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the Degree Confluence Project
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Canada : Ontario

26.2 km (16.3 miles) S of Minataree, ON, Canada
Approx. altitude: 270 m (885 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap topo topo250 ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 50°S 92°E

Accuracy: 10 m (32 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Panorama taken at the confluence.

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  50°N 88°W  

#1: The Approximate Confluence looking from the Southeast

(visited by Ian Pattison and Rosa Pattison)

25-Aug-2022 -- We began at McLeod Provincial Park, east of Geraldton and headed west, crossing back from the Arctic Watershed to the Atlantic Watershed on Highway 11.

At Kinghorn Rd we left the highway, heading north and west 57km until we reached Conglomerate Rd. Bearing left on Conglomerate we followed that another 14km to Road 801.

After 5km, Road 801 tricked us a bit by turning into a sketchy looking track, while Auden Rd looked like the real road. In the end it was a bit of a crap shoot since the confluence was kinda between the two. After less than 10km it was clear that we weren't going to turn back toward the confluence, so we turned around and headed for the sketchy track.

The track wasn't really all that sketchy, especially compared to what we ran into on the way to N49, W87 the previous day but, being in a stock Subaru, I wasn't ready for any serious offroading. After 4km (including a couple of pauses to cut a couple of downed trees (nothing big, but blocking the way nonetheless)), we stopped next to an old clear cut, with the map showing that we were less than 1000m to the objective.

So we slapped on some bug spray (which only helped a little - the bugs were VERY happy to see us), loaded up the mapping app on my phone, strapped on a couple of cameras and headed into the clearcut.

We made our way across the clear cut, through a chunk of forest, across more clearcut, more forest - where I stepped on what looked like a regular mossy spot but instead I fell into a hole nearly to my knee and I fell over. As luck would have it I landed in a lovely spot of soft moss - all the more impressive since we were in the middle of a whole bunch of blowdowns and had I fallen anywhere else I likely would have landed on a log, hit my head on a rock, or impaled myself on a branch. Instead I had a nice soft spot to lie down for a few seconds (though not to long since I didn't want Rosa to worry that I was hurt).

After my fortunate tumble, we crossed another clearcut and headed back into forest where we came to a river. Rosa, who is less dedicated to ridiculous errands like this, opted to not continue at this point but, having come all this way I had to try. There were three downed spruce trees across the water and I was able to use those to pick my way across - I even managed to not get a soaker in the process!

After crossing the water, I headed off solo for the last 180m, crossing the rest of the forest and heading into another clearcut. The confluence itself was pretty much in the middle, smack in the centre of an inpenetrable bunch of alders.

Once the GPS dropped below 10m, it said I was there. I took a couple more steps, realized I'd never get through those alders and even if I did I'd just have a photo of leaves touching the camera (they were dense!). Took some photos and headed off.

I found Rosa where I'd left her by the river about 10 minutes earlier and we walked back the the car and drove off to a well deserved lunch in Geraldton.

Note: We probably could have had an easier approach had we continued on the road until we were directly west of the confluence. Assuming the river was fordable by a vehicle we could have walked in directly over a single clearcut.

Video record of the trip here.


 All pictures
#1: The Approximate Confluence looking from the Southeast
#2: Panorama taken at the confluence.
ALL: All pictures on one page