Photo gallery image (click to enlarge)

Coyote Lake (aka Harvey Bear Ranch County Park*)

Date: (Sun.) May. 4, 2014
Location: Gilroy, CA
Event Director: - 831.439.9822
Course Setters: Lubomir Sebo, Matej Sebo
Type: B; Standard 7-course event, with courses for beginners through advanced — Note: Do not go to the "Harvey Bear Park" entrance!

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

* Please follow the directions below to Coyote Lake; do not go to the Harvey Bear Park entrance!

Preregistration is open​—​see below


Matej Å ebo has done a great job on this new map (the site of the 2012 Golden Goat). The courses that year proved to be fast and tactically interesting. The map has since been revised and expanded, and this year's advanced courses take advantage of the newly mapped terrain.

The park has beautiful golden hills and acres of open oak forest, with the potential for some interesting route choices. The San Andreas Fault runs through the park, and as a result, there are places with some unusual fault-line topography. There are a lot of rocks and terraces (flat areas on a sloping hillside), and fine contour reading will be a necessity on the advanced courses. Some photos from the 2012 event can be found here (https://picasaweb.google.com/lubosebo/CoyoteLakeHarveyBearRanch). The park website is here (http://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/CoyoteLake.aspx).

What is Orienteering

An adventure: Discover the outdoors and discover yourself! Teams of 1 to 5 find checkpoints in parks and wilderness areas using specially-produced maps. All are welcome at our events​—​runners, joggers, hikers, and walkers.

Coyote Lake Wildflowers
Coyote Lake Wildflowers
(Click on photo for full-size image)

Important Event-Day Information

The main assembly area and parking lot is at the Black Tail Picnic Area adjacent to the Marina parking lot (the same place as for the 2012 Golden Goat). The Finish for all courses is close to this location.

The Start for the White, Yellow, and Orange courses will be about 500 meters up the hill from the assembly area.

There will be a remote Start for the advanced courses (Brown, Green, Red, and Blue), about 3 km from the assembly area. A shuttle will be provided to the remote Start, and there is also the option of carpooling to the remote Start and finding a ride back to retrieve the car.

Schedule

Please be sure to check in at the Finish by 2:00 PM, even if you do not complete your course. Otherwise, we will assume that you are injured, and we will initiate search and rescue.

Costs

Normal event fees will apply, ranging from $3 to $15 per person, depending on course and adult or junior, with lower fees for additional team members.

More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ.

Please note that there is also a $6 park entrance fee.

Courses

Seven courses will be offered. The (final) course details are below.

   Course   Length   Climb  Controls  Water Stops  Navigation
   White    2.5 km    75 m     12          0       Very easy  
   Yellow   3.6 km   115 m     15          0       Easy
   Orange   4.5 km   195 m     16          2       Intermediate
   Brown    4.6 km   170 m     18          3       Advanced
   Green    6.1 km   290 m     20          2       Advanced
   Red      7.7 km   375 m     22          3       Advanced
   Blue     9.5 km   450 m     28          4       Advanced

Be sure to read the Course Setters' Notes for more information.

These are Long courses, so while the navigational difficulty is the same as usual, each course is slightly longer and has slightly more climb than Classic distance. The course distance is measured along the straight lines between controls​—​your actual distance will be longer. Climb is measured along the optimal route (in the course setter's opinion)​—​your actual climb may be less or more, depending on the route taken.

The Start for the White, Yellow, and Orange courses will be about 500 meters up the hill from the Marina parking lot. There is a remote Start for the advanced courses (Brown, Green, Red, Blue). At least one shuttle vehicle will be provided to the remote Start. Self-serve shuttles may also be optimized. All the courses finish near registration at the Marina parking lot.

Preregistration

In order to minimize delays at the event, and to give the organizers a better idea of how many people to prepare for, we would appreciate it if you preregister using the appropriate link below. (You will not pay your fees online after you preregister​—​you will pay at the event.)

Note, however, that preregistration is not required. You can register at the event.

What to Bring

For beginners' courses, comfortable outdoors attire and shoes are fine.

For intermediate and advanced courses, leg cover or gaiters are recommended, as well shoes with some extra grip on the sole.

A compass is not necessary, but can be helpful. We have compasses available for a $1 rental fee.

We time the courses with the SPORTident system, so a SPORTident fingerstick rents for $3. (Use of the "E-punch" system is easy. You can learn how at the event, or read about it here.)

Hazards

There are some steep cliffs in the park that the courses avoid. Wild pigs and cattle tend to run away if approached, but remember you are sharing the park with them, and mothers can be protective.

For participants on the intermediate and advanced courses, the park has some poison oak that you will want to avoid. It looks like this. Washing clothes and shoes and bathing exposed areas with dishwashing soap (which removes the irritant oil) or a commercial product such as Tecnu is recommended.

More information about hazards is in the Course Setters' Notes.

Venue Facilities

Picnic tables and portable toilets are available, so please feel free to bring along a picnic lunch to enjoy after you finish your course.

There are also two horse shoe pits at our site. Does anyone have a set (or two) of horse shoes that they could loan us for the day (i.e., letting others play with them)? If so, please contact .

Camping

For those who enjoy the great outdoors at night, too, there is ample RV and tent camping available at Coyote Lake. And lovely, free showers for those paid campers!

For information and reservations, go to the text version (http://gooutsideandplay.org/reservations/text/TextReservations.asp?park_id=3) or Flash version (http://gooutsideandplay.org/reservations/flash/flashReservations.asp?park_id=3) of the park's website. The text version includes the "Shade" attribute; the Flash version shows the site map (e.g., proximity to restrooms and water).

Request for Volunteers

Please respond that you can assist with any of the tasks listed below. First come, first pick of volunteer task and time slot!

The usual tasks at the event:

Extra credit:

Thank you, in advance, for responding soon, and affirmatively!  :-) I look forward to seeing you all out there!

Driving Directions

The event headquarters will be at the boat launch accessed from the Coyote Lake entrance to the park. Do not go to the Harvey Bear Ranch entrance to the park!

From San Jose, go south on highway 101. Allow at least 50 minutes from the junction of 101-280-680. Take exit 357, Leavesley Road/CA-152W (which is before the CA-152E exit), and go east on Leavesley Road 1.8 miles. Turn left onto New Avenue, and go 0.6 miles to Roop Road. Turn right onto Roop Rd, and go 3.2 miles to Coyote Reservoir Road and the park entrance. (Note: At approximately 2.8 miles along Roop Rd there is an entrance on the left​—​do not take that entrance​—​instead, continue on to Coyote Reservoir Road). Once you turn onto Coyote Reservoir Road, go 1 mile, and pay the $6 park fee at the entrance kiosk. After the kiosk, continue 1.3 miles on the main road toward the boat launch parking area. Registration and parking are at the Black Tail Picnic Area, just before the boat launch parking area. The boat launch parking area is available for overflow parking.

You can save about 2 miles by exiting 101 at San Martin Avenue, heading east, following it around the bends until it turns into New Avenue, and going south to the Roop Road junction, but this may not save much time.

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