#3: [03-Aug-16]

#2: [14-Apr-07]

#1: [21-Jun-01]

23-Jul-2025 -- This was the fifth of five Kansas confluences today traveling eastward along the state’s northern border. It rivaled in agrarian beauty the point just to its west.

Out of Steele City NE I took 578th Ave southward to State Line Road westward, which was rather sandy and hilly. I was glad I was in a 4WD vehicle. I followed the tracks of a large tractor that, based on the tread pattern, had also headed west but not returned. I parked almost due north of the point along the 97°W meridian, leaving my car at 5:05pm and backtracking a few hundred feet on foot uphill to a south-facing gate where I had seen a sign on my drive in. Fortunately (for the confluence hunter) the sign was just advising of a buried petroleum line here

I opted to crawl under the wire gate rather than open it, and I made my way across scrub and old cowpies to the confluence. It was 92°F with a stiff wind out of the south that rippled the manmade pond to the south, a thousand glinting knives. A solitary tree stands at this pond’s north shore. I saw no one, and after taking pictures, including of the majestic tree, I made my way back to my vehicle, reaching it 18 minutes after I left.

I finished off the day with a drive through the nearby ghost town of Hollenberg KS and a visit to this Oregon Trail marker. I ended up in Beatrice NE for the night, where a storm anvil eclipsed the setting sun and a 1:30am thunderstorm washed the dirt off my car in the hotel parking lot.