#2: [31-Aug-13]

#1: [20-Aug-01]

05-Oct-2024 --

In need of a brain-break after a particularly draining sequence of weeks, Jack and I did the only sensible thing to do and embarked on a 300+ mile jaunt around northwest Oklahoma. In all seriousness, I do find it truly refreshing to leave the city every so often and explore some lesser seen corners of whatever region I happen to be in. 36N 99W looked especially inviting as it falls in a part of Oklahoma that both of us have grown fond of, the rolling red hills and plains of the Watonga/Seiling/Woodward region. US 183 through Dewey County (the highway on which we approached the confluence's "neighborhood") crosses some especially pretty landscapes either side of the Canadian River, consisting of generally sparse grassland with a few patches of short shrubs and trees — reminiscent of the semi-arid hills of eastern New Mexico or Montana if not for the immediately recognizable red dirt (which sticks out on some of the steeper slopes).

36N 99W is fortunately positioned in these hills adjacent to the Canadian River, in a section rugged enough that it's not been developed much outside of a smattering of oil and natural gas wells; the cattle grazing and crop lands lay in the flatter spots closer to Taloga, a couple miles northeast. I'd say the existence of the oil/gas wells acted in our favor — without the gravel access roads leading to those stations, our bushwhack to the confluence probably would've been a little over twice as long! This isn't to say that it was exceptionally lengthy or tedious to begin with, but it was a bit slow going through the waist-high grass and shrubs. We parked our vehicle about 0.2 miles (~300 meters) SSE of the point along a bend in the gravel road and set off.

As mentioned, the grass was a bit tall here and we were a little worried about the prospect of rattlesnakes lurking invisibly under the shrubs. But of course, rattlesnakes have rattles for a reason, and we didn't hear any. In fact, I don't believe we saw much of any fauna on the way to the spot (not even bugs, at least enough to remember)! Maybe a pleasant side-effect of the relative dryness of the area and/or the time of year. Although like our last confluence visit a few weeks ago, the weather didn't really spell out the time of year — the thermometer hovered around 90°F (32°C), over 10°F (5.5°C) warmer than average and not far off from record highs. Not a cloud was visible in the sky either, and the horizon looked uncharacteristically brownish (probably owing to the stagnant weather).

Along the way to the spot we noticed a few ruts in the ground, perhaps remnants of a long-unused track leading to some kind of natural gas structure located very near the confluence point (see in the east-facing picture). Said ruts are almost entirely covered up by vegetation at this point, so they didn't really benefit our walking speed much (and were more of an ankle-rolling hazard, to be honest). In any case, we reached 36N 99W handily and had no trouble zeroing out the GPS. The view to the north and northeast was just as scenic as I'd been hoping for! While they were obvious to us during our visit (to the point of being unnoticeable at that moment), I didn't see any wind turbines in the pictures from Joseph Kerski's visit 11 years ago — there's actually been some visible progression in the last decade. I don't really mind the look of wind turbines on the landscape, they're simply a reminder of the continuing transition towards alternative energy sources. In retrospect it actually made for an interesting juxtaposition, with the rusty old natural gas thing just beside the confluence. Oklahoma has plenty of wind, so it's nice seeing it put to work!

Content with our observations after about 10 minutes at the point, we started walking back the same general way we came in. On the way out, we caught sight of an abandoned piece of equipment, maybe a trailer hitch or something. It seemed like it had been out there a long time based on how much the grass had grown in around it; I wonder if it had (at one point) been related to the surrounding oil/gas infrastructure or if it was a relic from a previous landowner? Either way, it was long-forgotten and I imagine it'll remain lodged there for eternity (barring future land development or a tornado). Once back at the car, we decided to push on a little further down the unnamed gravel access road just to see where it went. It was an empty road and almost certainly seldom travelled by non-workers; there were no destinations along the way other than the occasional gas well/pump/silo (as well as an abandoned harvester machine that must've been a few decades old). The road winded down the hills for an additional 2 miles toward the Canadian River, where we reached a dead end on what I assume is the river's floodplain. Some of the grass along the road down here was at least 10 or 12 feet tall, clearly with easier access to water!

We got back onto US 183 having not seen another (functional) vehicle since turning off of it an hour earlier. Our next destination was Gore's Travel Plaza, a truck stop about 12 miles north of 36N 99W. We'd been there several times in the past, and I've always gotten a kick out of the quality and size of the place (for it not being anywhere near an interstate freeway). It even has a sit-down Sonic inside, which isn't exactly a common sight! I don't normally go up to bat for truck stops but I'd wager it's the best one within a 15 mile radius of 36N 99W. After Gore's, we drove through the pleasant community of Seiling (while playing a song of the same name, as is tradition in many of the towns we visit) and departed the area eastbound on OK 51.