02-Sep-2007 --
We residents of the San Francisco Bay Area are fortunate to have three easily accessible confluence points - [37,-122], [38,-122], and [38,-123] - surrounding us. Today (after having visited dozens of confluences elsewhere in the world), I finally got around to visiting [38,-123].
This confluence point is especially picturesque. We are quite fortunate that it is a land rather than a water confluence, because it lies near the tip of narrow Point Reyes Peninsula, north-west of San Francisco. A paved road (which runs south to the Point Reyes lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula) passes just 0.21 miles southeast of the confluence point. From this point you have a good view of Drakes Bay, named after Sir Francis Drake, who - in 1579 - became the first European explorer to set foot in northern California.
The confluence point lies in a patch of brambles on a grassy hillside, just above a small dairy farm. To the north, you can see a man-made watering pond, with a view of the Pacific Ocean beyond.