26-May-2001 -- Despite buying a GPS specifically to confluence-hunt several months ago, this was our first confluence visit. We had quite poor preparation, picture #2 shows the only map we had to go on. We had picked it up for free from a local grocery store and approximated the confluence position by making a hole with the car key.

After winding our way through narrow gravel roads for 10km or so in the green forests of Dalarna, we ran out of road about 1.2km from the spot. We put on our rubber boots and sloshed through the swamp and forest for a while before coming across some moose hunting blinds. At this stage our lack of preparation came back to haunt us as we crossed a nice dirt road only 200m from the confluence point! Anyway since it was such a nice day in the forest we didn't care too much.

We found 61N15E at the edge of a section of cleared forest. Not suprising since there is more forest in Sweden now than there has been since the last ice-age. There's not much to identify the area except for a half-felled birch tree and a few swampy holes. 61N15E is close to the epicenter of "Siljansringen", a 360 million year old impact crater which is 52km in diameter making it the biggest known crater in Europe.