21-Jul-2012 -- This is the 12^th out of 20 confluence points that I reached on a bicycle trip to the North-East of China. The narrative of the trip starts from 41°N 117°E.

Crossing the Nènjiāng River (嫩江) turned out to be a problem since there was no bridge. So I went southwards deviating about 20 km to the district town Fùyù (富裕). The final approach that I took to get to the confluence point was a bit careless: I left the road network far too early and ended up 3 km from the confluence in the mud. But being too proud to admit a mistake, I tried to continue straight forward, which ended up in a little disaster. Partially I had to even carry my bicycle. But I can now proudly say that I never did turn back…

It turned out that there is an unpaved road up to a distance of about 100 m, so a potential second visitor would not even have to leave the road network to make a successful visit. The exact location is in a corn field. There is little to note for this confluence point (which is actually rarely the case for confluences). So maybe that is special about it: its normality.

The only feature besides the corn plants was a mobile sprinkler system for irrigation.

I continued eastwards because my goal was to visit all the confluence points on the 48^th latitude until I would reach the Russian border. At sunset, I reached the district town Kèshān (克山县).

CP visit details:

• Distance to an asphalt (or concrete) road: 7 km
• Distance to a track: 111 m
• Distance to a footpath: 111 m
• Duration of the hike to reach the CP: 2 minutes
• Distance of bicycle parking: 110 m
• Distance to houses: 400 m
• Time at the CP: 12:50 PM
• Measured height: 228 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 1 m
• Position accuracy at the CP: 3 m
• Topography: flat
• Vegetation: corn
• Weather: sunny, 25° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Corn Sprinkler Confluence

Story continues at 48°N 126°E.