13-Nov-2002 -- My friend and I have always enjoyed trips into Northern Baja – hiking and off-roading in the backcountry. We heard about the confluence project, and attempting an unvisited confluence seemed like a good excuse for a trip. So, after a little discussion, we decided to tackle 31N 115W.

We left Carlsbad (North San Diego County) very early on the morning of November 12, 2002, crossing the border at San Ysidro, and into Mexico at Tijuana. We then headed to San Felipe via Ensenada over Route 3. We went off-road Route 3 at Kilometer 164 and headed into the Laguna Diablo, a dry lake area north west of the confluence. We passed by Picacho Del Diablo, the highest mountain in Baja California at an astounding 10,154 feet. This is a truly majestic looking massif when viewed from the east with a very steep escarpment. After a few hours of 4-wheel exploring we discovered a sandy track moving towards the confluence from the north. This very sandy track ended in a boulder filled wash over one mile north of the confluence. By this time, it was late in the afternoon so we decided to head to San Felipe, rest up, and tackle the confluence the following morning.

The morning of the 13th of November 2002, we headed out of San Felipe, returning to the sandy track about ten miles west of San Felipe. At the end of the track the GPS gave our position as 1.3 miles north of the confluence, as the crow flies. We headed out on foot. Very deep sand, granitic mountain ranges, boulders, heat, and cactus impeded our progress but after two hours our position was within 300 meters of the confluence. Climbing a very steep decomposed granite crag and tumbling down the other side put us within 75 meters (by now we had probably covered twice the 1.3 miles). We started up the next mountain and found the confluence: 31N 115W.