#21: [08-Jul-21]

#20: [16-Dec-19]

#19: [14-May-19]

#18: [14-Dec-16]

#16: [19-Jun-10]

#15: [23-May-10]

#14: [21-Apr-10]

#13: [28-Nov-09]

#12: [01-Dec-07]

#10: [12-Oct-06]

#9: [28-Jan-06]

#8: [11-Sep-05]

#7: [26-Feb-05]

#6: [23-May-03]

#5: [13-May-02]

#3: [03-Apr-02]

#4: [30-Mar-02]

#2: [02-Jan-00]

#1: [23-Oct-99]

#11: [28-Oct-06] (incomplete)

14-Aug-2013 -- When a confluence point has had a flurry of activity, with a visit a month for three straight months (the last by the very thorough Joseph Kerski, no less!), and sixteen total visits, even after a three year hiatus, it would be expected that there is little new to add to a report. And indeed that seems to be the case with 35N 118W.

However, my visit comes at the end of a busy four day period of working on my various “life lists”. On August 11th, we completed a thru hike of the 210-mile John Muir Trail with a climb to the top of Mt. Whitney, adding another summit to my list of state high points. (I think I’m up to 14 state high points now, but I will not let this become an obsession, I will not let this become an obsession, I will not let this become an obsession…) On 13 August I visit the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in nearby Keene, CA. This is the 401^st unit of the National Park System I have visited, which means I am once again current with visits to all the parks managed by the National Park Service. So to visit a confluence point on a new meridian (for me, anyway) is a fitting project, especially as I pass within two miles of it on Highway 58 on the way to Keene.

A little further west and 35N 118W would be beyond the barbed wire fence bordering a freeway. A little further east and it would be behind a gate at Edwards Air Force Base. But here it is, easily reached by a turn off on a dirt road just west of 118W. A half mile from the point we find a convenient spot to turn around, and I leave my wife with the car while I strike out on foot across the desert. A train we passed on the way from Tehachapi is visible going by to the south, but it passes too soon for me to get a photo. The immediate area of the confluence is like all the surrounding land, although the previously reported reflector on a stick remains to mark the site. After about 15 minutes recording the visit, I return to the car, and we drive to the Venice Beach area where (after completing our drop from 14,500’ to sea level) we spend final night in the Golden State before heading home…