The start and finish for the White, Yellow, and Orange courses on Sunday, Oct. 28, will be right next to the assembly area. Both competitive and recreational courses will have the same start area. There will be separate finish areas for the competitive and recreational participants, close to each other but separated by a fence.
Course stats:
Distance Climb Controls
A Meet
Orange Comp 3.325 k 185 m 14 controls
Yellow Comp 2.750 k 125 m 14 controls
White Comp 2.375 k 90 m 12 controls
Recreational
Orange Rec 3.4 k 185 m 14 controls
Yellow Rec 2.8 k 125 m 15 controls
White Rec 2.4 k 90 m 13 controls
The White course is designed for first-time orienteers, families with small
children, people who do not want to get off the paths, and is the
competitive course for boys and girls 12 years old and younger.
The Yellow course is significantly harder, and much of the course is off-trail. There will be handrails, such as paths, fences, streams, distinct vegetation boundaries or large reentrants, connecting the controls to each other. There is a short leg that does not have a linear feature to follow, but this leg will be streamered. (Follow the streamers from control 10 to 11.) This leg also is relatively steep, going both down into a reentrant and coming back up out of it. Take care when traversing this area. This course is designed for advanced beginners, or people who are very familiar with topographical maps, such as backpackers, and is the competitive course for juniors age 13 to 14.
There are multiple unmapped animal trails. These trails are quite distinct at this time of year, although in the spring, they are not very noticeable. The White course will follow mapped trails only. Yellow course participants may find that unmapped animal trails provide easier footing to a control.
White, Yellow, and Orange participants will be using and crossing the main road through the park, which will also be used by the advanced orienteers walking to the remote start for the advanced courses. The road may therefore be a little congested. Advanced orienteers walking to the start should try not to interfere with other competitors already on the course.
There is relatively little poison oak in the area used by the Yellow and Orange participants on Sunday. (The White course is entirely on trails and you should not come in contact with any poison oak.) It is mainly around rocky areas. At this time of year, most of the leaves have fallen off, and it appears as a vine or short stems about knee high. It can still cause a rash, so try to avoid it if possible, and use Tecnu after the event.
Orange and Yellow participants will be off-trail for much of the course. The grasses are very dry now, and grass seeds (foxtails) will easily penetrate your socks. If you wrap duct tape around your ankles and pants, this will help keep some of the foxtails out of your socks, and save you 30 minutes from picking out grass seeds after the event. (The other alternative is to throw the socks away.)
Have a good time in the woods!