16-Feb-2001 -- It is possible to drive to within less than one mile of the
confluence point. The road ends at the top of the gorge and there is a
nice little parking lot near the remains of an old house. Though the
land is private, the signs around the parking lot say that it is open
for hunters (and presumably confluence point visitors), so I didn't
worry about trespassing.
Getting down to the confluence point is pretty steep going, but it's
not too difficult to get around the various cliffs which line part of
the Columbia River Gorge. I proceeded by following the direction
indicated by the GPS until it said I had 0.00km left to go (so I was
within 10 metres). When I switched to the screen which showed my actual
location, I found that I was not quite to the point. With a little bit
of experimentation, I discovered that a cliff stood between me and the
place where my GPS unit said I wanted to be. I was not really
interested in scrambling around to find my way below the cliff, and I
certainly didn't want to step over it, so I just held the GPS as far
over as I could and took the picture.
The vertical change between where I parked and the confluence point
is about 700 feet. I sure noticed it as I made my way back up.
All said, this is a fairly accessible confluence point which has a
nice view of the Columbia River. If someone were to visit later in the
spring, they could probably get some very nice pictures with the
wildflowers in bloom.