Browns Valley Open Space Preserve
Date: (Sun.) Oct. 22, 2023
Location: Vacaville, CA
Event Director: 
- 510.681.6181
Course Setters: Richard Thorsted, Rex Winterbottom
Type: B; New map of a "smaller Morgan Territory" with bigger rocks and fewer trees
Related Event Information
Online Registration (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/a40/register/start/vacaville2023)
Event Announcement
Course Setters' Notes
By Rex Winterbottom
Dennis made it sound like a gamble! No, it's a sure shot. It's the Bay Area's Joshua Tree. Big rocks, and some big climb, but no death slogs. Manageable.
Come on out! Plus, it's Tapio's birthday, and he's coming!
Map Cases Needed
If anyone has a bunch, bring them! If you have your own, or a couple, bring them, at least for yourself. Perhaps this can become BAOC's version of the "loaves and fishes".
Volunteers Needed
Thanks for people stepping up! We have many roles filled. But we still need help with Setup, and can someone bring Snacks? Also, help with Control Pickup and Takedown are needed. Please contact Rex () if you can help!
Weather
It's not gonna be hot. The forecast high is 71°F (at 4:00 PM); the forecast low is 55°F (at 7:00 AM). There's a 39% chance of a "stray shower"(!) (but that's at 8:00 AM; 24% or lower after 11:00), so unlikely to have heavy precipitation — maybe some scattered drops.
The NEW Map
The map is brand new as of October 19th! The scale is 1:10000, to be printed at 1:7500 for all courses. The standard is ISOM. The contour interval is 5 m.
The Terrain
Open savanna with patches of mostly oaky, mostly runnable forest. Some bushy areas, but not too many. There are numerous downed trees/wrecked trees that are mapped as "brown triangles".
Some areas lack rocks, but there are many areas with an abundance of rocks. Like 5-meter-tall kinds of rocks, school-bus sized rocks, and all the various sizes down to stony ground.
Poison oak exists, but the courses pretty well avoid it.
There are cows in the park and they tend to graze the northern and southern portions, but seemingly not so much the middle portion. Where they graze more, there's almost no star thistle, but the ground can be kinda knobby and ankle-twisty, because it was a wet spring. Where they graze less, there's a bit more star thistle that can be kinda annoying.
The Local Wildlife
You may see some cows. Not very aggressive ones. They make paths, quite a few of which are mapped. There are mountain bikers. They have created many trails just for themselves. Many of which are mapped as usable trails. Down in the valley bifurcating the park, there are trails on either side of the fenceline, and on the north side of the fenceline, there are some mountain-bike implements such as hand-crafted bridges and jumps. Some of those bridges are rickety and a little dicey to traverse. This park is also a local climbing mecca, so you will see climbers, too. And the proximity to a big swath of suburbia supplies the hikers.
That Smell
You might notice an odor that smells like an industrial solvent. However, Richard and I sniffed some flowers, and it's actually a common flower in the park. Don't worry about the smell. Maybe it's an endemic plant species?
The Courses
Fun! Richard Thorsted set them, and I vetted them, and we are excited to share them with you! They give you a good tour of the features of the park, some sweeping vistas, and rocks that you will be glowing about for weeks. Some route choice, some fine map detail reading, some rock pinball.
Here are the course details:
Course Length Climb Controls Navigation
White 2.6 km 210 m 18 Beginner
Yellow 2.8 km 210 m 10 Advanced Beginner
Orange 4.1 km 325 m 13 Intermediate
Brown 2.6 km 200 m 10 Advanced
Green 4.0 km 235 m 14 Advanced
Red 5.4 km 360 m 19 Advanced
Blue 6.7 km 430 m 21 Advanced
- Beginners should be aware that the distances shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the "optimum route" (in the Course Setters' opinion), without regard for any descending. Because you won't travel in straight lines, and might not follow the optimum routes, your actual distance and climb will be somewhat more than what is shown above, and will depend on your route choices (and any errors you make).
Water
There are no water stops on the White and Yellow courses.
There's one water stop shared by the Orange, Brown, Green, Red, and Blue courses.
Water is available at the school.
Please plan accordingly.
Gear Up
We avoided yucky climbs and thrashing, but all the courses, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, will go better with good tread on the shoes, due to unavoidable steepness in sections. Pants/gaiters are recommended on all the courses except White, due to the star thistle being present in places, though I would still prefer to wear shorts in this terrain. (But some of you wonder why I wear shorts at other places, so there's that.)
Where It's At
Registration, download, and socializing are at the sheltered Jacqueline Pelton Pavilion of Browns Valley Elementary School, which is right in front of the school next to the pickup/dropoff lane. Just past that area is a decent-sized parking lot.
Starts will be exactly 0.5 miles up the road from the school. Make a right at the dead end, then almost an immediate left into the park at the first gate entrance.
The Finish is exactly 0.25 miles from our gathering spot at the school. Head down the path to the street, turn left, turn right, turn left, and you're back on the street going to the school. So close.
We're looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday!