16-Jul-2007 -- My 50 hour crew layover in the L.A. area was a great opportunity to do some confluence visits. The plan was to visit 34N/116W, 34N/117W and 34N/118W. My wife Peggi wanted to be part of the adventure, so I invited her along on the trip. We decided to start with the easternmost point and work our way back west. Since July isn’t the ideal season for desert hiking, we aimed to be in Joshua Tree National Park as early as possible. Having arrived from Europe the previous day, we were awake early, so we left our Long Beach hotel at five in the morning. After a hearty American breakfast en route, we reached Belle campground shortly after nine. The temperature was a bearable 32°C (90°F). We decided to try the beeline to the confluence point which according to the GPS was just 2 km away. The first 1.4 km were pretty flat and from there it was up and around a hill but not very difficult. After approximately 50 minutes of leisurely desert hiking we reached the confluence point which is situated on a hillside and offers a very nice view. We spent some time there taking pictures and celebrating. On the way up we had noticed a trail to our right down in a gully. It turned out that this trail took us almost all the way back to Belle campground. So for anyone trying this CP, this would be the easiest route to get there. When we got back to Belle, we had covered 5.4 km in about 1.5 hours.