2007 Western States Championships
Boggs Mountain State Forest
Date: Oct. 13 - 14, 2007
Location: Cobb, CA
Event Director: 
- 415.456.8118
Course Setters: Mark Blair, George Minarik
Type: A; 2-day classic individual USOF "A" meet, plus recreational courses
| Table of contents |
Course Setters' Notes
These notes are also available as a PDF file.
Terrain Description
Boggs Forest (as the locals call it) is a plateau that rises above the town of Cobb. On top of this plateau are a dozen or so small hilltops of varying height. Most of the hilltops are flattish. The slopes of these small hills are mostly gradual, although at least two of the slopes are quite steep. On top of this plateau is a mostly mature pine forest consisting of ponderosa, sugar, and other pines. There is also a smattering of hardwood trees. The major ground vegetation consists of manzanita and coffeeberry bushes. Much of the ground slash has been removed, but there are some areas of extensive slash.
Bordering the plateau is terrain that drops off sharply. On these steeper border slopes the forest becomes thicker and more deciduous with oak and bay trees. The manzanita and coffeeberry ground cover thickens up and the ground slash is more widespread. Reentrant systems appear here in the form of streams and gullies.
Rock features appear unevenly throughout the park. The northern half of the park has extensive amounts of boulder groups and rock faces. Many single boulders dot the landscape. The southern half has much less rock.
There is an extensive road and trail network throughout the park, consisting of old and new logging roads, mountain bike trails, and hiking paths.
Map Description
The map was field checked and drawn in OCAD in 2006 and 2007 by Vladimir Zherdev under the direction of Bob Cooley, BAOC Mapping Director. The map will be printed at 1:10000. The contour interval is 5 meters.
Vegetation will be quite important. The open forest is mapped as white and is very fast. Light green is usually younger trees close together. It is also quite fast. Medium green can be forest mixed with bushes and slash. It is a slow run. Dark green is mostly mature manzanita bushes. It is sometimes impassable, but not always. The non-forest areas of bushes are mapped as two types of green vertical lines. The widely-spaced vertical lines indicate bushy areas that can easily be run through. In the areas with closely-spaced vertical lines, it takes more time and effort to get around the bushes, but these areas are also passable. The mapper has used black dots to indicate many distinct vegetation edges. The distinctness of these edges is not always evident. Plus some vegetation edges that are not bordered by black dots can appear quite distinct.
Boggs Forest is crisscrossed by an extensive network of roads and trails. But many of these tracks can be a bit hard to see, mainly due to the pine needles that cover them in various thicknesses. This is, after all, a pine forest. Every effort has been made to visit all the tracks that competitors are likely to traverse or cross on their routes. We've represented each of these on the map as either a vehicle track, a large or small footpath, an indistinct footpath, or a ride. In this assortment, a ride will appear in the forest as a very indistinct, long-abandoned track that has the width of a vehicle track. It will usually be heavily covered with pine needles. An indistinct footpath is similar, but much narrower.
The map contains a myriad of different rock features. Generally boulders over 1 meter are mapped. Some boulders under one meter are mapped. This is especially true of ones that stick out by themselves in the terrain. There are many dot knolls on the map. At least two of these are anthills (with big red ants).
Hazards
Most courses should not encounter any Poison Oak, but there is a small amount present. In Boggs Forest in October, PO usually has the appearance of scraggly bushes with bright red leaves found on rocky hillsides. But we also found a few low, single plants in the forest. The Day-1 Blue Course has a possible, but not best route choice, for a leg that climbs a steep rock-strewn hillside. This hillside has the only extensive crop of PO that we found. Anyway, if you see any PO, go around it, not through it. Even though the potency of the oils is weak at this time of year, you will want to wash with Technu or some other cleanser if you suspect you touched a plant. Remember the motto: bright red leaves of three, let it be.
The forest has been extensively thinned in some areas, and this thinning has left small, hard bush stumps that are ankle high and can trip you up if you are not careful.
There are a few metal stakes that have been left over from logging operations. These stick up about a foot above the ground. We have flagged some of these with tape, but there are probably others we didn't see.
Start Procedures
All competitors must report to the Start area at least four minutes early.
At 4 minutes before your start time, you will be checked in. At the tone that sounds 2 minutes before your start time, walk or run about 100 meters to the start triangle. Select your map from the correct bin, and write your bib number or name on the back of the map. At the next start tone (0 minutes), punch the start unit, turn over your map, and begin navigating.
Finish Procedures
When you finish, the Finish crew will collect your map. Maps will be released back to competitors after the last competitor has started (about 12:30 P.M. on Saturday and 11:30 A.M. on Sunday). Remember to download at the download tent.
Day-1 Course Setter's Comments
The Day-1 courses have been designed by George Minarik, and cover the northern section of the map. The Blue and Red courses will crisscross all types of terrain, including the steeper and thicker park border areas. The Green course is set mostly on the plateau, but does have a brief excursion into the steeper and thicker area. All the other courses are designed to stay mostly on the plateaus.
White Course Note: Because of an indistinct ride, the route between Control 6 and Control 7 will be marked with pink streamers.
Green Course Note: Control 1 is depicted in the control descriptions and the map as an X. This feature is a signpost.
Day-2 Course Setter's Comments
Mark Blair designed and set the courses for Day 2. Here are the details you'll want to know on Sunday morning: After Saturday's fairly physical courses on the northern section of the map, Sunday's courses on the map's southern half should be a bit easier. Most courses will be a little shorter and the terrain, for the most part, will be flatter and less vegetated. You'll find the topography in most places to be less distinct, and considerably less decorated with concise point features like boulders, knolls, etc. But these are also the very attributes that make this southern terrain much easier to move through and outright runnable over the majority of its area.
White Course Notes: The manmade object at Control 3 is a large tank. It is shown on the description sheet as an "O" (circle). Also, the route between Controls 5 and 6 is a marked route. You must follow the orange streamers from Control 5 to Control 6.
Yellow Course Note: At 3.4 km, the Yellow Course is quite long for a course of this type. It's considerably longer than its counterpart the day before.
Green Course Note: The black X on the map at Control 4 denotes a tripod fashioned of the native flora.