#7: [03-Aug-11]

#6: [29-Aug-09]

#3: [17-Apr-05]

#1: [22-Jul-00]

#2: [14-Jul-00]

13-Feb-2007 -- This was the fifth of seven confluences on a trip out to Portland to see my sister.

It was a brother-sister adventure today – remembering similar winding drives in Washington many years ago. We turned off Hwy 30 onto Canaan road and noticed a prevalence of moss on all the trees that hadn’t been logged yet. The weather was intermittently raining and gray with brief periods of sunshine. Meissner Road was our next turnpoint, then quickly to Apiary Road. We turned right onto a dirt road. The sign stated it was a logging road but open for recreational users. It was significantly more rocky than dirt but it was Jetta capable – using first gear for a majority of the time. The fog and precipitation continued in waves – all the vegetation was very wet.

I determined that the confluence was on the north east side of road in between two pull-offs from the main road, closer to one that goes to the left (east) and also goes uphill vs. the one that goes right (south) and downhill. It was also about 10 meters into dense trees, through some very wet ferns. It was very difficult to zero out two receivers. I really wish I had packed the Hurricane antenna for my Trimble! My sister laughed as I continued to move back and forth – to the exact same places that I had just been in a futile attempt to get simultaneous readings on my receivers.

Picture #1 looks northwest - the confluence is off the road to the right. Picture #2 looks northeast towards the confluence. Picture #3 looks southeast down the road to where we had parked. Picture #4 looks southwest and shows a lot of the wet lichen covering the trees. The trees reminded me of those old chia pet commercials. Picture #5 shows the closest GPS position after a lot of confluence dancing.

I returned to the car soaking wet from the saturated vegetation – that’s the price for an elusive goal of all zeroes. I dried off the best I could and we continued back home.

Along the way, we passed a car with a really neat bumper sticker: Not all who wander are lost.

Time to head back east. Onward to 48-106!

Coordinator's Note: "Not all who wander are lost" is a quote from The Lord of the Rings.