Bon Tempe Reservoir
Greg Ehrensing Memorial Volunteer Appreciation Event
Date: Dec. 1 - 2, 2018
Location: Fairfax, CA
Event Director: 
- 415.456.8118
Course Setter: George Minarik
Type: C; Greg Ehrensing Memorial Volunteer Appreciation Event; LIMITED ATTENDANCE; RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
Course Setter's Notes
By George Minarik
Greg Ehrensing loved Bon Tempe, and spent much time out there over the years. It was only last January when he won the Orange course. I was thinking of him while doing the field work for the courses. He was a shining example of the numerous wonderful volunteers of BAOC that make our club so special.
Remember that reservations are required for this event. Do not simply show up and expect to be able to run.
Course Statistics
Course Length Climb Controls
Brown 3.1 km 145 m 10
Green 5.3 km 250 m 11
Red 6.4 km 280 m 16
General Comments
There will be a 1-kilometer flat walk to the Start. The Finish is next to registration and parking.
There are restrooms at parking and at the Start.
The Brown and Green courses will have one water control each. There will be two water controls on the Red course.
Bon Tempe is lovely and solitary park on the lower slopes of Mt. Tamalpais. The park offers a sampling of the best terrain in Northern California, traversing oak woodland and redwood forest. The topography is typically hilly, but can also be gentle.
Generally speaking, the Brown and Red courses will offer the most technical challenge. The Green and Red courses feature many route-choice legs.
On Green leg 3 and Red leg 8, there is a trail mapped as indistinct that has just about vanished into the brush. Since you may want to use this trail, it has been marked with orange streamers.
You will delight in the numerous redwood rings. They are depicted on the map by black circles or blobs. When used as a control point, they are also depicted in the control descriptions as a back circle. The map interpretation of these rings can be deceiving, and there are many redwood trees that are not mapped with these circles.
The water district has an extensive forest-thinning project ongoing. So, in many cases, areas that were mapped as various shades of green are now very runnable. I have made a few corrections where areas are close to control points or where forest runnability would make a difference in a route choice. But you will notice there are many green areas that are not yet corrected. There are also numerous unmapped woodpiles associated with this thinning.
Course Notes
The map is of IOF standard. The scale is 1:10000 with 5-meter contours.
The following symbols (and others) are used:
- Green ×'s are stumps or fallen trees without large rootstocks.
- Brown ×'s are rootstocks.
- Green dots can be very small trees or large bushes.
- Black-lined circles, ovals, and blobs indicate the vegetation boundaries of groups of redwoods, also known as fairy rings.
Because of a forest-thinning program, some areas mapped as green have become very runnable. You may also notice wood piles from this thinning process that are not mapped.
A circle is used as a control description on all the courses. This indicates a group of redwoods, aka a fairy ring.
The course setter and vetter each saw a few sprigs of poison oak. Easily avoidable.
All the courses cross roads that have light traffic. Be careful crossing!