Scenes from Coyote Lake Park
Collage of park scenes by Manfred Kopisch, Vetter
Click for larger image (http://baoc.org/gallery/albums/CoyoteLake/2018_Coyote_Lake_Photos.jpg)

Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 10, 2019
Location: Gilroy, CA
Event Director: - 510.525.1574
Course Setter: Dennis Wilkinson
Type: B; Standard seven-course event for beginners through advanced

Related Event Information

Course Setter's Notes Last Year's Event Attackpoint Event Page (http://www.attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_42692) Event Results

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


Note: Online registration has closed. Register at the event.

Note From the Course Vetter:

I highly recommend attending the orienteering event in Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park to:

  • Enjoy orienteering Dennis' well-designed courses.
  • Take in the great vistas and beautiful sights the park has to offer.
  • See the plentiful wildlife in the park​—​especially in the rain, pigs, deer, and turkey where out in numbers, and didn't mind me getting relatively close.

So don't let rain deter you, but embrace it as a great opportunity to see wildlife during an orienteering event. Enjoy!
– Manfred Kopisch
(Editor's note: Thanks to Manfred for the photo collage at the top of this page.)


Everyone is welcomed to attend this event. We especially love beginners. There will be beginner’s clinics at the event to get you started. Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch is a beautiful wilderness park near Gilroy with some wonderful views. In February the park will be green and lush. The terrain is typical oak woodland. It is interesting and somewhat steep. Course designer Dennis Wilkinson has set the full seven courses.

We will need a crew to help with control pickup, starting at 2 PM. Please contact if you can help.

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/90KB)).

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

BAOC has a new fee structure for 2019. The following fees apply at this event:

  $3 for each junior (age 8 through 20) on beginner's (White) and advanced beginner's (Yellow) courses
  $8 for each adult on beginner's and advanced beginner's courses
  $5 for each junior on intermediate (Orange) and advanced (Brown, Green, Red, Blue) courses  
$15 for each member on intermediate and advanced courses
$20 for each non-member on 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)  

Notes:

  • At the event, we are able to accept payment only by cash or check​—​no credit cards or electronic payments.
  • There is no charge for a second (or more) course.
  • There is no longer a discount for "additional people" on a team.
  • Online registration is closed. It is not required​—​you can register at the event.
    "This is quite exciting, as this is the first local event we are doing with online registration. Yes, the future is here! Please let me know of any issues." –

More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ. All the prices are also shown on the standard entry form (PDF/90KB), 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.)

In addition to the above costs, there is a $6 per-car park entrance fee. Pay at the entrance kiosk.

Food

Please bring your own lunch and beverages. Due to park restrictions, we will not serve snacks at this event. Water fountains are available in the parking area.

Restroom Tip

The permanent restrooms in the parking registration area seem to be under repair. There is one portable restroom available. To avoid long lines at that portable, you might want to stop at the Lake View Campground restrooms on Coyote Reservoir Road about 800 m after the entrance kiosk.

Courses

All seven regular courses will be available: 

    Course     Length     Climb  Controls  Description
    White      2.3 km     110 m      9     Beginner  
    Yellow     3.2 km     165 m     11     Advanced Beginner
    Orange     4.4 km     155 m     11     Intermediate
    Brown      3.4 km     115 m     12     Short Advanced
    Green      5.7 km     175 m     13     Intermediate Advanced
    Red        7.6 km     220 m     19     Long Advanced
    Blue       8.8 km     290 m     22     Extra-long Advanced

Beginners should be aware that the course lengths shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. Your actual distance will be somewhat longer. For a rough estimate of how far you will actually go, mentally change "km" to "mi" (e.g., for a "2.3 km" course, you might travel about "2.3 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.

There is a 300 m walk to the White, Yellow, and Brown start area. There is a 1.1 km walk to the Orange, Green, Red, and Blue start area. Limited amounts of water are available on the courses.

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

Request for Volunteers

Please take a moment to look at the list below, and let know how you can help.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Thanks, also, to the following people who have already signed up to be on the event team:

Event Director: , 510-223-2185
Course Setter: Dennis Wilkinson
Vetters: Manfred Kopisch and Dennis Wildfogel
Insurance: Marina Keating
Website editor: Chuck Spalding
Registration: Steve Haas and his team
E-punch: Jay Hann, Western Race Services
Parking (9–10am): Vladimir Gusiatnikov and Beatrice
Early tent set up (8:30am): Gary Carpenter
Beginner clinics (9:30am): Dan Greene
Map printing: Bob Cooley
White, Yellow, Brown starts: Leslie Minarik
Orange, Green, Red, Blue starts: Dennis Wilkinson
Control Pickup: Rex Winterbottom
Park Ranger: Gina Ellis
Park Ranger on duty: Patrick Silva

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!

The approximate coordinates are 37.093,-121.543.

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 Rd 1.8 miles. Turn left onto New Avenue, and go 0.6 miles to Roop Rd. Turn right onto Roop Rd.

Alternative: You can save about 2 miles (but possibly not much time) by exiting 101 at San Martin Avenue, heading east, following it around the bends until it becomes New Avenue, and going south to the junction with Roop Rd. Turn left onto Roop Rd.

Go 3.2 miles to Coyote Reservoir Rd 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 Rd.) Once you turn onto Coyote Reservoir Rd, go 1 mile to the entrance kiosk. Pay the $6 entrance fee, and then continue 1.3 miles on the main road toward the boat launch parking area. Registration and parking are at the north end of the boat launch parking area. The parking spaces are designed for vehicles with boat trailers. There will not be any boat trailers present, so please park two cars in each of these parking spaces.

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