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Joseph D. Grant County Park

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 17, 2013
Location: San Jose, CA
Event Director: - 408.568.6740
Course Setter: Dennis Wildfogel
Type: C; Bare-bones (self-service) event with only two advanced courses—no beginner or intermediate courses or clinics

Related Event Information

Course Setter's Notes Last Year's Event Event Results

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


Please note the following caveats regarding this event:

Note: There will be a full-feature event (i.e., with the normal schedule, beginner clinics and courses, etc.) at the same park on April 28th. Information about that event will be here in a few weeks.


What we will have is two challenging advanced courses in very good terrain. The preliminary course stats are as follows: 

   Course Name   Length   Climb   Controls   Map Scale

   Brown/Green   3.6 km   105 m      23       1:5000
   Red/Blue      5.2 km   235 m      26       1:10000

These are B-meet quality courses. A couple of dozen map corrections have been made. There will be ample opportunity for fine detail map reading. The ground out there is soft and very runnable, with very little in the way of undergrowth or thorns. The Course Setter's Notes provide important details about the courses.

This will be a "bare-bones" event. Just the two aforementioned courses. Self-serve registration, start, and finish. There will be epunch. Part of the idea is to minimize volunteers. We could use another person or two for control pickup, though.

Poison oak stalks have begun to rear their ugly heads. The poison oak is quite avoidable, but do take the usual precautions.

You do not need to pre-register, but it would be useful to have an idea of how many maps to print. About 30 people have already said there’s a possibility they will come. If you are thinking about coming, please do let know.

Why have I called the courses Brown/Green and Red/Blue? You might look at the distance and climb and think they’re just a Brown and a Red. But the number of controls and the technicality of the terrain make the courses more like a Middle Green and a Middle Blue. It should be a rewarding exercise for all advanced orienteers, regardless of their level.

I plan to have the shorter course printed at 1:5000 so older eyes can see the fine detail. However, if you’d prefer a 1:10000 map of the shorter course, let me know and I will provide that.

Driving Directions

To reach the park, take I-680 to the Alum Rock Avenue exit in San Jose. Head east on Alum Rock to Mt. Hamilton Road. Take a right onto Mt. Hamilton Rd and proceed about 7.5 miles to the park entrance to your right. After paying the $6 entry fee, go to the end of the road (to the Stockman's Area, where we've assembled the last several years) and look for orienteers. There will not be any O' signs.

Here's an alternative route choice (after all, orienteering is all about route choice): Quimby Road is believed to be much faster, with a shorter (but steeper) windy road, than Mt. Hamilton Rd from Alum Rock. Some people recommend this route even for those coming from the north on 280 or 101. In that case, exit 101 south at Tully Rd, and head east (toward the hills). Turn right onto Quimby Rd (just before East Ridge Shopping Center); take this up and over the hill until it meets Mt Hamilton Road. Turn right and go a few hundred yards to the park entrance.

From the south, coming up 101, take the Capitol Expy exit and head east (toward the hills). Go about 1.5 miles and turn right onto Quimby Road.

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

Carpool Site

People sometimes meet at the junction of Alum Rock Ave and Mt. Hamilton Rd, where there is plenty of parking. That might seem so near the park as to be not helpful, but it does save the twisty drive up Mt. Hamilton Rd, and the park entrance fee for the cars that are left below.

Similarly, people taking the Quimby Rd route could meet at East Ridge Shopping Center (at Tully and Quimby).