Discussion: event update for Red Rock 3 hr, 6 hr this Sunday
in: Red Rock Adventure Challenge (Nov 17, 2013 - Edwards, CA, US)
Nov 12, 2013 5:57 AM
#
What a weekend! Beautiful out there. Just ran around in a shorts and t-shirt with a map and a light backpack. My exposed legs did fine. There’s a sparse few jumping cholla that only the advanced 6 hour teams will encounter. I did grab on to some rocks, which roughed my hands a little bit. I took a few photos and posted them to the terraloco Facebook, anyone can view, you don’t have to be a Facebook member: Photo album
Next weekend’s weather looks good: highs of 68, overnight lows of 40, so if you’re camping, bring cozy enough gear. There seemed to be enough campsites available to satisfy our numbers. We have 71 preregistered and about half seem to be camping. It’s courteous to share sites so we don’t crowd others out, plus it saves you money… campsites are $25, extra vehicles are $6, maximum 8 people per site. There is a day use fee of $6, you don’t need to pay this if you are camping. The park takes cash or check. I will arrive early Friday to get a site; if you want to join my site, just send me an email, and I’ll get in touch with details. (Also, if you can come early to grab a site and share it with others, let me know as well - if my site “fills up” then we can accommodate more who can’t get there early.) I doubt the campground will be full but in that case there is dispersed camping available a couple miles to the north.
Read the following notes carefully, they have a lot of good information that supplements what’s already posted on the event page. It’ll also be covered in the course briefing prior to the start.
Also note, there’s a short one mile drive to a remote start across the road in the Red Cliffs Preserve, and we will carpool over there. Since the event page was originally posted, they’ve added a toilet to the Red Cliffs Preserve parking lot. We’ll shuttle folks back after the finish to get their cars.
Look forward to seeing you this weekend! All event information is here:
event page
Cheers,
Rex
The course
Whether you go 3 or 6 hours you’ll have a lot of fun and a lot of variety. Close to the start are some easier, but fun, checkpoints to get people warmed up. Those ones are worth 25 points, and there are a good number scattered around the course. “Medium difficulty” checkpoints will be worth 50 points and require a little more challenge. There are a few “hard” checkpoints worth 100 points; these are only recommended for veteran navigators.
There’s a mandatory crossing underneath Highway 14, and a mandatory checkpoint there that all teams must visit. 13 checkpoints are east of Highway 14 where the start is. And there are 13 checkpoints on the west side where the finish is. The finish is back by the visitor’s center.
Get as many checkpoints as you want! To visit all 26 checkpoints, I covered 20.74 miles in 6 hours 36 minutes total with about 8 minutes of error and a fair amount of time stopping and looking. I did drive my car a few places, but I estimate teams would be able to cover it all in less than 25 miles. All checkpoints are GPS verified.
There will be an aid station at the mandatory crossing, by the finish near the visitor’s center, and in the southwestern part of the map for the 6 hour teams. Water, electrolyte drinks, cups, and snacks will be available. You should be carrying water with yourself as well.
Getting around the course
25 miles? Some of you might think that could be covered in just 4 hours. Unlikely, because of the variety of terrain. Much of it is easy to navigate, but some stretches near the harder checkpoints can be more rugged and slower to cross. Sometimes you’re dodging plants, sometimes you’re dodging rocks, and sometimes you’re on a roller coaster of little ups and downs. Ridgelines and gullies can make good highways.
The key to getting around on the map is to think big. Use the very largest hilltops and deepest valleys to guide you. Look afar and rotate your map to match what you see. When you’re close, then you can read the detail a little more carefully.
The contour lines on the map show the shapes of the hills and valleys. Most of the map has 20 foot contour lines, and this shows better resolution. The 40 foot lines also show the big features well. What’s lacking in much of the map are the “shorter” features that you have to go over, down, or around. In other words, not all small hills and valleys that look significant to you are shown on the map. And the blue streams on the map, those are dry washes, usually very wide. There are also more washes in the area than mapped, mainly in the southwest part of the map.
Over time, I’ve added some trails and roads to the USGS basemap, and erased roads that are gone. But you may find roads or trails not shown on the map, though not too many. There are a few fences that aren’t mapped but easily crossable. No barbed wire.
Look Out!
The theme song for this event is TLC’s “Waterfalls,” which features the chorus, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…” They’re dry but they’re there. On some of the routes you might want to take, mainly towards 100 pointers. Contour lines close together are a good indicator that there might be “drops” in a gully. So keep your eyes peeled, and when you get to one, you have to “portage” around it.
Sometimes, the steep cliffs continue on for a while making a formidable barrier. Beware contours lines close together! In the 40 foot contour section, it takes more scrutiny to identify these areas. In some places they are passable. But you have to be keen to find a way. And your reward will be 100 checkpoints, if you dare try for them.
Please, this is not a technical rock-climbing exercise. Go around if you can’t scale it with relative ease. It will save you time.
My biggest problem out there: loose gravel on moderately steep slopes. My foot slipped a few times. Fortunately I didn’t fall. There were a few gotchas where it wasn’t too steep. Careful with your footing, even if you have grippy shoes.
An Awesome Experience
I immensely enjoyed scouting this course! Like a kid in a candy store with many different rooms with different candy. Come prepared, be safe, and you’ll have a very fun adventure. Make sure you are familiar with all the information on the event web page: event page
Rex Winterbottom, terraloco
+1-510-681-6181
http://go-terraloco.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/go.terraloco
Next weekend’s weather looks good: highs of 68, overnight lows of 40, so if you’re camping, bring cozy enough gear. There seemed to be enough campsites available to satisfy our numbers. We have 71 preregistered and about half seem to be camping. It’s courteous to share sites so we don’t crowd others out, plus it saves you money… campsites are $25, extra vehicles are $6, maximum 8 people per site. There is a day use fee of $6, you don’t need to pay this if you are camping. The park takes cash or check. I will arrive early Friday to get a site; if you want to join my site, just send me an email, and I’ll get in touch with details. (Also, if you can come early to grab a site and share it with others, let me know as well - if my site “fills up” then we can accommodate more who can’t get there early.) I doubt the campground will be full but in that case there is dispersed camping available a couple miles to the north.
Read the following notes carefully, they have a lot of good information that supplements what’s already posted on the event page. It’ll also be covered in the course briefing prior to the start.
Also note, there’s a short one mile drive to a remote start across the road in the Red Cliffs Preserve, and we will carpool over there. Since the event page was originally posted, they’ve added a toilet to the Red Cliffs Preserve parking lot. We’ll shuttle folks back after the finish to get their cars.
Look forward to seeing you this weekend! All event information is here:
event page
Cheers,
Rex
The course
Whether you go 3 or 6 hours you’ll have a lot of fun and a lot of variety. Close to the start are some easier, but fun, checkpoints to get people warmed up. Those ones are worth 25 points, and there are a good number scattered around the course. “Medium difficulty” checkpoints will be worth 50 points and require a little more challenge. There are a few “hard” checkpoints worth 100 points; these are only recommended for veteran navigators.
There’s a mandatory crossing underneath Highway 14, and a mandatory checkpoint there that all teams must visit. 13 checkpoints are east of Highway 14 where the start is. And there are 13 checkpoints on the west side where the finish is. The finish is back by the visitor’s center.
Get as many checkpoints as you want! To visit all 26 checkpoints, I covered 20.74 miles in 6 hours 36 minutes total with about 8 minutes of error and a fair amount of time stopping and looking. I did drive my car a few places, but I estimate teams would be able to cover it all in less than 25 miles. All checkpoints are GPS verified.
There will be an aid station at the mandatory crossing, by the finish near the visitor’s center, and in the southwestern part of the map for the 6 hour teams. Water, electrolyte drinks, cups, and snacks will be available. You should be carrying water with yourself as well.
Getting around the course
25 miles? Some of you might think that could be covered in just 4 hours. Unlikely, because of the variety of terrain. Much of it is easy to navigate, but some stretches near the harder checkpoints can be more rugged and slower to cross. Sometimes you’re dodging plants, sometimes you’re dodging rocks, and sometimes you’re on a roller coaster of little ups and downs. Ridgelines and gullies can make good highways.
The key to getting around on the map is to think big. Use the very largest hilltops and deepest valleys to guide you. Look afar and rotate your map to match what you see. When you’re close, then you can read the detail a little more carefully.
The contour lines on the map show the shapes of the hills and valleys. Most of the map has 20 foot contour lines, and this shows better resolution. The 40 foot lines also show the big features well. What’s lacking in much of the map are the “shorter” features that you have to go over, down, or around. In other words, not all small hills and valleys that look significant to you are shown on the map. And the blue streams on the map, those are dry washes, usually very wide. There are also more washes in the area than mapped, mainly in the southwest part of the map.
Over time, I’ve added some trails and roads to the USGS basemap, and erased roads that are gone. But you may find roads or trails not shown on the map, though not too many. There are a few fences that aren’t mapped but easily crossable. No barbed wire.
Look Out!
The theme song for this event is TLC’s “Waterfalls,” which features the chorus, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…” They’re dry but they’re there. On some of the routes you might want to take, mainly towards 100 pointers. Contour lines close together are a good indicator that there might be “drops” in a gully. So keep your eyes peeled, and when you get to one, you have to “portage” around it.
Sometimes, the steep cliffs continue on for a while making a formidable barrier. Beware contours lines close together! In the 40 foot contour section, it takes more scrutiny to identify these areas. In some places they are passable. But you have to be keen to find a way. And your reward will be 100 checkpoints, if you dare try for them.
Please, this is not a technical rock-climbing exercise. Go around if you can’t scale it with relative ease. It will save you time.
My biggest problem out there: loose gravel on moderately steep slopes. My foot slipped a few times. Fortunately I didn’t fall. There were a few gotchas where it wasn’t too steep. Careful with your footing, even if you have grippy shoes.
An Awesome Experience
I immensely enjoyed scouting this course! Like a kid in a candy store with many different rooms with different candy. Come prepared, be safe, and you’ll have a very fun adventure. Make sure you are familiar with all the information on the event web page: event page
Rex Winterbottom, terraloco
+1-510-681-6181
http://go-terraloco.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/go.terraloco
Nov 14, 2013 6:46 PM
#
Can you please define what qualifies as a 'first aid kit'? I don't really want to have to carry around a kit like the one I have in my car. But we're obviously going to bring some foot care supplies etc.
This discussion thread is closed.