#9: [18-Sep-16]

#8: [24-Aug-16]

#7: [18-Nov-14]

#5: [05-May-09]

#4: [13-May-04]

#3: [22-Aug-02]

#2: [04-Jun-01]

#1: [28-May-01]

15-Jun-2012 -- This is the last of eight planned confluences on our expedition along 38 and 39 north. It continues from 39N 109W and connects two segments to form an unbroken line of 26 visits (or attempts) along 39 north stretching from 123 west all the way to 98 west – a little more than half way across the US.

The drive up Highway 65, the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway was beautiful! It was Friday morning and we almost had the road to ourselves! We stopped at the pull out for Scotland Trail #752. Across the road on the north side of Highway 65 was another parking area with several trucks with large horse trailers attached.

If you start up Trail #752 and then almost immediately turn onto the smaller track to the left, it will take you almost all the way to the confluence. I followed this trail through some trees then a long way across an open meadow. At about 80 meters away, I went through a gate and followed another trail west into an aspen forest until I was less than 30 meters away. It was a challenge to get all zeros due to the dense foliage. There were three large rocks aligned generally east to west. I found all zeroes on the western rock (Picture #7) and set up data logging and sent my Spot custom message from there.

I took several single pictures with my panoramic lens and the rest of my pictures before heading back. The hike back was filled with the loud sounds of buzzing grasshoppers.

Picture #6 shows a TerraSync screen shot on the left captured at the confluence and the resulting Pathfinder Office post processed GPS data on the right. Picture #10 is a cylindrical panoramic QuickTime Virtual Reality movie taken at the confluence. You can interactively zoom in and out throughout the image when displayed.

My wife and I were looking forward to getting back to civilization after our great week-long mountain adventure! We spent the night in Denver with some of my wife’s good friends. The next day we drove back to Colorado Springs where my wife and daughter would stay with some good friends there for several more days while I would head back home.

A quick summary of my summer confluence adventure: Over 330 gallons of gas was consumed while travelling more than 5,000 miles and successfully visiting 19 of 20 confluences. Two, 32Gb, SD cards were filled from my GoPro camera on my dash recording the entire trip by taking a picture every 10 seconds.

What a great way to get out and explore!