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Lake Herman Recreation Area

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 21, 2016
Location: Benicia, CA
Event Director: - 925.934.6567
Course Setter: Gavin Wyatt-Mair
Type: C; Regional event with seven point-to-point courses; COOL event #3


Meet Director's and Course Setter's Notes

By

Lake Herman Recreation Area is an open, runnable, mainly grassy park with rolling hills dotted with thickets and bushes. The grass has been nicely mowed by goats, and is at a perfect length for running with good footing. The courses all have minimal "difficult to get through" areas, so the pace will be quite fast. Advanced runners (Brown through Blue courses) should wear studded shoes to accommodate the hill slopes. The rain this week made some areas a bit sloppy, but the weather forecast for the weekend is nice​—​sunny and dry, 68 degrees​—​so much of the wetness should be gone by Sunday. In fact, the conditions for orienteering will be just about perfect!

Notes from the Park Management

There are seedlings that have been planted​—​they have enclosures around them. Take care not to hurt the seedlings in any way. The lake is higher than last year. Be careful not to kick up loose dirt that could enter the lake, as this increases turbidity and takes a long time to settle. One way to help is to not run in elephant tracks. There was a fire in some areas​—​typically where the new trees have been planted. As a result of the fire, the ground vegetation has been reduced, so the footing could be slippery in those areas.

Courses

                                              Navigational  Physical  
    Course       Length    Climb   Controls   Difficulty    Difficulty
    White        2.3 km    105 m      12      Easy          Easy  
    Yellow       2.9 km    140 m      14      Easy          Easy
    Orange       4.8 km    225 m      13      Moderate      Moderate
    Brown        3.3 km    160 m      13      Advanced      Moderate
    Long Brown   5.0 km    290 m      16      Advanced      Moderate
    Green        5.9 km    330 m      21      Advanced      Hardish
    Red          6.8 km    360 m      26      Advanced      Hard
    Blue         8.0 km    390 m      28      Advanced      Hard

Beginners' and Intermediate Courses

For the White, Yellow, and Orange courses, the control descriptions on the map have been split. Check the whole map to find the descriptions for your entire course.

The White course has one leg with streamers to be followed.

Advanced Courses

On the Brown through Blue courses, check your control numbers! There are areas of each course that use controls that are placed on similar features, with identical descriptions, fairly close to each other.

COOL Courses

This event is part of the 2016 COOL (California Outdoor Orienteering League) season. The COOL competition classes are assigned to the courses as follows:

    COOL Class               Course
    Elementary               White   
    Middle School            Yellow
    School JV                Orange
    Varsity Girls            Brown 
    Varsity Boys             Green 
    College JV               Orange
    College Varsity Women    Green 
    College Varsity Men      Red   

Map

The map was drawn by Emile Radtke for her Girl Scout Silver Award project in 2014. The 2.3-square-kilometer map has some wooded areas, mostly in stream beds, and the rest is rolling grassland with hundreds of meticulously mapped bushes and small trees.

Goats

There are goats grazing on the land, and they are controlled by fences. The fences are electrified​—​do not cross a goat fence. Go around.

Miscellaneous

All the courses use E-punch.

Poison oak on the courses is minimal to zero.

The Start and Finish are very close to Registration.

Registration will be open from about 9:00. The earliest start is at 10:00; the latest start is at 12:30.

The weather forecast calls for 68-degree temperature, mostly sunny, and no chance of rain.

Wildlife we have seen include deer, eagles, buzzards, orienteers, lots of goats, and frogs.

We do need a few more volunteers for starts, clinics, and control pickup. Please help if you can.