Morgan Territory Regional Preserve
Date: (Sun.) Jan. 12, 2014
Location: Livermore, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.525.1574
Course Setter: Misha Kreslavsky
Type: B; Kick off the New Year with a 7-course event in great terrain. Beginner instruction & courses offered.
Course Setter's Notes
By Misha Kreslavsky
Course Statistics
Course Length Climb Min. Climb Controls
White 1.9 km 70 m 3.7% 7 Yellow 2.7 km 140 m 5.2% 8 Orange 3.2 km 220 m 6.9% 140 m 4.4% 8 Brown 3.2 km 210 m 6.6% 130 m 4.1% 8 Green 4.8 km 250 m 5.2% 190 m 4.0% 9 Red 6.6 km 470 m 7.1% 380 m 5.8% 13 Blue 8.0 km 580 m 7.3% 440 m 5.5% 16
Note: Length is measured along the straight-lines between controls (i.e., your distance will be longer). Climb is calculated along the shortest, but still sensible, route. Min. Climb is calculated along the most climb-saving, but still sensible, route.
Also see the course comments below.
Start and Finish Locations
Starts will be a 500-meter or 10-minute walk from the registration/parking area (13 m climb). The Finish is adjacent to the registration/parking area.
Terrain
This is one of our best venues. It is a mixture of open and forested terrain with abundant rock features. Grass on open terrain is dry and very short. Streams and ponds are partly dry.
Map
The scale is 1:10,000; the contour interval is 5 m. This is one of our best maps. For coarse map reading it is perfect, except for trails. There are many unmapped cattle and human trails, some of them are very distinct. Unfortunately, I was unable to map them systematically. I only removed previously mapped trails that have become indistinct.
Green O's mean lone trees in open terrain, green ×'s mean dead trees, either standing or fallen. There are some imperfections in the detailed mapping of individual rock features, green ×'s, and minor topographic details. Usually you just don't notice those imperfections.
All kinds of green on the map are quite runnable, except the darkest solid green, which varies from uncrossable chaparral to dense but easily walkable undergrowth. No sensible routes go through the darkest solid green.
Hazards
Rocks can be dangerously slippery when wet. They can be wet from dew and fog even if it is not raining. There are tall cliffs. Some steep trails can be muddy and slippery, if it is heavily raining, but the forecast is dry.
On all the courses except White, there is poison oak, mostly as short easily runnable undergrowth. It is leafless and not easy to recognize at this time of the year. The usual precautions are needed. I would not recommend shorts for the advanced courses.
There are cattle in the park. The park brochure says "They are not aggressive by nature; but, if aggravated or threatened, can respond in a potentially dangerous manner. Try not to startle the cows. Keep your distance and walk around groups of cows rather than through them; don’t get between a calf and its mother. Please always close pedestrian gates behind you. Leave vehicle gates as you find them—open or closed."
Horses can be met on trails. Give them right-of-way. Leave the trail and run well around.
Course Comments
White Course (Easy Beginner)
The White course follows trails. You will need to recognize trails on the map, on the terrain, and make the correct turns at the trail junctions.
There is one water stop shared with the Yellow course. It is shown with a special symbol (a "glass") on the map. There is no control-point flag there (but there is water).
Yellow Course (Advanced Beginner)
You will mostly follow trails and other linear features (like a small gully). However, the control points are off trails and may be not seen from the trails. You need to recognize a number of features on the map and on the terrain to choose the correct trail, and to get to the control points.
There is one water stop shared with the White course. It is shown with a special symbol (a "glass") on the map. There is no control-point flag there (but there is water).
One leg goes along a trail above a high cliff. The view is beautiful, but the cliff is very dangerous. There is a little poison oak on the course.
Orange Course (Intermediate)
You will need to understand the map well, but the course is quite simple. There is no water on the course. If you badly need water, you may visit the water stop for the White and Yellow courses (see above); it will be marked on your map, and would be about a 200 m detour. There is a little poison oak on the course.
Advanced Courses
I did my best to make them interesting. The Brown course is a little simpler than I would like it to be. The longer courses reach rarely-used parts of the park. There is one water stop on Brown and Green, and two water stops on Red and Blue.
The Green, Red, and Blue courses cross barbed-wire fences. As usual, be careful; don't jump over—roll under. Fence crossing is often easier where the fence crosses a reentrant or a gully.