#4: [18-Jul-23]

#3: [13-Jul-16]

#2: [21-Dec-08]

13-Jun-2000 -- Before the vacation to Alaska, I had been wondering why no confluences had been achieved there. Surely, there was a confluence accessible in the thousands of miles of hiking areas in the state. On a map, we had noticed that 62N 150W looked to be very near the well-traveled George Parks Highway, which runs from Anchorage through Denali National Park and up to Fairbanks. Scott and I decided to tackle this confluence.

We found a dirt trail off the highway which passed through an overgrown graveyard of old cars (unsuccessful confluence seekers?), but the closest we could get from here was about 1.5 miles west of the target. We backed out to the highway, and found an eastbound road a few miles south of our previous position. This road led to the Gigglewood Lakeside Inn. In a couple miles the GPS receiver indicated we were just over tenth of a mile from the confluence. It looked like just a little hike into the woods and our glory as discoverers of the first Alaskan confluence would be sealed.

We bushwhacked our way into the forest, but were stopped by a swamp in which the confluence was certainly located. Scott took the camera, and I sloshed and mucked my way through surprisingly warm waters, oblivious to what dangers might lurk in the Alaskan swamp or the surrounding forest. We both waded through, unable to secure a GPS lock on the confluence. Finally, I chest-deep and Scott knee-deep in water found 62N 150W. When the celebration had subsided, we finally felt the mosquitoes, which in this square mile possibly numbered more that in the lower 48 combined. We hauled out and celebrated in Anchorage with Alaskan Amber and calamine lotion.