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 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!

The Approach:You will see in the statistics for my 4- day confluence trek that there is 1 point that was easier than I thought it would be. THIS IS IT! 35 North 93 West. Read on to find out why. I had started my 4-day confluence trek yesterday by flying to DFW airport, thereupon visiting two points in Oklahoma, and camping in western Arkansas. This being Day 2, I began at Big Foote campground and by 0900 this very morning I had visited 35 North 94 West. My shoes were wet from that trek, with burrs in my socks, but I was having a grand time.

I traveled east on Arkansas State Highway 10 for over an hour, through small towns and some magnificent rural vistas. I picked up several new counties. I turned south and east on County Road 41 and things got even more interesting, winding up into the hills, crossing multiple times under a power line right of way. Fortunately the weather was dry after some previous days' rain; otherwise I am not sure I would have attempted it in a rental car. The powerline turned out to be precisely the reason this point was easier than I expected. I knew from the satellite imagery that the point would lie on the edge of the powerline right of way, but I didn't realize how easy the hike would be to it. In 15 minutes downhill from the county road, all I had to do was clear about a 6 foot ledge, and I was at the site.

The Site: This is a beautiful point: Some logging has been happening nearby but not exactly at this point, and, again, without the clearance blazed for the powerline, there would have been many thorns and difficult terrain. The site is on land sloping off to the southeast, in some magnificent forest. Except for a few birds, I saw no animals or people. No structures are visible from the site. The view is best to the southeast, downhill along the right-of-way.

As I typically do, I had a reflective moment 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 93 West many times, from a forest in Minnesota on the north end to a valley in Missouri 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 and 1 degree west of here, and then again this very morning, just 1 degree west of here.

Weather Conditions: It was not too humid; a late spring mid-morning; sunny to partly cloudy; moderate winds; visibility good and much improved from my misty confluence hike earlier this morning; about 80 F. After taking photos and filming this video on my Our Earth channel, I left after taking 5 minutes to zero out the GPS unit and then spending 10 minutes at the confluence. On the way out, I filmed some fire ants and filmed the powerline itself. I stopped at the top to view the vista off to the northwest. This was even more magnificent than the view from the confluence point!

----------------------------------------

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.