WE ARE SOLD OUT. NO EVENT-DAY REGISTRATION. HOPE
TO SEE YOU AT ONE OF OUR FUTURE EVENTS!!
 Event-Day
Information: Get Lost!! in Henry Coe, 11 December 2010
This event-day bulletin
was e-mailed and given to the participants. It complements and elaborates upon the
information below.
Weather
Update | Parking and
Carpools | Aid and
Water | Course, Terrain, and
Planning | Hazards | Allowed Equipment
Addendum
Sunday's rain was the last major rain before the event. It will
be mostly dry during the week. All trails will be open, barring a major error in the
forecast; the park does not anticipate amending or restricting our permit. Temperature
will reach mid-60s. Think about sunscreen!
The situation has changed; we don't have access to open the
gate at Coyote Creek, unfortunately. There was an oral understanding with the
park, and then another group got permission to use the space.
This means carpools. We have about 15 spaces at
Coyote Creek, and that's using creativity. So we will only allow vehicles in these
spaces that bring 5 or more people. We will also run a shuttle to and from the
Hunting Hollow entrance for the remaining participants.
Use this page
to plan and faciliate carpools. The page (many thanks to the Kopisch family!!)
shows the stated home location of each participant.
View Larger Map
Parking for vehicles that come carrying fewer than 5 people
will be at the Hunting Hollow entrance lot. It is on the way to Coyote Creek entrance,
the start and finish location. The fee to park there is $6 per vehicle; we will collect
this fee. We will set up a shuttle system using both larger vehicles that come not
full, and our vans. Be prepared to get the stuff you will need for the event out of
your car and on the shuttle.
It is 3.4 km from the parking to the start/finish, a flat,
paved walk. It is a $40 (with tip) taxicab ride from Gilroy Transit Center to the
Coyote Creek entrance.
Driving directions are the
same as advertised before; Hunting Hollow is on the way to Coyote
Creek.
Plan for supplying or creating most of your own
water!
There will be one water point that is not at an actual
checkpoint. It will be out of reach of the 4 hour teams. The amount of water
we can get up the hill is limited. Please plan on filling no more than 2 liters
per person at this water point; and if most 8 hour teams make it there, there is
a chance it'll run dry.
There is ample water in creeks and ponds at Coe, but it
must be treated. There are no water fountains/treated water sources/running
water at bathrooms. We insistently suggest that all 8 hour teams carry a water
purification device, be it a filter or iodine tabs.
There will be hot food at the finish. Remember to carry
electrolyte pills if you plan on doing the 8 hours.
Updated course and terrain information and
tips:
Vladimir placed many of the controls this weekend. It's
wicked out there! The woods are beautiful and open... and STEEP. Vladimir
is happy to report going for 1 hour and 42 minutes on a likely
4-hour team course, and not encountering any poison oak higher than the
ankle. At what other mapped Bay Area location can one enjoy the trek for this
long without such interruption?
Steep is what your strategy will be about. Avoiding steep,
that is. Unless you are a deer, it's always faster in this park to go up-and-over
or take a trail with some detour; contouring on hillsides is SLOW. More
about the terrain...
The part we chose for this rogaine consists of three ridges
that run roughly parallel to each other; Steer Ridge, Wasno Ridge, and Willow Ridge.
The start is between two of them; and the terrain next to the start is the steepest.
The slowest part of the map is the canyon (Grizzly Gulch) that empties just by the
start. Its north-facing side is full of poison oak, south-facing side is chaparral,
walls are riddled with cliffs, and to go along the stream means climbing over
car-size boulders. You really don't want to be in this canyon. Other places you
won't want to be in are where contour lines run close to each other... choose a
route that will minimize climb and avoid crossing the canyon.
As to wildlife, deer and newts are abundant. Some wild turkeys
were spotted. This park doesn't have cows, so ground is soft and unbroken. Grass is
low. And, Vladimir is proud to report the successful extraction of a giant tick,
almost certainly non-Lyme-carrying but quite a painful bite!
- Poison oak is one. We mapped some, but there is more.
It's confined to hillsides that face north. Much of the course is free of
it.
- In 2004 when Vladimir and Eric Bone went training at Coe,
they're pretty sure they saw a mountain lion; it appeared more scared than the
rogainers. The cats are out there. Basic strategy—slow down, make yourself
appear as large as you can, wait for the cat to move on. Mountain lion attacks are
much rarer than sightings.
- And, please remember adequate hydration and electrolytes.
Consuming enough salt will mean the difference between being sluggish and not
thinking clearly, and being sharp and enjoying the experience throughout the whole
8 hours.
We had mentioned that GPS with
detailed displays isn't going to be allowed, but forgot to say anything definite
about altimeters and pedometers. International Rules of Rogaining disallow the possession and
use of these. However, many teams registered without knowledge of this rule.
Consequentially we will allow the use of barometric (non-GPS) altimeters and all
pedometers, for example it's OK to have the Garmin display the total distance
travelled but not the coordinates. We rely on your honesty. We've also taken index
contours and spot heights off the competition map.
For all future rogaines held by Get Lost!!, navaids other
than compass and a watch will not be allowed. We may sometimes relax this rule,
but not if outisde sanctioning is involved.
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