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Tilden Regional Park

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 18, 2018
Location: Berkeley, CA
Event Director: - 925.934.6567
Course Setters: Gavin Wyatt-Mair, Jay Hann
Type: B; Full-featured, 7-course event for beginners through advanced; note new assembly area location

Related Event Information

ED's and CS’s Notes Previous Tilden Event Event Results

Please note that fees and time limits apply. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Note that the assembly area will be at the Quarry Picnic Area, which is a new location for us.

Some last-minute (Saturday morning) notes about the Tilden event:

  1. There are water fountains dotted around the park. They are mapped as blue circles, and can be found near some of the advanced course legs. There is also water placed on all the courses except White.
  2. There will be snacks afterwards.
  3. The White, Yellow, Orange, Short Brown, and Brown maps are printed at 1:7500 scale.
  4. Early in the morning the dew may make the grass slippery.
  5. There are ticks.
  6. The number of controls on Green is now 18.
  7. The weather forecast is for a high of 56, no chance of rain, partly cloudy. Bring something warm...
Important: There will be a meeting at 1:30 near the Finish to discuss the Club's plans for 2020. BAOC has applied to host the North American Orienteering Championships, and will host the World Rogaining Championships, in the beautiful North Lake Tahoe area in late July 2020. At the meeting, we will make a short presentation, and are interested in everyone's comments and questions. In case you are wondering, Championships are a great experience, and everyone is most welcome to come and participate in the events. You really should experience it!! EVERYONE?? Yes! These events are for families, friends, strollers, runners, young, old, fast, slow, novices ... everyone! Y'all come!
Cheers,
and Jay Hann
Meet Director and Course Setters


What is Orienteering?

An adventure! Discover the outdoors and discover yourself! You can explore a course by yourself or go as a team with your friends. You will get a highly detailed orienteering map, probably unlike any map you have seen before. The map will have a lot of detail on it, such as fences, boulders, lone trees, vegetation boundaries, and anything else you might see. Your course will be printed on the map.

Orienteering is easy to learn, a challenge to master, and incredibly fun!

Schedule

  9:00 AM – 11:59 AM: Registration open
  9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Beginners' clinic instruction (free)
 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Starts open
                   2:00 PM: Courses close, checkpoint control pick-up begins

At registration, all juniors must be accompanied by parents or legal guardians, or bring with them a waiver signed by their parent or legal guardian (the registration form is available here (PDF/100KB)).

Note that you can register and start on courses anytime during the open times above. Thus, for example, you do not need to be "punctual" at 9:00 (but you can if you want, but please don't show up earlier and expect to be served).

Beginners' clinics are short, repeating sessions that introduce the sport of orienteering, and provide enough instruction to be able to complete the beginner (White) course.

Note that you must return to the Finish by 2:00, and then go to the download tent, even if you have not finished your course. If there are unaccounted people after 2:00, we must initiate a search for them.

Costs

The following fees apply at this event:

  $3 for juniors (age 8 through 20) on beginner's (White) and advanced beginner's (Yellow) courses
  $8 for adults on beginner's and advanced beginner's courses
  $5 for juniors on intermediate (Orange) and advanced (Beige, Brown, Green, Red, Blue) courses  
$12 member price for intermediate and advanced courses
$18 non-member price for intermediate and advanced courses
  $1 for a compass rental (optional)  
  $5 for an electronic fingerstick rental (if you don't own one; you'll need one to complete the course)
$15 for the lowest-cost individual one-year BAOC membership (optional)  

Note: We are able to accept payment only by cash or check​—​no credit cards or electronic payments.

For extra people on a team, add $5 per adult on beginners' courses or $7 per adult on intermediate and advanced courses (with lower prices for juniors).

You're welcome to do a second course (at reduced fees) as long as you can register for it by noon, start by 12:30, and finish by 2:00.

More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ. All the prices are also shown on the standard entry form (PDF/100KB), which you can print and fill out in advance to save some time at the event. (You will need one entry form for each group of people going on a course together.) Please note that the form has a second page for signatures of group members.

Courses

Here are the details of the courses (updated Feb. 17): 

                                                Navigational   Physical  
    Course        Distance   Climb   Controls   Difficulty     Difficulty
    White(1)       2.5 km    100 m      13      Easy           Easy  
    Yellow(2)      3.2 km    140 m      11      Easy           Easy
    Orange(4)      3.4 km    140 m      14      Moderate       Moderate
    Short Brown    3.2 km    140 m      11      Moderate       Moderate
    Brown          4.1 km    190 m      16      Hard           Moderate
    Green          5.8 km    325 m      18      Hard           Hard
    Red            6.6 km    360 m      18      Hard           Tough!    
    Blue           7.5 km    420 m      23      Hard           Tough!

Beginners should be aware that the distances shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. Your actual distance will be somewhat longer. To estimate how far you might actually go, mentally change "km" to "mi" (e.g., for a "2 km" course, you might travel up to 2 mi). The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the "optimum route" (in the Course Setter's opinion), without regard for any descending.

Event Director's and Course Setters’ Notes are available here. Be sure to read them.

Map

The Tilden Park map is relatively new, so it is reasonably accurate. Some areas of vegetation have grown up, but not enough to warrant any changes. There are a number of unmapped fences, but these should not affect the courses.

The map scale will be 1:10,000 unless otherwise noted on the map (i.e., you should look!). The contour interval is 5 meters.

There are two symbols used for man-made objects. The blue O represents a water feature, typically a drinking fountain, while the black × represents some other man-made object. It can be difficult to distinguish between the blue drinking-fountain symbol and the green distinct-tree symbol.

Hazards

Tilden Park has some dense undergrowth, including brambles, so it makes sense to wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and gaiters on the intermediate (Orange) and advanced courses. There is poison oak, which is dormant, with just stalks and almost no leaves. Nevertheless, take the usual precautions if you are allergic to the stuff.

Wildlife we have seen include fox(!!), deer, eagles, coyote, skunks, buzzards, orienteers, ticks, turkeys, goats, and frogs.

All the courses feature many route choices, and some of those choices may cross roads. Please be careful of traffic!

Request for Volunteers

We really could use a few volunteers. You will still be able to run your course.

Driving Directions

The approximate coordinates of the parking lot are 37.9009,-122.2500.

Directions to Tilden Park: 
There are many ways to get to Tilden Park. Here is one: From Highway 24, take the Fish Ranch Road exit (this exit is just east of the Caldecott Tunnel). Go northwest up Fish Ranch Road for 1 km (0.6 mi), to the top of the hill. Turn right onto Grizzly Peak Blvd. Wind around on Grizzly Peak for about 6.5 km (4 mi) until you reach Shasta Road, where there is a sign to Tilden Park (do not take the steam trains entrance, nor the South Park Drive entrance, which is closed anyway).
Directions to Quarry Picnic Area: 
Follow Shasta Road northeast for 1 km, past the Brazil building, and merge right onto Wildcat Canyon Road. Follow Wildcat Canyon Road right to the intersection with South Park Drive. Stay on Wildcat Canyon Road by going left (northwest), and proceed on Wildcat Canyon Road for 1.5 km toward Inspiration Point. The Quarry Picnic Area will be on your right when Wildcat Canyon Road turns northeast. If you reach Inspiration Point, you are 1 km too far northeast.

If the small parking lot at Quarry Picnic Area is full, please park in designated parking along Wildcat Canyon Road, or use the Lake View or Mineral Springs picnic area parking (which are each a short walk away).

There's a map here that shows the location of the event.

Public Transit

AC Transit (http://www.actransit.org) bus #67 is a very convenient way to get to and from Tilden Park. Catch the bus at Allston Way and Shattuck Ave, a half-block from the Downtown Berkeley BART (http://www.bart.gov) station. Buses leave every 30 minutes starting at 8:12 AM. The trip takes just under 20 minutes. Coming to Tilden Park, tell the driver you want to exit at the Brazil Building. From the Brazil Building, walk northeast on Wildcat Canyon Road to South Park Drive, then northwest on Wildcat Canyon Road toward Inspiration Point. (Be mindful of traffic when walking on Wildcat Canyon Road!) The total walk is about 2 km to Quarry Picnic Area, which will be on your right.

For the return trip, catch the same bus at the Brazil Building; the bus leaves every 30 minutes starting at 8:35, loops, and returns to the Downtown Berkeley BART station.