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Tilden Regional Park

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 16, 2014
Location: Berkeley, CA
Event Directors: - 925.516.7622,
Course Setters: Graham Brew, Christine Brew
Type: B; Standard 7-course event. Beginner instruction & courses offered.

Related Event Information

Course Setters' Notes Last Year's Event Event Results

Please note that fees and time limits apply, unless otherwise mentioned below. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Enjoy a fun map romp through Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills!

Note that this will be the second (and final) event in the 2014 BAOC COOL season. BAOC COOL is a competition for juniors in elementary school through high school, with several age categories. If a junior missed the first event, it's not too late to join in. In particular, there were no middle school boys at the first event.

What is Orienteering

An adventure! Discover the outdoors and discover yourself! Navigate to checkpoints in Tilden Park using a specially-produced map. Participants may enter individually or in teams of up to five people.

Schedule

  9:00 AM – Registration opens
  9:30 AM – Beginner's clinic instruction (free)
10:00 AM – Starts open, you can start on courses anytime until 12:30
  2:00 PM – Courses close, checkpoint pick-up begins

Please check in at the Finish by 2:00 PM even if you don't complete your course, thank you, so we can have everyone accounted for and start checkpoint pick-up on time so those volunteers can get home.

After you finish, enjoy snacks and refreshments and socialize with other participants!

Courses

Here are the preliminary details of the courses: 

                                           Navigational  Physical  
   Course    Distance   Climb   Controls   Difficulty    Difficulty

   White      1.8 km     60 m      11      Easy          Easy
   Yellow     2.3 km    100 m      12      Easy          Easy
   Orange     3.6 km    210 m      16      Moderate      Moderate
   Brown      4.1 km    245 m      12      Hard          Harder
   Green      4.7 km    285 m      18      Hard          Harder
   Red        6.2 km    420 m      21      Hard          Hard
   Blue       6.9 km    490 m      24      Hard          Hard

The White course is for beginner's and young children. It's a great warmup if you're trying orienteering for the first time. You get to see the map before the start and experience how everything works.

The Yellow course is considered an advanced beginner's course. It's suitable for somebody with some orienteering experience, or who is comfortable reading topographic maps.

The intermediate (Orange) and advanced courses are for more experienced participants. Those courses explore the forests, meadows, hilltops, and valleys for a fun, challenging navigation experience.

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

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.)

Venue Facilities

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

Hazards

For participants on the intermediate and advanced courses, the park has some poison oak which 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.

Costs

  $3 for juniors on beginner's and advanced beginner's courses
  $6 for beginner's and advanced beginner's courses (members & non-members)

  $5 for juniors on intermediate and advanced courses
$10 member price for intermediate and advanced courses
$15 non-member price for intermediate and advanced courses

$15 for the lowest-cost individual 1-year BAOC membership
  $1 for a compass rental
  $3 for an electronic fingerstick rental (if you don't own one, you'll need it to complete the course.)
  $6 per vehicle parking fee collected by the park at the entrance gate

For extra people on a team, add $3 per person on beginner’s courses or $5 per person for intermediate and advanced courses.

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

Location Within the Park

Registration will be at Lake Anza.

Request for Volunteers

As usual, we could use some volunteers to help on the day. If you are able to help in any way, the would love to hear from you, either before or at the event. All assistance is appreciated, whether it's directing cars for a short period, helping a newcomer to get to grips with the map before you run, collecting controls afterward, or helping to keep the snack table stocked while you're otherwise busy depleting it.

Driving Directions

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 2.5 km (1.5 mi) until you reach the South Park Drive entrance to Tilden Park (don’t take the steam trains entrance; continue on Grizzly Peak until South Park Drive).

Directions to Lake Anza: Once you are inside Tilden Park, follow the Park signs to Lake Anza. Lake Anza is just 400 meters south-southeast of the Merry-Go-Round, but please do not park your car in the Merry-Go-Round parking.

Alternatively, use Google Maps (https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Lake+Anza+Rd,+Berkeley,+CA+94708&hl=en&sll=37.897665,-122.254121&sspn=0.006341,0.013068&geocode=CcC-lckPzNKFFb9FQgId3Iy2-CkphdAKCHyFgDEP_AK5PLtN0Q&mra=mift&t=m&z=17) to obtain directions from your house to Lake Anza Road, which terminates at the event parking lot.

There's a map here that shows the locations of forthcoming events.

Car-pool

There is limited parking capacity at Lake Anza. Please consider car-pooling. The BayONet list can be used to identify potential car-pools in your area.

Public Transit

AC Transit bus #67 is a very convenient way to get to and from Lake Anza. Catch the bus a half-block from the Downtown Berkeley BART station; buses leave at 8:45 AM, 9:30 AM, and 10:15 AM. The trip takes just under 20 minutes. Coming to Tilden Park, tell the driver you want the next-to-last stop. From the stop, find Selby Trail just downhill from you and take the trail downhill for about 300 m to the grassy area by the lake. Registration is there.

For the return trip, catch the bus at the same stop going in the same direction; it loops and returns to Downtown Berkeley BART.