#3: [05-Aug-04]

25-May-2003 -- Unlike our last confluence trip, (51N 109W) we knew exactly why this confluence had never been visited before. It lies at the end of 34 miles of gravel road and a 2.64 mile hike across some very bald, flat, but beautiful prairie. In other words, it's not exactly on the way to anywhere.

The intrepid Scout and I made the trek on a beautiful Sunday evening in May. Mrs. MacLeod kindly gave us permission to hike out into her pasture to achieve our goal. Her dog, Bear, came along as local guide. Hunting this confluence was easy, since there is a barbed wire fence that forms the border. I had heard that the border is not actually the 49th parallel of latitude, and at 107W, this is true. The actual confluence point is 14 feet south of the border.

Apparently, this 40 foot strip is considered "no-man's land", belonging to neither country, although the Canadians use the land for grazing in this area. Before our hike, I was concerned that if the confluence was in Montana I would have to go around and through an official border crossing, but, after visiting the spot, I doubt very much that US Immigration helicopters would have swooped down upon us had we entered Montana illegally. Okay, okay, we did, and they didn't. But we were only in the US for a minute.

On the way back, Scout learned that mother cows will aggressively defend their calves against barking dogs.

The borderline with Canada is running about 10 ft north of the Confluence.