O in the Oaks

Course Setter's Notes: Day 1

Morgan Territory, Livermore
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001

Contact: George Minarik, course setter

The Day 1 area has never been used for an orienteering event. It is the typical oak woodland, ridge, and valley terrain of Northern California. Many of the reentrants and hillsides are forested with oak, bay and buckeye trees. There are large open areas, many of which are used for cattle grazing. The terrain can be steep, but most of the forested hillsides are runnable. There are varying forms of low vegetation.

The map was checked and drawn by Zoran Krivopac in the summer of 2001. Maps for the Blue and Red courses will be scaled at 1:15000 with 5-meter contours. The maps for all other courses will be scaled at 1:10000 with 5-meter contours. The controls will be on stands with e-punch units and backup manual punches. The Day 1 course designer is George Minarik, the vetters are Evan Custer and Leslie Minarik.

Course Statistics

Course     Controls      Length      Climb

Blue          13         6000m       395m
Red           13         4850m       295m
Green         12         4425m       280m
Brown          9         2700m       175m
Orange         8         3025m       195m
Yellow         6         1450m       110m
White          7         1400m       100m
The climb ratio on the Day 1 courses is higher than standard. The course lengths are about 20% to 40% shorter than standard to compensate for the climb. This was the tradeoff to set courses in this new and interesting side of the park.

The walk to the start from registration is about 1.6 K northwest (25 minutes) on Morgan Territory Road. There may be fast-moving traffic along this road, so walk on the left side, single file. There will be no parking allowed along Morgan Territory Road during this event. Please do not try to drive to the start area. This will cause problems for the meet organizers.

When your start time is called, report to the start line and check in with the starter. In two minutes, you will move to the intermediate line. When the whistle blows two minutes later, you will be on the clock. Proceed to the remote start triangle and pick up the map for your course. Control descriptions will not be distributed prior to the event. Copies will be available 2 minutes prior to the start. Control descriptions will also be printed on the front of the map. The maps will be sealed in map cases.

WRE participants should note that The Day 1 event is also the model event for the WRE. We have tried to simulate the WRE procedures and terrain as much as possible but there will be some differences. The Day 1 courses will be shorter with a higher percentage of climb. Day 1 courses will also have fewer rock features and paths.

Map and Terrain Notes

The trail network is moderate. There are many unmapped animal paths in the terrain. Some of these can seem quite distinct for short periods, but then fade into nothing. Many are terraced paths made by cattle along the hillsides. A decision was made to only map the distinct park paths and avoid cluttering parts of the map with black lines.

Green X's on the map represent dead trees. The control description is the lone tree symbol modified by the ruined symbol. These trees may be fallen or in the form of tall stumps. If they are stumps, the height is indicated on the control descriptions. Sometimes, a stump is surrounded by fallen branches. Green circles on the map represent living single trees or distinct trees in the forest. The control description is the lone tree symbol.

Rocks are unevenly mapped. Some areas of the map have large numbers of 1 meter or higher boulders that are close together and mapped as stony ground, while other areas have a single rock of about 0.5 meters or higher that is mapped as a boulder.

Reentrants can be mapped several ways other than just contour lines: as streams (blue lines), as steep, hard-to-cross gullies (thick brown lines), or as easy-to-cross ditches (dotted brown lines). In some cases, a gully can become a ditch and then become a gully again. These symbols can aid navigation by allowing the choice of easy crossing points. Also, the beginning and ending of gullies and ditches can make distinct control features.

Hazards

Many of the hillsides are quite steep. The use of spiked or cleated shoes is recommended to avoid sliding.

Fences should be carefully crossed, as this area is used for cattle grazing. Please do not step on them, but try to slide under them to avoid damage. Some new fences can be particularly difficult to cross.

Poison pak is prevalent, but not very potent in October. This time of year, the leaves have fallen and the PO is mostly in the form of bare sticks growing from the ground or wrapped around trees or bushes. You can still catch PO from rubbing against these sticks and they can be hard to avoid. A few large bushes may still have red or green leaves on them, but they are easily recognizable and avoidable. We have done our best to stay away from the worst PO, but all courses will encounter varying degrees of it. Avoid catching an itchy rash by taking the following precautions:

For more information, see the Troop 5 Poison Oak website.

The safety bearing is northeast.