#3: [29-Dec-01]

08-Sep-2001 -- 53N 111W was our second scheduled confluence on a whirlwind tour of the Canadian prairies. After a successful attempt on 53N 108W, we drove back through the small unpaved rural roads to get to Highway 4. We drove south on Highway 4 into the city of North Battleford, stopped at a Co-Op grocery store for provisions and then headed west along Highway 40 to the province of Alberta (crossing the border, Highway 40 becomes Highway 14).

Along the way, we saw numerous hawks perched on roadside trees and fence posts watching the adjacent fields for their next meal to scurry past.

After roughly 50 kilometres on the 14, we turned north on Highway 41 for another 20 kilometres before again heading west, this time on the 883.

Along the 883, we stopped briefly and watched two coyotes moving through the grasses, one on each side of the road (see photo 7). Just a couple of kilometers further west, we turned north on a gravel road and parked the car once we reached the 53rd parallel.

Much like the previous confluence, it was a simple matter of walking west across a harvested field to reach our target. It was a slightly further walk than the previous one (250 metres rather than 75 metres) and the field in this case had not been the site of a hay crop, but rather what we believe was a canola crop.

The sky appeared quite dramatic by this point in the day; the clouds from the mostly overcast sky had concentrated themselves such that it was now clear and sunny to the south, but dark and foreboding to the north. There was a steady breeze blowing, so we didn’t experience the total silence we had heard (does one actually hear silence?) at the earlier confluence.

After taking our confluence photos, it was back to the car for the 100 km drive south to the next confluence at 52N 111W.