#6: [21-Jul-20]

#5: [07-Sep-15]

#4: [30-Aug-13]

#3: [05-May-13]

#1: [30-Jun-01]

11-Oct-2011 -- This would be the eighth of eleven confluence visits on a trip to Colorado coming from 37N 106W.

As I continued east, the Spanish Peaks were prominent on the horizon – in fact, they would be visible from the next few confluences. I turned south towards Trinidad on Interstate 25 and then went east on 160. I passed through the town of Trinchera which seemed to be almost abandoned. It was about an hour before sunset when I arrived at the confluence. There is a prominent bush just to the southwest. The entire area is covered with dry grass and spotted with basaltic rock and prickly pear cactus. Like most of the other confluences on this trip, there were no cairns or other identifiable features except for cow pies, which seemed to be a theme of this trip.

It was very windy out – my digital voice recorder picked up quite a bit of noise as I was describing the scene. I started my Juno logging, sent a SPOT message, and took my pictures before leaving. I couldn’t believe that it had been over ten years since the first visit here and this would be just the second recorded visit!

Pathfinder Office Post Processing reduced 511 data points from my Trimble Juno to an average position of 36° 59’ 59.96979”N, 104° 00’ 00.01267”W with a horizontal precision of 2.1 meters and an altitude of 1871.971 meters with a vertical precision of 1.5 meters.

The hike to the confluence from where I parked was a 600 meter round trip and 26 minutes. I traveled for 39 km and 26 minutes from I-25 at Trinidad along US-160 until I turned south onto County Road 113, which was a fairly decent dirt road. Turn east onto County Road 8.8 and then continue south on County Road 6.8. It was 27 km and 35 minutes to the confluence from US-160. When I left, I decided to continue follow County Road 6.8 east towards Branson where I would pick up the paved CO-389. The moon was just rising as I approached Branson. It was 18 km and 34 minutes from the confluence to Branson.

As I drove, my dinner consisted of some fruit cocktail and the remnants of a Subway sandwich. I wanted to get as close as I could for tomorrow’s objective.

The adventure continues at 38N 104W.