Terrain ↑

Hilly oak savanna. The grass is mostly yellow and dry, with some areas still green; it is usually tall, but not too thick; there are plenty of awns. The ground is mostly dry, occasionally rocky. Poison oak is not abundant; it is easily avoidable. Ticks are in decline, but still present. There may be horses on the trails: give them the right of way and run far around. While working on the courses I saw deer, coyotes, and rattlesnakes; in the past I also saw elk, pigs, and bobcats in this park; I saw clear signs of mountain lions, but I’ve never seen them. The views are spectacular (see the event poster); buckeye and elder are blooming; there are poppy and mariposa flowers, but not many.

Map ↑

The scale is 1:10,000 for the Red and Blue courses, and 1:7,500 for all other courses. The contour interval is 5 m. The map was originally produced by Vladimir Zherdev in 2009 and updated by Bill Cusworth in 2023. I converted the colors to the ISOM-2017 standard and made a large number of minor corrections; the map is accurate and reliable. Green crosses denote dead trees in open terrain, standing or fallen. Smaller fallen trees and dead trees in the forest are not shown. Blue asterisks denote water tanks. Additional information for the Red and Blue courses only: yellow with green dots is fairly runnable; some sensible routes cross it; vertical green hatch is slow and may have poison oak; sensible routes do not cross it.

Start and Finish locations ↑

The Start for the White, Yellow, and Orange courses is next to the assembly area. The self-service Start for all advanced courses is 700 m (40 m climb) from the assembly area. Follow the major trail from the assembly area to the south, in 700 m there will be a copse on the right 30 m from the trail; the start is inside the copse; the copse can be seen from the assembly area; the way to the Start is not marked. There is water at the advanced Start. The Finish is 300 m from the assembly area (no climb, no direct visibility); use your map and common sense to find the road to the Download station.

Courses ↑

                                         Map      Water    Navigation
Course   Length      Climb    Controls  Scale     Stop     Difficulty
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
White    2.0 km    60 m  3.1%     6    1:7,500             Beginner       
Yellow   2.3 km   200 m  8.4%     9    1:7,500             Adv. Beginner
Orange   2.8 km   195 m  6.9%     8    1:7,500             Intermediate   
Silver   2.6 km   100 m  3.8%     5    1:7,500    1.7 km   Advanced       
Brown    3.8 km   165 m  4.4%     9    1:7,500    1.7 km   Advanced
Green    4.6 km   255 m  5.5%    10    1:7,500    3.7 km   Advanced
Red      6.3 km   380 m  6.1%    10    1:10,000   5.3 km   Advanced
Blue     7.4 km   445 m  6.0%    13    1:10,000   5.3 km   Advanced

There is one water control on all advanced courses; the table shows the distance from the Start to the water control.

Barbed-wire fences. On the Brown, Green, and Blue courses, you will have to cross a fence at least onсe, or, depending on your route choice, more. On the Yellow, Orange, Silver, and Red courses, there are sensible routes through gates and mapped gaps, however, there are also sensible routes crossing fences. Always roll under the fence – do not jump or climb over it. It is important both for your safety and to protect functional fences.

Some controls close to each other. Please don’t forget to check numbers. (Reminder for beginners: “punching” any additional control is not penalized, but you need to punch your controls in the correct order. For example, if you punched #5 on your way from #2 to #3, you still need to go to #5 after #4 and before #6).

White course. Follow the trails. Your controls are either on the trails or within a few steps of them.

Yellow course. It is a little more challenging than usual: much climb and off-trail walking in tall grass. You mostly follow navigational “handrails”: trails and fences. This time you will have some route choice. See also the note about fence crossing above.

Silver course. The Silver course is a shortcut of the Brown course. You take the Brown map at the Start, and go from the 6th control directly to the Finish. You may switch from Brown to Silver or from Silver to Brown after the start.

Red course. The Red course is a shortcut of the Blue course. You take the Blue map at the Start, and go from the 10th control directly to the Finish. You may switch from Blue to Red or from Red to Blue after the start.

Hope to see you all on Sunday!
Misha Kreslavsky