16-Jan-2000 -- Sunday afternoons seem to be an ideal time for confluence hunting -- much more entertaining than TV or reading our 16-page local newspaper. 33N/100W is about 50 miles from home, between the small towns of Hamlin and Sagerton. The area is part of the 'Rolling Plains' of western Texas, a region of mostly flat land with occasional mesas and patches of badlands. The land is used for farming (cotton and sorghum-family stuff), cattle, and oil production.

I drove through Hamlin, then on Northeast on paved, then gravel, roads to the point where Coon Creek crossed the former Santa Fe Railroad line. I had planned on hiking west along the creek to the confluence, but it has been dry enough that I was able to walk in the creekbed itself. I suppose that the local raccoons, if they really do wash their food like I was told in Cub Scouts, are having to give it dust baths this year.

The confluence itself is about a half-mile due west of the tracks, almost in the creekbed. A road/trail indicated on the TopoZone map appears to be completely overgrown- I couldn't find a trace of it. Picture #2 is a view of the creekbed as close to 100W as I could estimate- probably within 50 feet or so of the actual confluence. Picture #3 looks north from the confluence toward a low mesa, upon which the U.S. Geological Survey placed a benchmark back in 1925. I didn't go looking for it. Picture #1 is northeastward from the confluence, and gives a good feel for what the area is like. Finally, Photo #4 shows the abandoned railroad bed and the nearest farm, off to the top right. Even the telephone poles are abandoned- no wires, just miles of poles with old glass insulators.