#8: [05-Aug-11]

#7: [24-Sep-10]

#6: [28-Mar-09]

#5: [28-Jul-06]

#3: [01-Sep-03]

#2: [11-Nov-02]

#1: [01-Jan-00]

14-Mar-2005 -- My wife Beth and I were on a week-long visit to the Mojave Desert Preserve and Death Valley National Park in California. We have looked over the confluence website many times but as of yet had not attempted any of our own. An opportunity came up when we camped for the night in Mesquite Valley, roughly 15 miles south of 36N116W. During the night a weak front moved through and generated strong gusty winds that nearly blew over our tent! We arose very early - motivated by the incessant winds, took down camp and relaxed in the cab of our truck until the sun rose. At a little after 6 a.m. local time we drove back on to the main highway (Old Spanish Trail) and proceeded northbound to where the road makes a right turn. We found a decent gravel road that continued north and followed it for roughly 2 miles. I drove while Beth read off the latitude readings. When we reached 36N, we parked and started our walk into the low brush to seek out 116W.

The weather was spectacular but very windy and quite brisk. The sky was clear but clouds still congregated near the big nearby ranges, notably the Spring Mountains to our northeast. We tramped about a kilometer west and eventually zeroed out both readings, locating 36N116W in a small clearing of desert asphalt surrounded by the usual low brush and cactus of the Great Basin Desert. After a few photos we returned to the truck, warmed up and went on our way toward a breakfast in Shoshone and a day of back road driving in Death Valley National Park.