#1: [22-Dec-00]

25-May-2024 -- I have been seeking and finding confluence points for 25 years, and have established a tradition going back nearly 20 years of devoting a whole day or multiple days, solely to getting out on the landscape, seeing physical and cultural geography and visiting confluence points. Thus, it was time for the 2024 trip which I have been looking forward to for an entire year. I had landed in Bismarck, North Dakota, the previous day and despite the slow start in a sleet and rainstorm for 47 North 99 West, I visited two more points that day; and now it was Day 2. Earlier today I had visited 46 North 98 West, 46 North 97 West, and then entered Minnesota and visited 48 North 96 West.

With the exception of two points I had visited in upstate New York about 10 years ago, the road from 48 North 96 West to 48 North 97 West was about a straight and direct as any road between two points on the entire planet. This largely was Minnesota State Highway 21, which I took for 95% of the way between the two points. Thus, only slightly more than an hour after I departed 48/96, I found myself parking at an east-west gravel road (Road 65 as it junctions 440th Ave) just south of 48/97. I decided on approaching the point from the south. I set off walking to the house that was to my northwest, due south of the confluence, with a minimal amount of supplies. Finding nobody at home, I decided to leave the landowner permission request letter and set out on the trail heading due north from the east side of the house. I was now 2,641.09 ft (805.00 m) from the confluence and my excitement was building!

Walking on this track, or trail, my shoes became heavier and heavier with mud due to yesterday's rainfall. The total walk time from the house was about 15 minutes. Fortunately I was were not treading on any new seedlings. But rain is always a good thing here: As long as there’s not too much of it. Unfortunately, here in Minnesota and Iowa, about a month after my visit, received too much rain and floods occurred.

It had been almost 24 years since the one and only past visit to this point. That visit was near the winter solstice, and how different things looked today! I left the track and walked through tall grasses to the edge of the river to exactly 97 West Longitude, due south of the point. I stood up to my ankles in water for a while, at about 70 meters distant from the point. I then decided that I could get closer by walking northwest to 48 North. Indeed, I was rewarded there for being only 30 meters distant. I pondered whether I could have approached any closer from the east side of the river, but decided that the confluence must be in the exact middle of the river, so that would not have been worth the effort.

Thus, this confluence lies in the meandering Grand Marais Creek, meandering because this Red River Plain is among the flattest land in all of North America, rivaled perhaps only by the Llano Estacado in Texas for flatness. I have great appreciation for people that care take this land and the indigenous population that traversed and took care of this area over the centuries as well. It was late afternoon in late May, about one month before the summer solstice. It was much more pleasant than my snowy-rainy-windy walk the day before to 47 North 99 West. Now, the temperature stood at a pleasant 78 F (26 C) under moderate breezes and clear skies. I saw a few birds but no people; I could see the outbuildings to the northwest but no other dwellings due to the low ground it was in. I took photos and posted this video of 48 North 97 West.

This confluence point is indeed a peaceful place, and I do love wetlands, so I did not want to leave. Wetlands are important to our planet and I was glad to see this one. However, I wanted to see if I could visit one more point today along 48 North at 98 West in North Dakota before the end of the day. Thus, I walked back south and checked the house; nobody was home. I am wearing my "I know where it is at!" geography shirt in honor of the occasion. It is under my shirt from Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where I used to teach GIS.

By now in my 25th year of doing this, I have a very tidy, robust collection of visited confluence points in Minnesota. I have stood on 48° north latitude many times in the past from Washington state on the west to here in Minnesota on the east. I have also stood on 97° west many times from Minnesota here on the north end down to Texas on the south end, spanning a wide array of ecoregions and biomes. This was my 7th confluence of the 15 points I would eventually visit for my current four day trip. From the confluence neighborhood, I drove south and west into Grand Forks, crossing into North Dakota, and continued on US Highway 2 toward 48 North 98 West. Would I make it before sundown?

When the trip was all said and done, here are the final statistics:

-------------------------------------------------
Days set aside to visit points:  4

Confluence points attempted:  15.  

Confluence points successfully visited:  15. 

Points where I met the local landowner = 3 of 15 points. 

Points where I met the local dogs = 3 of 15 points.

Miles = 1588, Kilometers = 2556.
  
Percent of travel on interstate highways:  15%
Percent of travel on US, state, and county roads:  85 % :-)

Campgrounds = 3.  

Windy confluence points:  13 of 15.
Rainy confluence points:  3 of 15.
Snowy confluence points:  1 of 15.

Beautiful confluence points:   15 of 15.

Convenience store stops = 7.  

Points I thought would be

                easier than they turned out to be =           2 
                about the same as I expected them to be =     2 
                more difficult than they turned out to be =  11 
		------------------------------------------------
			                                     15 points.
Points          in wetlands              1
                in woodlands             1
		in non-tilled hills      2
		in agricultural fields  11
		---------------------------
			                15 points.

Points along 	45 North = 1 
		46 North = 3 
		47 North = 3 
		48 North = 8  
		-------------
			   15 points.

Points visited on 	Day 1 = 3 
			Day 2 = 5 
			Day 3 = 5 
			Day 4 = 2
		-------------------
			   	15 points.  

Points visited in the 	morning = 	5 
			afternoon = 	7 
			evening = 	3 
		-------------------------------
			   		15 points

Points visited in 	Minnesota =     2
			North Dakota =  11
			South Dakota =  1 
			Montana =       1
		-------------------------------
			   		15 points 

The most frequently visited longitude line:  99 West:  3 points.

Get out there and explore!

In the middle of Grand Marais Creek.