04-May-2004 -- David Nelson and I departed San Antonio, Texas, early in the morning. It was a 2 hour drive to the border crossing from Eagle Pass, Texas, to Piedras Negras, Mexico. We had already gotten our Tourist and Truck permits last visit, so crossing the border into the interior was easy.

We made our way out of town and headed towards the convergence point, which was southeast from the entry point. We passed through several military inspections, and the letter (in Spanish) from the website was very helpful in getting us through them. Having an “official” explanation of why we were there lent us credibility. The Mexican military was friendly, and helped us at one point when we passed our turn off.

We traveled paved roads until we were about 1.5 miles (2.4Km) from the point. Here we encountered a locked gate, and it looked like we would not be able to get to the point, but while we were there the owners arrived in a red pickup truck. Once again, the letter was helpful and we received permission to continue onto the property. They declined to have their picture taken for our records, however. We traveled down this dirt road until we were about 500 meters from the point before stopping at a fence.

Passing through it, we traveled the last 500 meters on foot over broken ground, going down through a deep gully and back up the other side through native vegetation. The convergence point is at the very edge of an arroyo. In order to get the GPS units to zero, we were less than a foot from the edge—it was about 10-15 feet to the bottom. The area is mixed scrub and cactus, but shows signs of flooding during spring rains, which is most likely what created the arroyo.

From David Nelson
I was a bit nervous about this point because it was so close to the border. There is a fair amount of drug trafficking and people trying to cross into the U.S. and I wasn’t sure what we would find at the confluence point.
The maps and GPS data showed the point right between the highway and the Rio Grande. The GPS actually showed the point to be about 300 feet from the road but this ended up being way off. Both of our GPS units during the drive down had the road between 2 to 3 miles off where it actually was. When we got to the ranch where we thought the point was, we were lucky to encounter the owners and be given permission to pass on the spot.
For any 'gringos' wanting to find points in Mexico speaking Spanish is an absolute must. Without Spanish I think one would have a very tough time getting access to many places. Also the “Letter to Landowners” was gold, don’t leave home without it. After a short hike we came to the point and were able to get all zeros! After getting back home I got online and dug up some satellite photos and I estimate we were about 350 meters from the Rio Grande. Overall it was a great trip and our first successful confluence point.

From Patrick Nobles-But not our last.