23-Jul-2025 -- This was the fourth of five Kansas confluences today traveling eastward along the state’s northern border. It was perhaps the most beautiful, too. And shockingly, given its accessibility, it hadn’t been visited since 2001.

Making my way east through Red Cloud NE (home of Willa Cather) and Superior NE, I finally turned off at Rd 4000, an undeveloped dirt road marked with public road signage (No Outlet and bridge weight limits). The road got increasingly sand-washed and puddle-ridden, and it was obvious that no one had driven this stretch for days, if not weeks. At 3:33pm I parked here by several rows of baled hay. I made my way through an open gate along a path that led most of the way to the point. The temperature was 91°F with a moderate wind out of the south which carried the plaintive cries of birds from the deep, dark trees along the Republican River.

The final approach to the point was through a short, low-maintenance crop I didn’t recognize – clover? – and I was able to tread on a row of grass for most of the way there. 50 yards to the north is the Kansas-Nebraska border and the start of a field of corn, 7-8’ high. I took the requisite pictures upon zeroing out and then contemplated my surroundings. There were three deer blinds I could see around me, and indeed I startled a whitetail on my way back to the car. I stopped by the Republican River and was reminded of all the river crossings undertaken by the cattle train in Lonesome Dove, this river included. It probably looked very similar in the 1870s to how it does today, at least by this lovely, sylvan bend.

As I strolled back from whence I came, two vultures circled overhead. I reached the car a mere 20 sweaty minutes after I left it, happy to have witnessed this slice of paradise and proud to be the one to update its register here after 24 years.

Update: After submitting this visit, I discovered that the inimitable Joseph Kerski beat me to this confluence two months ago and has a pending visit waiting to be approved. Bravo!