By Gavin Wyatt-Mair
Here are the course details:
Navigational Physical
Course Distance Climb difficulty difficulty
White 3.7 km 140 m Easy Easy
Yellow 4.4 155 Easy Easy
Orange 5.5 270 Moderate Moderate
Brown 4.4 180 Hard Moderate
Green 5.5 225 Hard Hardish
Red 6.2 290 Hard Hard
Blue 6.8 315 Hard Hard
This is going to be a big meet. There will be over 700 scouts and scouters at the meet, so it is a great opportunity for us to promote our sport. We need our club to show off in full strength. THIS MEANS YOU!! BE THERE or be nowhere.
This year's courses are "relatively flat" — remarkable for Briones! The star thistle is down a lot — probably because the grasses are thick after the wet winter last year. The fire department decided to burn a part of our courses on Friday (aaaaargh) so you may get dirty. But don't worry — it's just carbon, and it washes off.
This is a good tune-up opportunity for the O-in-the-Oaks "A" meet in three weeks. There are some tough route choices to keep you sharp, interspersed with fine navigation to slow you down, and coarse navigation to speed you up. There is a fairly wide variety of terrain — including run-able forest, open meadows, steep as well as flat. You will need good strong shoes, full leg covering and advanced courses need cleats. There is E-punching everywhere on all courses. There is Poison Oak in the forest — it is mainly ankle high, and there are also numerous avoidable bushes of it. Bring Tecnu, and change clothes afterwards. The map is still decent, and 1:10000.
Wildlife spotted recently includes deer, eagles, coyote, skunks, buzzards, orienteers, and more. The weather forecast calls for nice temperatures (~80 F), sunny and clear.
The start is about 350 m from the parking lot, ENE on the trail — it takes 391 seconds (~6 minutes) to stroll there. The Scout-O overlaps the White, Yellow, and the Orange courses. Please be tolerant. Also, remember that horses have the right of way, and try not to scare them. Be polite to other park users please (this is a requirement for future permits).
Registration for regular O will be open from about 9:00. Earliest start is at 10:00, latest start at 12:30. Bring water.
Driving Directions
Registration will be at the West entrance to the park, off of Bear Creek Road. To get there, take route 24 West from 680 or East from 80. Exit at Orinda, heading North on Camino Pablo. After about 2 miles, turn right onto Bear Creek Road. After about 3.5 miles, the park entrance will be on your right — it is well sign-posted. (Don't be fooled by the parking area on the left — that's not it.) There is a $5.00 charge for parking. Please carpool if possible.