#2: [06-Aug-02]

#3: [28-Jul-04] (incomplete)

27-Jan-2001 -- As confluences go this must be one of the easier ones. No fierce animals, no angry landowners, no raging rivers to cross, not even a steep hill to trudge up . I left Calgary at 8:30 and headed north on Hwy 2, the main north/south freeway in Alberta. After about an hour of driving, and 101 km under the wheels , I pulled off into the small town of Bowden just south of the confluence waypoint. After picking up a roll of film for the camera I continued jogging north and east on the county grid roads until I was within 100 feet of the target. In Alberta the rural roads are generally spaced out every 1 mile east/west and every two miles north/south. The location of the roads was laid out using the meridian system so I felt confident that the confluence would be on or near one of these roads.. Sometimes the north/south roads stay undeveloped if they are not needed for a residence, we call those lines "road allowances." Such was the case at 52N114W which is located in a low cow pasture just east of an allowance. Almost all of the land along Hwy 2 is mixed farming country with towns located every 20 to 30 miles. I was thankful that the confluence was not within the perimeter of the nearby low-security prison. It took no time at all to cross the fence then vector in until the GPS settled down at the desired 000,000 reading. My dog Simba thought it was a wonderful game and had a celebratory roll in the snow at the confluence as I was snapping the photographs. With the job done we walked up the road allowance for a while just because it was a nice day then went back to the car for the rest of the jouney to Edmonton to attend the annual motorcycle show. I hope to get back to 52N 114W this spring or summer to take some more photogenic pictures. I don't want the readers to get the impression that Canada is all snow and ice!

Even though this was an easy confluence the hunt was was still exciting, especially when the GPS pointer started to swing as we neared the target. I'm hooked!