#3: [11-Apr-24]

#2: [04-Apr-11]

#1: [30-Sep-00]

13-Oct-2025 -- As I had just arrived in Arkansas to keynote and conduct an AI workshop at the Arkansas State GIS conference, a confluence visit seemed like the perfect way to begin my several days of being in the region. And thus, after flying into the XNA Northwest Arkansas airport, I made my way south and east through many housing subdivisions through Springdale and Fayetteville. Northwest Arkansas is rapidly urbanizing! I was amazed at the traffic on I-49, but fortunately was after a while, on county and state highways, my favorite. Once out of the metro area, I traversed rolling hills and river valleys under cloudy skies and light rain toward 36° North 94° West. I had been eyeing this point in conjunction with my May 2025 trek to 13 points over 4 days. Now knowing the traffic in northwest Arkansas, I am glad I did not try to attempt this point back in May: I would not have arrived back at home until the middle of the night!

Anticipation mounted as I arrived in Elkins on State Highway 16. I turned east on 1st Avenue / Mt Olive Road just as a white haired man on a bicycle was at the intersection. I passed a few houses, some of which were abandoned. I decided to U-turn and park on the west side of the one lane bridge as a small clearing was there. There is nowhere to pull over to the east of the bridge. The bridge itself dates from 1921, a nice one-lane stone structure, a bit battered with age. I gathered supplies, walking across the bridge and seeing a decent amount of water underneath in the White River. Once on the other side, I was a bit dismayed by the litter, some of which was below a sign proclaiming “no littering”.

I knew that the biggest challenge would be how to get into the field to the south of the road. There was no standing fence here; I could see remnants of an ancient fence in places, however. Fortunately after encountering a few thorns and some plants that grew to a very high height, over my head, a few minutes of light thrashing brought me onto the field. Fortunately, nothing had been planted there recently, so I had no qualms about walking there. After about a 10 minute walk, I arrived at the point and had no trouble zeroing out the GPS unit. It is fortunate that this point is in this field; the area near the river is pretty wild-looking, even in the 21st Century. Good that there are natural places still on the planet!

The confluence point lies on the southern edge of the cleared field, on flat ground with hills visible especially to the east and north. The temperature was I thought unseasonably warm for mid-Autumn: Nearly 80° F and quite humid. It has been raining lightly most of the afternoon, but it had stopped while I was at the point. It was cloudy and very peaceful out there as I took photographs and I filmed this video.

Over the past 25 years, I have stood on 36° north many times from California on the west side over to North Carolina on the east side. I was also fortunate over the last quarter century to stand on 94° West numerous times as well from Minnesota on the north side all the way down to Texas on the south side. This was my first point in Arkansas in over a decade. I believe I only have one other point in the entire state, on the state's east side. Today was the last day I would be visiting confluences in 2025. I had a few work trips left but I have visited all the points around both of those work trips (to Texas). It had been a great year of 18 confluence points thus far and I hoped to visit the 19th point later today.

After 10 minutes on site, I walked out the way I had come in. Afterwards, I visited at Casey’s in Elkins. I love Casey’s and I have a map-based GIS lesson on that particular convenience store chain. After purchasing one of their wonderful coffees, I set out toward 37° North 94° West. It was mid-afternoon by now. Would I make it to that next point? There was only one way to find out ...