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A combination trail run and orienteering outing, this event sponsored by the Bay Area Orienteering Club lets you practice your map-reading skills while testing your endurance. (You can walk or hike it, too.) Three courses—5k, 10k and 10 mile—wend through Wilder Ranch State Park. Participants get a map just before the start with a list of checkpoints. Then they're off! A 10am mass start gets people off the dime; everyone should be back by 2pm.
If you're not an expert navigator, no worries: registration at 9am is followed by a clinic for first-timers. You can also borrow a compass if you want to, or bring your own GPS device. Later come back, enjoy snacks and see how everyone did.
Course fees are $23-$33 for nonmembers, $18-28 for members. Register here. 9am-3pm at Wilder Ranch State Park, 3 miles north of Santa Cruz on Highway 1.
