29-Mar-2007 -- This confluence is located in South Central Alaska, USA, to the west of Cook Inlet and west north west of Redoubt Volcano. It lies north of Lake Clark and Twin Lakes and east of the Bonanza Hills. This site lies in the foothills of a chain of mountains and volcanoes to the east that are located all along the Alaska Range. This area is located very near Telequana Lake and is also in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. This location is around 160 miles (257 km) West of Anchorage.

On March 29, a particularly nice sunny spring day, Larry and I went flight seeing in Larry’s airplane with the goal of locating and documenting 5 different confluences. We took off from the Kenai airport, flew due west to cross over Cook Inlet at its narrowest point, then turned south and flew along the west side of Cook inlet toward Iliamna Volcano. We first located 60N153W then flew due west to 60N154W. We then went due north to 61N154W then we turned east to 61W152N then returned to Kenai. The round trip took us about 3 hours of flying time. The temperature on the ground at the airport was about 32 degrees F (0 degrees C); at altitude, it was about 20 degrees F (-7degrees C). Our trip took us across an inlet covered with melting ice floes, across mountains and volcanoes of the Alaska Range and deep into the back country of Alaska, far from any cities, towns, villages or roads. Once we started across the mountains we saw only a few isolated snowmobile tracks while covering hundreds of miles.

Larry and I flew over this site in Larry’s 1975 Cessna 180J airplane; the actual confluence was determined by the on-board Garmin 295 GPS. With the satellites that we were able to receive on this day, we flew over the confluence to within an accuracy of 19 feet (5.9 m).

Locating this confluence, we noted that this would probably be the easiest confluence of the 5 we visited this day to reach on the ground. This area is well away from any population other than a few cabins along Telequana Lake. On this day we saw some snowmobile tracks on the lake indicating that someone was or had been nearby, although whether they live there all year around or just visit the cabin is not known. Since there are no roads, access to the area is strictly by aircraft. The lake is at an elevation of 1,219 feet (372 m) and the site lies just to the north end of the lake not far from the water. The ground here rises only slightly from the level of the lake and is covered by light brush.

Photos: Photo 2 was taken from about 1,000 feet (305 m) directly over the confluence while the airplane was in a steep bank to the right. The lake is just visible in the upper left-hand corner of the picture. Photo 3 was taken from a few miles to the west looking east toward the confluence. This view shows Telequana Lake and the mountains of the Alaska Range in the back ground. Photo 1 was taken directly over the confluence looking east. Photo 4 is again looking east toward the Alaska Range. Photo 5 was taken from quite a distance away from the confluence but shows us leaving the mountains and flying northward into the foothills and lower area to the west of the mountain range toward this confluence. This gives the viewer a good idea of what the terrain around the confluence is like.

According to the rules of the web site, this visit has to be considered incomplete because we weren’t actually on the ground. As can be seen from the pictures, this is quite a remote spot, but with some effort, it could be visited on the ground. From the lake, it would be a good hike to the actual confluence. Perhaps this report will spur someone on to make the land visit - until then, any visitor to this web site can see what this area is like.