05-Aug-2001 -- I last visited 40N-120W on January 14, 2001 and was again in Vina to visit the monastery for Sunday mass at 10:30. The mass featured a meditation played by a 16-year-old violin prodigy. While the rest of our family visited the Sacred Stones at The Abbey of New Clairvaux my father and I drove the ten minutes to the confluence site.
The confluence is a short drive north from Chico, home of Sierra Nevada Brewery, THE Mecca of craft breweries. Worth the visit for the tour and sampler of many top notch beers.
The hot summer had brought about changes to the confluence site. The cattle were gone, the grass was dry and short and the ground was hard and cracked in places. We piled some stones so that the spot could be seen from the road.
Mt. Lassen could be seen above the low hills to the East, clouds had obscured the 10,000 foot summit in January.
This confluence remains a easy, drive-up site. It is on private ranchland, but the gates remain open.