The Bishop’s Land map is owned and maintained by Peteris Ledins, who has generously allows us to use it for some of our events. Some of the mapped area is privately owned by Dave Bishop, who has very kindly allowed Peteris to map and use his land and has been very supportive of orienteering in general.

The Bishop’s Land venue contains a lot of rocky features.  A number of decisions have been made about what and how to map.

  • International Specifications for Orienteering Maps 2017 symbols are used.
  • Vegetation is mapped in a limited fashion:
    • The only vegetation that limits running in any way is sage bush – still growing or burnt leftovers – and similar semi-desert plants. They are mapped with green vertical stripes – undergrowth, slower running symbol – in locations where the impact is larger.
    • There are several more distinct trees mapped with the green dot symbol.
  • In general, only distinct objects are mapped. A 1-meter-high boulder is mapped if it is in a gravelly area, but not if it lies between other larger boulders.  In a similar fashion, we don’t mark 209 Boulder field or 210 Stony ground in a context where these make the map too hard to read.  In contrast, most of the 418 Prominent bush or tree are prominent only in the Frenchman Spring context.
  • Uncrossable cliff usually means very uncrossable. Please respect that and do not go too close to it.
  • Ground covered with little to no vegetation while still allowing near full speed running is mapped as 214 Bare rock.  Unlike in many other venues, bare rock in Quincy Lakes is not necessarily a smooth cliff face but may instead resemble a pile of rocks.

Sensitive Plant

Snowball cactus (Pediocactus nigrispinus) grows in this area. It’s been designated a sensitive species, so if you see any, please avoid stepping on or near it.

 

 

Note: Samples of the map are provided here for educational purposes only; the map shown here is not kept up-to-date.

The purpose of providing these navigational and physical ratings below is to provide greater context for how challenging an orienteering course at this venue might be. For example, an advanced-level course at a local city park will be easier to complete than an advanced-level course in the mountains.

Navigational Challenge Rating: 8/10

Bishop’s Land presents a unique navigational challenge – while visibility is very high, the extremely rocky and crenelated nature of the terrain – often resembling a rocky moonscape – makes navigation here tougher and slower than other venues in the area. Cliffs are almost everywhere, some passable, many not, and it can be tough to decipher the most efficient route around, over, or between them, as well as to maintain map contact as you move between the grassy, shrubbier “bottoms” and the rocky “tops.”

Physical Challenge Rating: 8/10

In general, Bishop’s Land is *exceptionally* rocky underfoot, more so than even other nearby mapped venues in the Quincy/Gorge area, so running is generally a bit slower and requires more caution. In addition, cliffs are numerous and large. At the same time, the area is located on a flattish plateau above the Columbia River, so there aren’t many steeply sloped hillsides or sustained climbs.