O in the Oaks 2015
Joseph D. Grant County Park
Date: Apr. 25 - 26, 2015
Location: San Jose, CA
Event Director: 
- 408.732.4818
Course Setters: Misha Kreslavsky, Tapio Karras, Matthias Kohler
Type: A; 2-day, combined-time OUSA A-meet with Classic courses
Related Event Information
Main Event Page Event Director's Notes Day-1 Course Setter's Notes A-meet Start Times (https://www.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/reglist/home/joe-grant-april-2015)
Day-2 Course Setters' Notes
By Matthias Kohler and Tapio Karras
Course Statistics
Course Length Climb Controls Water Stops
White 2.5 km 75 m 3.0% 15 1
Yellow 3.0 km 130 m 4.3% 15 1
Orange 4.7 km 255 m 5.4% 15 2
Brown-Y 3.1 km 150 m 4.8% 11 2
Brown-X 3.6 km 175 m 4.9% 12 2
Green 4.6 km 250 m 5.4% 15 2
Red 6.3 km 295 m 4.7% 19 3
Blue 8.4 km 415 m 4.9% 23 3
White and Yellow runners should allow 10 minutes to walk 400 meters to their Start area.
Orange and advanced runners should allow 10 minutes to walk 500 meters (with no notable climb) to their Start area.
Safety Bearing
The safety bearing is northeast, which will take you downhill either to the main valley of the park with the assembly area, or to Quimby Rd leading to the park.
Warm-up Area
Only the streamered route to the Start can be used for warm-up.
Terrain
The courses will go through a variety of terrain, from patches of typical Bay Area forest through open meadows with oaks and brush. Parts of all the courses go through a campground. Please respect the residents of the campground. The host campsite is marked out of bounds (purple vertical lines on the map). Also, there is a road leading through the campground—runners should be careful when crossing even though the vehicle speed limit is only 5 mph.
As opposed to Day 1, especially on the Orange and advanced courses, you will encounter some open areas with very tall grass (and beautiful wildflowers, should you take the time to enjoy them) that will slow you down.
The steepest parts of gullies were avoided when designing the courses. Reasonable routes will not get you into very steep areas.
All streams and marshes are dry at this time.
Map
The map scale for all courses is 1:10,000, and the contour interval is 5 meters.
You will find green O symbols on the map with two different sizes. Both are for a lone tree—one is for larger trees and the other for smaller trees. If the canopies of two apparently single lone trees touch one another, they are mapped as white "forest".
The brown × symbol can mean a rootstock, stump, or ruined tree. The brown T symbol is a fallen dead tree with the obvious indication of a root and trunk. However, note that many fallen trees are not mapped.
Fence Crossing
When approaching an old fence, chances are you'll find a crossing point within a few meters. If the fence looks new, try to roll under the wire. There are some easy crossings, which are simply mapped as gaps in a fence. Other openings in mapped fences might be iron gates, which are closed but are easy to climb across.
Hazards
The Day-1 Course Setter's Notes apply, except we have not seen any cows in the Day-2 area during the period from February to date (that's why the grass is tall).
Poison oak is out in abundance, and while it can be avoided completely on the White and Yellow courses, contact is more likely on the Orange and advanced courses.
Water on the Courses
The advanced courses have two water stops at controls, which are marked on the clue sheet in the usual manner with the cup symbol. In addition, for all the courses, we have marked four likely water stops (spigots) in the campground with the cup symbol. They are also mapped as blue ×'s. More spigots are spread across the campground, but only the ones along likely routes are marked with cups. There are no water stops for the White and Yellow courses other than the spigots in the campground.
Course Comments
The White and Yellow courses start through a campground. Please respect the residents of the campground. The host campsite is marked out of bounds (purple vertical lines on the map).
For the Orange and advanced courses, the very tall grass reduces runnability significantly, making the courses physically quite demanding. As a result, the courses have been shortened from their original design.
Since the map was made, brush and other thick vegetation, including poison oak, have expanded. We have made the most essential corrections; still, vegetation should be mainly used to determine the runnability of your route choices.
We hope you enjoy the courses!