How bad is frogtown course XC in ca ?

I'm not a runner (my kids are), but it's a really fun course to watch as a spectator as you can see the runners at many different points throughout the course and especially fun up the hills. Having said that, in my extremely unprofessional opinion, it's not really a prototypical course and I wouldn't base too much off of it. I imagine the hills aren't super fun for the uninitiated.

Also, since so many teams make it from subs to sections, I don't think you'll see any of the top teams go hard.

It is very hilly including more than one steep climb. You also better watch your footing. Smart ones don’t go all out if you have the luxury of running it a fair bit easier and still advancing to sections the following week, which is at another very hard course called Willow Hills. These are not park and soccer field courses like you often see down in southern section.