#2: [12-May-25]

#1: [21-Jul-01]

24-May-2026 -- As I had a multi-year tradition of setting aside a few days, preferably near the summer solstice when I would have the most daylight, to get out onto the landscape and see fields, old railroad depots, trails, and confluence points, and as I would be teaching soon at a geotechnology conference at Dallas College, and as the conference themes include location and caring for the land, and as it had been six months since I had last visited a point, the weekend had finally arrived. I had been looking forward to it for quite some time and it exceeded all my geo-hopes and dreams!

I had started my 4-day confluence trek, yesterday by flying to DFW airport, thereupon visiting two points in Oklahoma. This being Day 2, I began at Big Foote campground south of Fort Smith, Arkansas. After one stop at Casey's, which I love, I made my way east on State Highway 23. I turned off the state highway onto a narrow dirt road winding upward into the hills. If it had been raining, I would not have attempted this in a standard car, especially as I would be on this road for a good 25 minutes, covering only 8 miles. With each fork, the road worsened in condition, fording small streams with no bridges. A few houses were visible here and there, but this seemed truly like the "back road of the back roads." I was glad I was not on foot, though, given its length and given the pack of dogs that chased me at 20mph for a good half football field length of road. I crested one of the many hills, close to 94 West where a small pullout was located. I found the trail that I had seen on the satellite image, heading north toward the point.

The Approach:This was one of those confluence points that I thought would be a bit easier than it turned out to be. For starters, from the dirt road, I walked uphill up a narrow track but in retrospect, should have stayed on it much longer. As it was, I deviated from the track, choosing to thrash through head-high saplings that were very wet and thorny. I passed a stone chimney remnant of a past homestead. I continued on into the forest to the north. Once there, the underbrush was thick and full of logs and other tripping hazards; and the mist was lightly falling after a rainstorm. Nevertheless, I pressed on, tenaciously re-tracing my steps and circling until I zeroed out the GPS receiver. By then I was very wet and full of burrs. Success!

The Site: This is a beautiful site: Some logging has been happening nearby but it is easy to imagine this site being unchanged for hundreds of years. The site is on land sloping off to the north, in fairly dense forest. Some wonderful fungi (see mushroom photo) and other living things were there, but except for a few birds, I saw no animals. No structures are visible from the site.

I thought about the people living here on the land past and present - the Indigenous Americans, the settlers, the mountain people, and admired them all for choosing this land. I have stood on 35 North many times in the past from California on the west to North Carolina on the east. I have also stood on 94 West many times, from a forest in Minnesota on the north end to a very rainy forest in Texas on the south end. I have numerous points in Arkansas; my last one in this state occurred about 7 months ago, just 1 degree north of here.

Weather Conditions: It was very humid; a late spring morning; misty; visibility low; about 75 F with no wind. After taking photos and filming this video on my Our Earth channel, I left after taking 15 minutes to zero out the GPS unit and then spending 10 minutes at the confluence. On the way out, I thought "I don't need my GPS", but after some minutes heading downhill, I suspected I was walking in the wrong direction, and indeed the GPS, once back on, confirmed this. It shows how easily one can get turned around! I backtracked, walked south, and got out of the trees once more. This time I took the track, muddy but not full of vegetation, all the way back to the main dirt road.

Next Stop:I headed downhill on the dirt road, partly the way I came in, but then took some different dirt roads to head northeast, back to the state highway. I then drove through some magnificent rural lands and small towns, en route to 35 North 93 West. It would be another mountainous trek!

Onward with gratitude!

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When the trip was all said and done, here are the final statistics:


-------------------------------------------------
Days set aside to visit points:  4.

Confluence points attempted:  14.  

Confluence points successfully visited:  13. 

Points where I met the local landowner = 5 of 14 points. 


Miles = 1,945, Kilometers = 3,130.
  
Percent of travel on interstate highways:  15%
Percent of travel on US, state, county roads, and the "back of the back roads":  85 % Hooray!

Campgrounds = 3.  

Rainy confluence points:  3 of 14.
Beautiful confluence points:   14 of 14.

Convenience store stops = 7.  

Points that turned out to be

                easier than I thought they would be =           1 
                about the same as I expected them to be =       8 
                more difficult than I thought they would be =   5 
		-------------------------------------------------------
			                                     14 points.
Points          in prairie or scrub      3
                in woodlands             5
		in non-tilled fields     2
		in agricultural fields   4
		-----------------------------------
			                14 points.

Points along 	36 North = 1 
		35 North = 4 
		34 North = 2 
		33 North = 3
                32 North = 4  
		----------------
			   14 points.

Points visited on 	Day 1 = 2 
			Day 2 = 5 
			Day 3 = 4 
			Day 4 = 3
		-------------------
			   	14 points.  

Points visited in the 	morning = 	6 
			afternoon = 	5 
			evening = 	3 
		-------------------------------
			   	       14 points

Points visited in 	Oklahoma =       2
			Arkansas =       4
			Louisiana =      2 
			Texas =          6
		-------------------------------
			   		14 points 

The most frequently visited latitude line:  
-------------------------------------------- 
                       32 and 35 North:  4 points each.

The most frequently visited longitude line:  
-------------------------------------------- 
                                      94 West:  4 points.