner course, and we'll all walk through the mini-course together. No one will (metaphorically) get thrown to the wolves. I'll be starting the clinic at 9:30 AM from the registration area. Please arrive by 9:15 so you have enough time to register and get your rental equipment.
If you're an experienced orienteer, but have friends that you've been trying to get on board, bring them on Sunday! Everyone is welcome to join the clinic at 9:30 and course walk through afterwards, but the mini-course will be open all morning and we'll have plenty of maps. Feel free to use the mini-course whenever with whoever you'd like to bring.
High-fives to Daniel Šebo for creating the mini-course, and to Rex for helping pull all the pieces together.
Hope to see you on Sunday.
– Jeff
Location in the Park
The Assembly Area will be at the Redwood Glen picnic area, close to Skyline Blvd. There is some parking in a dirt siding on Skyline Blvd not far from the Redwood Glen picnic area (see directions below).
The picnic area has benches and tables. There is a water fountain and restrooms nearby.
What To Bring
For the Beginner course, comfortable outdoors attire and shoes are fine.
For the Advanced course, leg cover or gaiters are recommended, as well as shoes with some extra grip on the soles.
Courses
Preliminary course details:
Course Length Climb Controls
Beginner 2.3 km 90 m 19
Advanced 4.4 km 240 m 31
More details about the courses are in the Course Setter's Notes below. Please read them! ☺
One very important note: The naturalists in the park have asked us not to go off-trail through certain gullies and out-of-bounds areas. These areas are marked on the map by special lines and the classic out-of-bounds hash. Please be careful to observe these areas, and do not pass through these areas off-trail, or we might not be able to orienteer here in the future. However, it should not be very hard to avoid the out-of-bounds areas. Each time a course goes through a gully, a control will be placed on a trail crossing to force people not to pass through the gully off-trail.
2018 Summer Series
This is the fourth event of the BAOC 2018 Summer Series. The Series consists of six events, each of which has a "ranking course" for the overall Summer Series results. At this event, the Advanced course will be that ranking course.
Please Volunteer
Be the face of the club! Encourage the new faces to return. When we create family at our events, those new faces will come back again and be part of our family.
In particular, we're looking for the following: Assistant Event Director (you can still run a course), Beginner's Clinics Assistant, Starts, Finishes, Registration, Greeters/Hospitality, Snack Procurement, and the all-important Control-Picker-Uppers.
Contact Rex Winterbottom (Regional Event Coordinator — Sierra Nevada) if you can help.
Getting There and Going
(There are Driving Directions below.)
It's the dirt parking area on the downhill side of Skyline Blvd between the Roberts Recreation Area entrance and the Chabot Space and Science Center entrance. From Joaquin Miller Road, turn onto Skyline Blvd, go up the hill through some twists, and after passing the Roberts Recreation Area entrance on the right, within a 1/4 of a mile you'll see the "dirt parking" on the left. If the "dirt parking" is full, there is a lot further down the road on the right, or Chabot's lot, or Roberts' (which has a $5 parking fee.)
Note: Please don't go into the park before the trail from Skyline Blvd directly to the assembly area—just walk along Skyline Blvd to that trailhead. This is so nobody gets an unfair advantage of seeing where the controls are.
From the "dirt parking", it's a short walk down the paved road that starts on the edge of it to the Redwood Glen picnic area, which is buried in the trees on the left side of the trail. We'll leave some bread crumbs (streamer tape) to lead you.
If you gotta go, you gotta go—the Restroom situation. Close to our picnic site, there is now an excellent drinking fountain. The restroom building closest to it is one for the adventurous. I didn't mind using the men's room there when I checked on Wednesday, June 27, but I did notice the women's restroom was locked. There was a unisex portapotty that may still be close to our picnic site when we have an our event. If you're looking for the premiere restroom experience, carefully cross Skyline Blvd from the "dirt parking," and follow the streamers on the trails about 0.2 miles (according to my GPS track) to a palatial restroom building in Roberts Park.
Driving Directions
The approximate coordinates of the event location are 37.8140,-122.1768.
From Highway 13 (Warren Freeway) in Oakland, follow the direction signs for Chabot Space and Science Center, past the Roberts Regional Recreation Area, to the Orchard Trail trailhead. Specifically: From Highway 13 take the Joaquin Miller Road exit and head east, uphill about 1.2 miles to the stoplight at Skyline Blvd. Turn left and continue on Skyline Blvd about 1.1 miles to the trailhead.
There's a map here that shows the location of the event.
Public Transit
Take BART to the Fruitvale station, then take the AC Transit 339 bus to Chabot Space & Science Center. From the bus stop it's about a 1/4-mile walk back on Skyline to where the parking is (i.e., the bus passed it on the way to your stop).
Note: Please don't go into the park before the trail from Skyline Blvd directly to the assembly area—just walk along Skyline Blvd to that trailhead. This is so nobody gets an unfair advantage of seeing where the controls are.