29-Jul-2015 -- This is the last out of 18 reports of confluence visits while cycling from Kashgar (喀什) to Xī'ān (西安). I cycled through the Chinese provinces of Xīnjiāng, Qīnghǎi, Gānsù, and Shǎnxī, 3600 km in 25 days. The story starts from 39°N 76°E. The previous report is 34°N 107°E.

In the morning, I started cycling from the town Táochuān (桃川镇). First I coasted down for 40 km to Méixiàn (眉县) where I had breakfast.

Again it was during the heat of the day when I reached the confluence area. I left the main road at a distance of 15 km and soon reached a water reservoir. Then, I cycled through a spectacular narrow canyon. Most of the time, I had no GPS-reception.

Visiting this confluence will be quite an undertaking. It is located deep in a forest in steep rugged rock terrain. I saw two options to visit this confluence point: one was to climb up a serpentine road and then follow the ridge. But it would have been a long hike through the wilderness. I opted for the alternative: following the narrow valley up to its end in the hope to find a footpath that would take me further up.

At a distance of 4 km the track ended. I parked my bicycle and packed a backpack to continue on foot. Indeed there was a footpath, but one kilometre into it, it petered out. I tried to climb up further along the river, but with a distance of 3 km to go, I had no chance to reach the confluence that evening. I didn’t have an option to camp in order to make an attempt the following day, because my time was up. I had to reach Xī'ān the next day from where I took a train to Shànghǎi.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to the road: 15 km
• Walking distance: 4 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 4 m
• Time to reach the point of return: 1 hour
• Time at the point of return: 5:00 PM
• Measured height: 1250 m (point of return)
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 2.94 km
• Position accuracy: 5 m
• Topography: steep grades, mountainous
• Vegetation: mixed forest
• Weather: clear sky, 35° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Remote Rugged Confluence

Unfortunately, the pictures got lost. The story finishes here.