02-Apr-2010 -- Story continued from 32N 98W

After Hico, I made my way past Mineral Wells to the vicinity of 33N/98W. I had previously staked out this confluence from the North back in 2008. Then, I came across plenty of no trespassing signage and with no news to provide, I didn't even bother filling out a confluence attempt. This time after actually reading the past visits which said a Southern approach was easier, I made my second and successful attempt at this point in North Texas. I got onto Broken Rd, and then reached the point where I assumed the previous visitor must have entered from. Seeing a shed and plenty of pickup trucks right next to the gate, but no people, I was unsure if I should come in through this way or try to find another. After driving around to the east of the point, still on Broken Road, I found a promising secluded entry spot lacking no trespassing signs. I parked along Jordan Road at N32 59.9918' W97 59.2332' (an Eastern approach), walked back to and across Broken, hopped over the fence and quickly found the tracks that according to Google Maps would lead very close to the confluence.

This was one of the longest and most scenic hikes to a confluence that I've had the pleasure of doing. Along the way, I came across a couple old silos, some old gas pipeline equipment, a plastic tank, an interesting soil depression, and a large house not too far off the path. I reached the barbed wire fence that a previous visitor said he had to cross, but I found a place where it had already been trampled down and found it very easy to step across. The point was easy to reach from here, but I had a slight positioning snag. At first, my main unit put the location of the confluence just west of a certain thorny tree, then after a few minutes, it said it was on the EAST side of said tree. My iPhone GPS program didn't seem to be updating the lat/long very well either. So, I took my pictures on the east side of the tree and was on my way back by around 6 pm, with plenty of daylight to get me back to the vehicle and to my ultimate destination, Plano.