The cross country season start in late September. There are meets scheduled every week. The Palo Alto Lightning usually chooses 3 or 4 meets to enter, followed by the Junior Olympics and Regional Junior Olympics meets in November. The early cross country meets are pretty low-key.
Registration lasts about an hour.
There is no reason to be there right at the start of registration. After registration, everyone walks the course. This is very important. Some courses are very clear and simple. Some courses are complicated and confusing.