Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
Date: (Sun.) Dec. 3, 2017
Location: San Ramon, CA
Event Director: 
- 415.456.8118
Course Setter: Graham Brew
Type: B; Standard 7-course event, for beginners through advanced
Course Setter's Notes
By Graham Brew
We are returning to Las Trampas after a multi-year hiatus. This is a very picturesque park with amazing views—and a close drive to much of the Bay Area. While it has a reputation for being steep, I have used a remote Start to be able to set courses that are similar in climb to our BAOC typical events. I invite everyone to come out and rediscover Las Trampas.
There is an 1800-meter (1.1-mile) walk to the Start (beginner and advanced), which includes 130 meters of climb. Allow half an hour to make this journey, and allow yourself some time to rest before you start your course.
From the Finish, there's a 100-meter downhill(!) walk to the registration area.
Here are the course statistics:
Course Distance Climb Controls
White 2.9 km 120 m 12
Yellow 3.2 km 155 m 14
Orange 4.3 km 235 m 17
Brown 3.1 km 165 m 16
Green 4.6 km 250 m 18
Red 5.5 km 350 m 23
Blue 6.3 km 405 m 25
I apologize that the White course is a little longer than a typical White (plus an extra-long walk to the Start).
The map is of average quality, although it has not been updated in some years. So please read the following notes carefully.
Vegetation has grown up significantly in some areas. Some open areas are now quite overgrown with scattered bushes, especially in the south-central parts. Some areas close to controls have been remapped. But away from the controls, "open land" has a pretty broad definition.
This park is heavily used for ranching, and hence there are many unmapped cattle trails. The wet weather has made these more pronounced. In some of the most tracked-up areas on the advanced courses, you are better to navigate via topography and vegetation, rather than trails.
Significant lone trees and bushes are marked with green × and O. Significant dead, but still standing trees, are typically also marked with green ×. Fallen dead trees and significant rootstocks are a brown ×. By no means are all lone, distinct trees and bushes mapped. Likewise, many fallen trees are not mapped.
The mapping of rocks is sporadic. Some rocks that are mapped as lone rocks are actually clusters of several similarly sized rocks. In some areas of the map, numerous significant rocks are not mapped.
Cattle, wild turkeys, and deer are common. Expect to encounter cattle even on the beginner courses. Typically, they will adjust their habits to avoid you. But some of the cattle will only relocate very slowly. There are a lot of calves out there—try not to get between the calves and the mothers. Poison Oak is present in the typical places on all the advanced courses (deep in the woods, in reentrants, etc.), so use all the typical strategies if you are sensitive to it.
Note that as part of our permit we are not allowed to cross any intact fences! All intact fences are marked as out of bounds—please respect this. In any case, no sensible route choice will require you to cross intact fences. A few sensible routes choices may take you through a gate—be sure to close and secure all gates behind you. Derelict fences are fairly common, and are well mapped. Use care and try not to disturb them, or get snagged by them.