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Sunol Regional Wilderness

Date: (Sun.) Apr. 15, 2012
Location: Sunol, CA
Event Director: - 408.599.9709
Course Setters: Gary Carpenter, Damian Swift
Type: B; Standard event with courses for beginners through advanced. The wildflowers should be beautiful!

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


Finish up your taxes¹ and get outside to meet us in Sunol Regional Wilderness on Sunday, April 15. The ground is soft from the recent rains, and everything is green and colored by flowers. We will offer the standard 7 courses, and have the BAOC Annual Meeting near course closure time.

We could use some help at the event with the usual activities: Beginners Clinics, Starts, Finishes, Control Pick-up, and possibly a parking guide. Please let know if you can help out at the event.

Please note that parking will be limited because of a horseback riding event the same day and clean-up crews from a major Wildflower Festival (http://www.ebparks.org/news/031912a) the day before. We are assigned to park in the overflow area past the main ranger/picnic area, where registration and beginner starts will be. It is about a 500 m walk between parking and registration. Please make every effort possible to carpool to the event. If your car is not full, I suggest you meet others at the Calaveras exit of I-680 to carpool the last few miles. There is parking either in front of the nursery (between I-680 and the northbound exit ramp), or better, about 100 m south of there on the E side of Calaveras Road.

Gary Carpenter will be setting the beginner and intermediate courses (White, Yellow, and Orange). If this is your first time orienteering, just mention that at registration, and you will be directed to a free beginners clinic to get you started.

Damian Swift will be setting the advanced courses (Brown, Green, Red, and Blue).

Some people will be back East for the U.S. Champs (http://ousa2012.org), but for those staying here in the area, it should be a spectacular Spring day! Please add to your schedule.

NOTE: The BAOC Annual General Meeting and officer elections will be held at 1:30 PM near the Registration area. This meeting is open to everyone (but only paid-up BAOC members can vote). Highlights of the past year will be discussed, and club officers will be elected for the coming year.

Courses

Starts for the White, Yellow, and Orange courses are in the Registration area.

The advanced courses have a remote start that is about a 10-minute walk or 5-minute jog up a hill, to help reduce course climb.

Here are the details for the courses:

     Course    Length    Climb  Controls
     White     2.1 km     60 m     10
     Yellow    2.5 km    110 m     10  
     Orange    3.3 km    160 m     10  
     Brown     2.8 km    160 m     13  
     Green     4.1 km    315 m     15  
     Red       5.4 km    380 m     17  
     Blue      6.0 km    470 m     19  

See the Course Setters' Notes for more information.

Note: Please enter your course on RouteGadget after the event. The NASA-Ames Orienteering Club will be studying the Sunol courses at its April meeting, and your RouteGadget entry would make the study more meaningful. Please support the sport of orienteering by using RouteGadget.


Driving Directions

Sunol Regional Wilderness is in the East Bay. Take highway I-680 to the Calaveras Road exit near Sunol. Go south on Calaveras Road about six miles to Geary Road. Turn left onto Geary and continue a couple of miles to the park entrance. Pay the entrance fee (see below), and follow the O' signs to the Registration area. (Park only in designated parking areas. The rangers do give tickets.)

Be prepared to pay a park-usage fee of $5 per car (and $2 per dog). Most likely a ranger will be on duty at the entrance kiosk to accept your payment, but if not, you may have to use a ticket machine that takes only $1, $5, and $10 bills.

Please see the comments about parking in the event information above.

There's a map here that shows the location of the park. (Click on the "pins" in the East Bay until you find the one for this event, and then drag the map [not the pin] to center the pin, and zoom in to see more detail.)

Carpool Site

Please see the comments about carpooling in the event information above.

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¹ Actually, you'll have all day Monday to finish your taxes, because the deadline is April 17th this year.