#3: [23-Aug-03]

#1: [19-Aug-01] (incomplete)

During August 2003 I drove through British Columbia and into the Northwest Territories on a combined confluence hunting and sightseeing trip. I started close to 49°N and went as far North as 61°N, covered 6,200 kilometers (3,850 miles), did 7 successful confluence visits, and had another 12 confluences that are incomplete. I made a map that shows the route, and the confluences in the order they were done, with the successful ones shown with black markers. The incomplete visits are a mix of actual attempts and situations where I drove somewhat close to the confluence, and included a 'visit' as a way to document the confluence location for future visitors. The first confluence on the trip was 52°N 121°W.

10-Aug-2003 -- I left Vancouver mid-afternoon, which was later than I had planned. My original plan included a stop at 50°N 121°W so that I would have a successful visit for that confluence, but I decided to skip that and continue to the area of 52°N 121°W, even if I might not have time to make the visit today.

Once at 100 Mile House, I followed the same route as the August 23rd visitors to get to the 610 Road. I've included a Landsat-7 satellite image, taken in September, 2000, and used in OziExplorer. My tracks are shown in blue, and waypoints are shown with a black on yellow label next to a small dot marking the waypoint. As you'll see, it would have helped to have had this during planning the trip, rather than using after the trip to see where I had been.

Waypoint 001 is where the 610 Road starts. Waypoint 005 is at a Y intersection, where I took the left branch, which turned out to be the 614 Road. Some of my "directions information" comes from what I found the next day, as it was close to 10:00PM when I was driving these roads, and the darkness meant I missed some signs. This intersection of the 610 Road and 614 Road is just after the 610-14 kilometer sign, thus the name of the road.

As you can see from the track, like Myron and crew on the 23rd, I also decided to take the left branch at the Y intersection at Waypoint 006. I also drove through an area of active logging, with parked equipment, so I turned around and went back. Waypoint 008 is at the 614-03 kilometer sign, and 009 is at the 614-05 kilometer sign. Waypoint 011, is where, at 11:00PM, I parked my truck for the night, at another intersection. Like Myron and crew, I also had a quiet night, except for the heavy rain on the truck early the next morning.

11-Aug-2003 -- The next morning, I drove further along the 614 Road, crossing 121°W, and ending up with the road ending in a clearcut close to 52°N. I turned around, drove back to the intersection where I camped, and tried the other road, but after a short while it ended in the woods. I then, for the third time, drove through the intersection where I camped, and drove back to where the 614 Road crosses 121°W. Very close to that spot is a short road leading into a small clearcut area, which is where I parked. At this point the confluence was 1.69 kilometers, at a bearing of 002° true.

The walk through the forest towards the confluence was fairly straightforward. The exceptions were one area in the forest that had a lot of Devils Club, and a swampy area just as I came out of the forest into the clearcut area that contains the confluence.

Just after arriving at the clearcut, I came across a road, which is shown in one of Myron's photos. I crossed the road and found the confluence in the clearcut, and took the standard North, South, East, and West photos, as well as the GPS photo.

I took a slightly different route from the confluence back into the forest, to try and avoid the swampy area. Waypoint 024 marks the location where I took the photo of "the pond". As Myron noted, there are some areas that at some times of the year would be quite wet, and the "pond" in the foreground of the photo was one of them, consisting of mostly grasses growing in almost dry mud, solid enought to walk on.

For future visitors - I'd suggest that you try using the 610 Road, by taking the right branch at Waypoint 005. Given the roads shown on the satellite image, and the quality of the road that was crossed close to the confluence, I suspect that it is possible to drive quite close to the confluence.

The next confluence on this trip was 53°N 122°W.