12-Apr-2004 -- Confluence hunting wasn't the primary objective on this beautiful spring day. Today Amie and I (steve)
were devoted to exploring abandoned farms and towns. Amie got some crazy leads about some
abandoned real estate around this CP and I wasn't going to tell until later that I
also had confluence on my mind. Be assured, pillaging and vandalising abandoned farms is
definitely high on my list as well. There are definitely more popping up every day in rural Saskatchewan. Did I say pillaging? I mean photographing, ya...
Anyway, the best ghostfarm that we found was west of Outlook. It looked like it had been
abandoned for 10-20 years at least. On the farm there was a little two story house and a
bunch of sheds and barns. Everything was deteriorated and someone had already scampered off
with most of the booty. There was still one very significant item that was preserved to our
delight. On the deck of the house there laid a freeze-dried cat!! It had been there for
some time and was complete with skin and tail. See the picture on the left.... Oh
right, this is supposed to be about confluencing. Sorry for the tangent but confluencing
and ghostfarming need to be linked together in Saskatchewan. After realising that 90% of
the accessible points lie in the middle of flat fields there needs to be something a little spicy
to complement every CP adventure.
As you can see in the photo, this confluence does in fact lie in the middle of a farmer's
field (surprise). No one really cared today that we were tromping through the fields, so
there wasn't too much excitement (a little exercise though!). After some pictures and stubble gymnastics, the point was conquered. Much to our dismay, the point had previously
been visited by our Sask. arch rivals (Fox's/Max/MacDuff). Maybe this summer I'll be able
to venture an uncharted point and actually further the confluence project. Until then, stay
tuned for more adventures and scattered drivel!
Difficulty: 1 (open field, easy access)
Enjoyment: 8 (nice day, good company, near ghostfarms).