#15: [18-May-22]

#14: [20-Oct-15]

#13: [12-Dec-11]

#11: [25-Jul-09]

#12: [11-Jul-08]

#10: [07-Aug-07]

#9: [11-May-07]

#8: [21-May-05]

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#5: [05-Apr-03]

#4: [10-Dec-01]

#2: [16-Mar-01]

#1: [16-Feb-01]

05-Jul-2001 -- July 5, 2001. I drove to within about 5 meters of this confluence. It is in a vacant lot in – well, that’s a good question, what city is it in? There is a city straddling the Utah - Arizona border at 113 degrees West longitude. On the Utah side it is called Hildale. On the Arizona side it is called Colorado City.

The Utah State Constitution decrees that the border of the state begins “... at a point formed by the intersection of the thirty-second degree of longitude west from Washington, with the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude; thence due west along said thirty-seventh degree of north latitude to the intersection of the same with the thirty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington; ... .” Utah Constitution Article II Section 1.

But that just raises more questions. If a person were to stand exactly on the thirty-seventh degree of north latitude, would that person be in Utah or in Arizona or in both at the same time? Can a person be thin enough to stand exactly on a degree line? How wide is a line? Well, no matter, we are explorers. We will leave those questions for philosophers and mathematicians (and judges, when human activities cause a boundary line to become significant.)

Suffice it to say that I was in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. I parked the car next to a fence that had an opening due to disrepair. I walked about 5 or 6 meters and had the confluence. It was late evening on a day when there had been thundershowers. The ground was soft and damp. The sky was gray. The Vermillion Cliffs are the north boundary of the city.

The street where I parked was named Uzona Avenue. It is an east-west street. Perhaps the city planners intentionally placed it on the border between the two states.

The cities have an interesting history that involves religion and dissidence. The religion is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) and the topic of dissidence is polygamy. But, again, we are explorers, not philosophers or political scientists. So, we will leave those topics for them.

This is typical high mountain desert land. The vegetation is sagebrush, yucca, prickly pear cactus, pinion pine and juniper. The drainage is to the Colorado River system. The temperature would have been in the high 90's Fahrenheit had it not been for the clouds and rain. The average annual rainfall is probably less than 10 inches or 25 centimeters.

A bad day exploring is better than any other day!