#1: [17-Jun-01]

26-May-2024 -- I have established a tradition going back nearly 20 years of devoting a whole day or multiple days, solely to getting out on the landscape, seeing physical and cultural geography and visiting confluence points. Thus, it was time for the 2024 trip which I had been looking forward to for an entire year. I had flown to Bismarck, North Dakota, two days before, visiting 8 points in those two days. Today I had already visited 48° north 100° west as well as taken side trips to the geographic center of North America and David Thompson surveyors memorial, which were respectively an impressive obelisk of conglomerate, and a gigantic globe of granite. Then I visited 102° west about 90 minutes before reaching the vicinity of 103° west.

I was traveling east to west all along 48° north latitude, from 96° west all the way to 105° west, spanning 9° of longitude. I skipped 99° west and 101° west because I had already been there. Therefore, about an hour and a half elapsed after I visited the David Thompson surveyors memorial when I found myself in the vicinity of 48/102° earlier this afternoon; as I traveled through New Town, there was a dark-as-night thunderstorm and cloud. That, combined with a few natural gas yellow flares, gave the whole area a surreal look--the yellow backed by very dark clouds and lightning. From a traffic circle on State Highway 23 I drove north on 110th Ave NW, west on 41st St NW, passing some oil pumping stations that I would later photograph, passing 103 West Longitude, and parking northwest of the point.

Thankfully, as I crossed the Missouri River, the storm let up. I had dry roads when I left the state highway to the south, and I had no problem navigating on the gravel roads that led through the fields of corn, soybeans, oil, and gas. The land is gently rolling. I left the vehicle and walked to the agricultural vehicles to the east, in mid-harvest or planting. Nobody was there, so I hiked for about 25 minutes to the south and found the confluence. I found it on one of the slopes of the hills. There were no fences. I took care in stepping just in case something had been planted in the fields. I did not realize it at the time, but later, when I checked the satellite image of the area, I discovered that I was on land around which the Missouri River makes a huge arc around.

It was mid-to-late afternoon in late spring, partly cloudy skies with thunderstorms looming, but moderate winds here and beautiful temperature of about 74° F. The clearest views were off to the north, because the land sloped gently in that direction. I have a very nice collection of confluence points now in North Dakota: By the time this trip ends, I would have all the points along 48° north; I have most of them on 47° north and 46° north as well. I have stood on 48° north latitude in many places from Washington state all the way east to Minnesota. I have also stood on 103° west on the north end here in North Dakota all the way down to 103° west on the Texas-New Mexico border. These cover a wide range of landforms, climate zones, and vegetation types.

I took photographs and posted a video, here: 48 North Latitude, 103 West Longitude. 48 North 103 West. In the video, the sign I am wearing says 48 N 102 W but I am actually standing on 48 N 103 W. Chalk that up to continental drift or that I was in the midst of a 15 confluence 4 day trip and perhaps was slightly delirious. While filming, and you will hear in the above video at 0:57 seconds in, there was a loud thunderclap; thus I made haste to depart but it turned out that this was the only thunder I heard. The wind rose and a light rain fell for a few minutes, but that was all. I was on site 15 minutes. I did not want to depart but it was already mid-late-afternoon, and I had a plan to visit 2 more points today before sundown. Would I make it? There was only one way to find out! First, though, I visited a few oil pumping stations here in the famous Bakken Oil Field. I then drove in a winding fashion on roads through Watford City and on to Williston. It was my first time in either of those towns and was looking forward to it.

When the trip was all said and done, here are the final statistics:

-------------------------------------------------
Days set aside to visit points:  4

Confluence points attempted:  15.  

Confluence points successfully visited:  15. 

Points where I met the local landowner = 3 of 15 points. 

Points where I met the local dogs = 3 of 15 points.

Miles = 1588, Kilometers = 2556.
  
Percent of travel on interstate highways:  15%
Percent of travel on US, state, and county roads:  85 % :-)

Campgrounds = 3.  

Windy confluence points:  13 of 15.
Rainy confluence points:  3 of 15.
Snowy confluence points:  1 of 15.

Beautiful confluence points:   15 of 15.

Convenience store stops = 7.  

Points that: 

                were easier than expected      =           2 
                the same difficulty as I expected  =     2 
                were more difficult than expected  =  11 
		------------------------------------------------
			                                     15 points.
Points      in wetlands              1
                in woodlands             1
		in non-tilled hills      2
		in agricultural fields  11
		---------------------------
			                          15 points.

Points along 	45 North = 1 
		46 North = 3 
		47 North = 3 
		48 North = 8  
		-------------
			   15 points.

Points visited on 	Day 1 = 3 
			Day 2 = 5 
			Day 3 = 5 
			Day 4 = 2
		-------------------
			   	15 points.  

Points visited in the 	morning = 	5 
			afternoon = 	7 
			evening = 	3 
		-------------------------------
			   		15 points

Points visited in 	Minnesota =     2
			North Dakota =  11
			South Dakota =  1 
			Montana =       1
		-------------------------------
			   		15 points 

The most frequently visited longitude line:  99 West:  3 points.

Get out there and explore!

In Little Missouri National Grassland.