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The Astrogaine at North Grant Ranch

Joseph D. Grant County Park

Date: (Sun.) Oct. 22, 2006
Location: San Jose, CA
Event Directors: - 925.462.2254, - 408.262.3457
Course Setters: Mark Blair, Kelly Wells
Type: 4-hour or 7-hour Rogaine with the usual age/gender team divisions

Course Setters' Notes

The northern part of Joseph Grant County Park is a land of sparse oak forest and grassland range. It's steep in many places and very steep in a few places. But it's open territory almost everywhere, and the only sizable areas of underbrush you'll see on the map are pretty much located on slopes steeper than a normal, non-suicidal person would want to tackle anyway.

Navigation

We've taken pains to set all Astrogaine control markers in locations that will not require great strength or safety risk to reach. You won't find any control points "at the very bottom of a steep reentrant".

The technical level of navigation involved is a mixture of tough intermediate level (like a tough Orange orienteering course) and light advanced (like an easy Brown/Green/Red/Blue course). More than half the control points are located within 300 meters of a mapped trail. The great majority of control features are point features (like boulders, lone trees, etc.).

Hazards

Poison oak, the traditional bane of orienteers and hikers in California, is present in patches of all sizes throughout the park. Any area shown on the map as a shade of solid or hatched green is likely to be interspersed with at least a few lurking twigs of this botanical menace. Fortunately, by late October, the leaves of poison oak have dried up and mostly fallen off, greatly reducing its potency. But keep an eye out and, by all means, wear long clothing of some type (at least on your legs).

Wild pigs are a common sight in Joseph Grant Park. These basically resemble the typical barnyard pig, but are dark brown, almost black, in color. The pigs themselves are rarely a hazard; they pretty much go scurrying the other way as soon as they see you. But the widespread damage that their rooting has caused in many of the grassy areas is indeed a significant hazard. Running across an area where the dried grass hides torn-up, uneven ground beneath can result in a broken ankle. For this reason, and also because of the steep terrain, shoes with cleats are strongly advised. Hiking boots with good tread will also do the job. If you wear flexible old running shoes with smooth tread, you'll probably become quite irritated (or worse), since you're likely to spend a good deal of your time slipping and falling.

The course setters, during their numerous days in the field, have also seen many deer and a few bobcats, coyotes, and even the occasional tarantula. No mountain lions or rattlesnakes have been sighted.

Refreshments On The Course

Eight water stations have been set up throughout the Astrogaine area. Each one of these is stocked with paper drinking cups and about 8 one-gallon jugs of water. Four of these water stations are located at control markers and are marked on the map and on the control description sheets with the IOF symbol for "refreshments" (a little cup). The other four water stations are located at intermediate positions along major trails and are also marked on the map with the "refreshments" symbol.

In addition to the water stations, we've also set up a snack station at control point #464 along a major trail in the north-central part of the Astrogaine area. This control point is also marked on the map with the small label "Snacks". Cruise in here at any time to feast on some bananas, apples, oranges, M&Ms, Red Vines, and various types of energy bars. Gookinaid and ordinary water will also be available here. The snack station will be manned by Astrogaine personnel until 2:00 P.M. (But the goodies will still be available after that time.)

Rules and Procedures

There are 71 control points on the map, with score point values ranging from 10 to 100. If you reached them all, and returned to the Start/Finish within your time limit, you'd have a score of 3415 points.

Each control point circle on the map is labeled with two numbers. The number in larger print is the point value assigned to that control point. The smaller print number in parentheses is the code on the marker at that control point. A corresponding square on the control punch card contains the same two numbers: the control code is in the square's upper left corner, and the point value is in the lower right corner. Squares are arranged on the punch card in the order of increasing control code.

Please observe these rules:

  1. All team members must return to the Start/Finish area before leaving the event.
  2. All members of a team must stay within sight of each other at all times.
  3. A 10-point penalty will be assessed for each minute, or portion thereof, that a team exceeds its time limit.
  4. All teams finishing in 4 hours and 10 minutes or less will be included in the 4-hour results. All teams that finish in a longer time will be included in the 7-hour results.
  5. Areas that are out of bounds for Astrogaine participants are marked on the map with vertical purple hatching. Dangerous areas are marked with diagonal purple crosshatching. Avoid all areas of either type.