20-Jan-2001 -- Fifty-three north and 115 West meet 140m into a small woodlot, on the edge of a hay field, 8km east and 1km north (by gravel road) from Hwy 22, and about 25Km south of the town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada.

The area is near the western limit of the Great Plains: the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Range begin between here and the next confluence west. It is Boreal Forest country, with a patchwork of clearings for oil wells and horse pastures. Drayton Valley is an oil industry boomtown, build almost entirely in the past few decades.

Cathy and I arrived at the hay field near dusk, after visiting 113 West and 114 West earlier in the day. The snow was sparse on the field, and marked with deer tracks and droppings. The 400m walk to the woodlot was easy. The woodlot itself was a tangle of shrubs and small trees, criss-crossed with deer trails.