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Presidio of San Francisco

Fort Winfield Scott area

Event #1 of 6 in the BAOC 2026 Summer Series

Date: (Sun.) May. 31, 2026
Location: San Francisco, CA
Event Directors: ,
Course Setter: Matteo Guareschi
Type: C; 2026 Summer Series event #1: beginner course and two Summer Series courses; beginners and non-members are welcome; free beginner instruction available; participation in other Summer Series events is not required

Sprint Course Setter's Notes

By Dennis Wildfogel

In addition to the usual Summer Series courses, the Presidio event will offer a “bonus” course, designed to be run after you’ve done your Summer Series course of choice. This will be a Sprint course, and will take place in the Main Post area, a mile away from the Assembly Area for the other courses.

Despite our familiarity with the Main Post, the course will be navigationally and mentally challenging, while being quite easy physically. Nearly every leg has a route-choice problem to be solved. The course will be excellent practice for Sprint-O even if you don't have a great deal of energy left after your first course. Decision points come frequently — there is almost no dead running. Many people lose too much time in a Sprint by stopping to make decisions. Slow down a little and challenge yourself to have made all decisions by the time you get to the decision point!

Location and Schedule

The Start and Finish for this course will be in the Main Post area. It is approximately a 5-minute drive or a 25-minute walk from Fort Scott, where the regular Summer Series courses start and finish. See below for directions.

Starts will be available from 11:15 AM to 1:30 PM, with course closure at 2:00 PM (meaning you must return to the Finish by 2 PM even if you haven’t completed the course).

After you reach the Finish, report to the person working at the Start (probably me) so that we know you are done. To download, you must return to Fort Scott.

The Course

The Sprint course is 1.8 km long, measured in straight lines, and about 50% longer than that along the optimal route. Climb is only 15 m in total. There are 16 controls.

All the E-punch units will use bright-orange traffic cones as stands. The picture at the right is an example — note that there will not be a control bag at these controls. The E-punch units are lower than usual, about 2 feet off the ground.

Map Notes

Do not enter any areas mapped as olive green. These can look very passable, but you must be disciplined enough to notice these areas, and not go through them (or jump over them, or reach across them to punch a control). Doing so could lead to us losing the ability to ever again get a permit to orienteer in this lovely place. It also would be extremely unfair to the other orienteers who properly go around such an area instead of going across it. Finally, you’ll be cheating yourself, because the whole point of this Bonus Sprint is to give you practice in noticing the fine details on the map and planning your routes accordingly. These green areas are, in this case, key to creating route choice, which is the main point of this exercise. If I sound pretty cranky about this, well, I have often seen people who should know better go through olive green areas or go through unmapped holes in fences mapped as uncrossable — don’t be one of those people, OK?

The accompanying photo shows an actual example (click on the photo for a larger image). Could you physically go aross that area of new plants? Of course. Could you do so without damaging any of the young plants? Quite possibly. Should you go through it? NO!! Please pay attention to this.

Note that the only areas mapped with any shade of green in the Sprint course area are either olive green or very-dark green. The latter also may not be crossed or gone through, so the algorithm is pretty simple: if you see any green area at all, do NOT go through it, no matter how inviting it might look.

There are numerous benches in the competition area which are not mapped; same for light poles.

There are no multilevel situations on this course.

Potential Hazards

As with many major European orienteering events, the course goes through areas with many pedestrians. This adds to the excitement, but please try really hard not to startle anyone, nor knock anyone over!

You will cross several roads and parking areas. None of them have fast moving vehicles, but they do have moving vehicles, so take care when you cross. You will always have a good line of sight.

The toilets we usually use in this area, at the Transportation Center and near the food trucks, are in the competition area and may not be accessed prior to going out on your course. Consider using the facilities at Fort Scott before you head for the Sprint. If you’re really desperate, check with whoever is working at the Start — they might have a solution for you.

Parking

Parking at the Presidio is now by zone, and the zones are very small. Bottom line: you’ll have to pay for parking again if you drive to the Sprint. Keep that in mind when you’re figuring out how much time to pay for when you first park at Fort Scott. Detailed info about parking can be found here (https://presidio.gov/visit/getting-to-and-around-the-park/how-to-pay-for-parking).

Please park only in the areas indicated on the Directions map (see the next section).

Directions

Driving Directions

You must follow the route shown by the blue line on the map at the right so as to avoid entering the competition area before you go out on the course. That is, you must avoid entering the area overlaid with dark-blue cross-hatching. (Click on the small map to see a large image. If you download that image, you can print it on 8.5"x14" or 11"x17" paper; or perhaps you can load it on your phone.)

The steps below were taken from this Google Map (https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ZVYsgBnbhFFsfxH7) (which estimates the time at 6 minutes).

• From the parking lot on Lincoln Blvd, head north on Lincoln Blvd.
• At the first intersection, turn right onto Storey Ave.
• After 0.2 mi, turn right on to Upton Ave.
• After 0.1 mi, turn left onto Ruckman Ave.
• After 0.1 mi, continue on Storey Ave.
• Cross under the highway, and continue straight ahead onto Lincoln Blvd.
• After 0.6 mi, Lincoln Blvd becomes Sheridan Ave — continue a short distance to Riley Ave on your left.
• Turn left onto Riley Ave.
• Turn right at Ord St., the first street.
• After Ord St. turns to the right, turn left onto a small road.
• Turn left into the parking lot (coordinates 37.8011,-122.4596).

Walking Directions

The route shown by the blue line on the map at the right suggests how to walk to the Sprint Start (coordinates 37.8016,-122.4596) while avoiding heavy traffic (and climb). As with the driving directions above, make sure you do not enter the competition area before you go out on the course. That is, you must avoid entering the area overlaid with dark-blue cross-hatching. (Click on the small map to see a large image. If you download that image, you can print it on 8.5"x14" or 11"x17" paper; or perhaps you can load it on your phone.)

Here's a Google Map (https://maps.app.goo.gl/rRhKFNz4M1ZQ3g3r6) for the walk. It estimates the time at 22 minutes for the 1.0-mile walk.

You could use the free Presidio GO shuttle (https://presidio.gov/visit/getting-to-and-around-the-park/presidio-go-shuttle/presidio-go-south-hills-shuttle-schedule) instead of walking, but if you take the shuttle toward the Start, make sure you get off at the Officer's Club stop, not at the Transit Center (which is in the embargo area). Shuttle stop #19 (The Officer's Club) is shown on the map above. From there, follow the green line on the map to the Sprint Start. Note, however, that the shuttle route from near Fort Scott toward the Start will take you on a long, scenic tour of the Presidio. The shuttle stops nearest Fort Scott are "Coastal Trail" (Washington Blvd at Kobbe Ave; 37.7992,-122.4778) and "Rob Hill Campground" (Washington Blvd at Harrison Blvd; 37.7975,-122.4766)

Taking the shuttle for the uphill return to Fort Scott is a viable option, since that direction around the shuttle loop is short. You can get on the shuttle at the Transit Center, which is near the Sprint Start/Finish, and get off at the "Rob Hill Campground" or "Coastal Trail" stop (see the paragraph above for those locations).

With Gratitude

Thanks to George Minarik, who designed a preliminary version of the course. Unfortunately, we learned of restrictions imposed by the Presidio only after George did his design, and so the entire course had to be redesigned. Nevertheless, I am still using the assembly area that George picked out, which was a great help to me when I designed the course that you will run. Any shortcomings of the course are entirely my responsibility. I’d also like to thank Gavin Wyatt-Mair, course setter for the NRE Sprint at the Presidio last year. Among other things, Gavin went to the BAOC locker and got the orange traffic cones that are perfect for an urban orienteering course like this one. Thanks also to Misha Kreslavsky, who made a bunch of map corrections I noticed, to Sarah Williams, who made labels for the cones, asking that they not be disturbed, and to Matteo Guareschi, Course Setter for all the other courses at this event, who delivered to me the E-punch units I need. And, as always, thanks to Chuck Spalding for working on these webpages.