Everyone should plan to come to Annadel State Park, the best orienteering terrain in the Bay Area. The park's beautiful and runnable forest is dotted with meadows, quarries, pits, and rock features. The climb is generally less than most Bay Area parks.
Annadel is a course designer's dream. The huge stretches of runnable forest, the widely varying terrain and the multitude of point features allow for technically challenging courses with multiple route choices on most legs. All this, while limiting the lung-burning climbs BAOCers usually must endure. There is light to moderate poison oak in the park. Most can be avoided, but by April these green leaves should be shiny and brimming with oil. Scrubbing with Technu is highly recommended after completing your course. There are many rocky areas in the forest. Even some of the trails can be quite rocky. Rattlesnakes, wild pigs, wild cats and coyotes are around and should be admired from afar if spotted. Ticks are also thriving in the springtime.
To get to the best terrain, there will be a 35-minute uphill walk to the start for all courses. The finish for White, Yellow, and Orange will be near registration. The finish for the advanced courses will be another 30-minute walk back to registration. Registration closes at 12 Noon. Starts close at 12:30PM Courses close at 2:00PM.
E-punching will be used for the advanced courses (Blue, Red, Green, Brown). Remember to bring your sticks to the start. If you do not own an e-punch stick, you can rent one for $2 at registration. After finishing, advanced runners must walk back to registration to download. Manual punching will be used for White, Yellow, and Orange courses.
Here is a rundown of the eligible ages and sexes for each course. Your Orienteering age is the age you will be on December 31, 2002.
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Courses have been set for fast orienteering, with lots of route choice. Only the Blue and Red courses will have one control each that involves a long, hard climb. Technically, Bay Area terrain doesn't get any more challenging than Annadel. You may want to take more time to plan your routes. Many control placements will require fine navigation inside the control circle. The advanced courses are almost completely in forest.
Each course has a different control #1. They are set somewhat close together. Be certain that you are punching the control with the correct code.
The Orange Course has an X as a control description. This represents a man-made rock dam.
There are some map symbols that are different from IOF standards. Green X's on the map indicates a large tree, unusual tree, or a large stump. These are usually in the forest. Brown X's on map represent rootstocks. If a rootstock has a significant log attached to it, a black line represents the direction and length of the log.
Vegetation: Dark green is usually thick manzanita. Medium green is usually manzanita that can be traversed with some difficulty. Light green can be thicker forest or widely dispersed manzanita. It is difficult to distinguish small mapped clearings in forest areas where the trees are widely dispersed. All large meadows are out of bounds. The courses have been set so you do not have to cross these. You can traverse on the edge of them.
Poison oak coverage is moderate to light. The growth of new spring shoots is now about 1-foot high. Scrub with Tecnu after the event.
Major changes have occurred to the trail network at Annadel. Many trails have been eliminated and some new ones have been added. I have tried to remap these changes, but have not had time to follow every trail. So you may find some unmapped trails and also some mapped trails that have been changed or eliminated. Trails can be quite rocky, especially on the White and Yellow courses.
Rocks are everywhere. Generally boulders below 1 meter are not mapped. Groups of small rocks under 1 meter are mapped as stony ground. Groups of large boulders over 1 meter are mapped as boulder fields. All of this is variable.
Fences and stone walls are in various states of decline. You may cross these at some points and not notice them.
Course statistics:
Course Controls Length Climb Navigation White 8 2900m 10m Beginners Yellow 9 3050m 30m Advanced Beginners Orange 9 4050m 100m Intermediate Brown 9 4375m 145m Advanced Green 9 5225m 185m Advanced Red 13 6325m 295m Advanced Blue 14 8000m 380m Advanced
Take U.S. Highway 101 north to Santa Rosa. Once in Santa Rosa, exit onto Highway 12 going east. Follow Hwy 12 for 1.5 miles to its left turn at Farmer's Lane. Do not take this turn, but instead, continue straight onto Hoen Avenue. At the Hoen-Summerfield traffic light 1.5 miles later, continue straight, then take an immediate left onto Newanga Avenue. Newanga leads into Spring Lake County Park. At the ranger's kiosk, make a right and go up the hill to the Oak Knolls picnic area.