20-Aug-2001 -- This was my fifth stop on a 7-day, 3200km confluence hunting trip to the BC interior, covering 51N121W, 52N121W, 52N122W, 52N123W, 52N125W, 52N124W, 54N124W, 54N125W, and 53N123W.

Having just had a successful visit to 52N 123W, I decided to head for 52N 125W. This was the furthest west I had planned for this leg of the trip, and although there was another possible confluence to be attempted at 52N 124W, I wasn't sure if it would be easy to get to, whereas it looked like 52N 125W was quite near the highway. Another factor was the weather - although I had been lucky so far, a large system had been affecting BC, with lots of rain on the coast, more expected, and the satellite photos I saw on the TV in the motel showed virtually all of BC covered in clouds.

Back on Highway 20 at the Hanceville rest area at 2:38PM, I headed west, passing through Hanceville, Alexis Creek, Redstone, Chilanko Forks, and on towards Tatla Lake, stopping along the way from time to time to take pictures and video. The peaks of the Coast Mountain Range became more of a feature of the view as the road continued to the west.

I passed through Tatla Lake (the town, not the lake :) at 4:30PM, stopped next to a field near Kleena Kleene to take another picture(#3), and finally parked next to the highway where 52N crossed.

It only took 12 minutes to walk east to the confluence. The area is very sandy, and on a sunny day, would make for a very nice picnic spot - you can just substitute the mountian view for the ocean view. The confluence is located just at the top of a small ridge. The picture to the North shows the marker flag at the spot, with the GPS beside it, and my pack and Tilley hat behind.

I was back at the car and ready to leave by 6PM, and having passed a few campsite signs near Tatla Lake, I decided to camp somewhere in the area, and hope the rain stayed away. You can see Pinto Lake from the highway, and it didn't look like anything special, so I bypassed that campsite, and drove to the Eagle Lake campsite, which is where I decided to stay. Although it was cloudy and windy, the view was still very nice, although some people who had been camped there for a few weeks (they go there every year) said that they hadn't had much luck with the fishing.

I started setting up camp at 7PM, and by 8PM, despite the clouds, the setting sun managed to peek through enough to light up the far shore of the lake. Having had two successful confluence visits today, I was hoping the sun was a sign of good things to come tomorrow, where I would start by investigating 52N124W.