#3: [30-Nov-03]

#2: [06-Nov-01]

08-Jun-2001 -- Having just purchased my first GPS, I decided that taking part in the Degree Confluence Project would be a great way to try it out. Just after noon on the 8th of June my wife and I headed out to find N50° W105°. Being on the prairies we figured this should be an easy one to start with - we were wrong.

Our drive took us south from Regina along highway 6 to Corinne where we turned west and followed highway 334. I had previously mapped out what seemed like the best route to get us as close to our point as we could. We drove as far as Avonlea, then turned south continuing on highway 334 and into Dunnet Regional Park. This brought us to a point directly south of our destination. We did a bit of cross country driving but soon realized that we would have a long walk north so we decided to try approaching it from a different direction.

We drove back to the north and came in from that direction. It was then we realized that our destination was not going to be on the bald prairie as we thought it might be. We were approaching a small valley, complete with a creek and farm yard. We drove to the farm yard hoping to get permission to continue our search but there was no one at home. We wondered if like many farms, the owners had moved into town. Having come this far we decided to take a chance and proceed across the field to where we felt our confluence lay.

A bit of wandering back and forth (as I learned the finer points of using my GPS) and it became obvious our point was going to be down by the creek ... or, worse yet, in the creek! Working our way through the brush, over barbed wire fences, up and down steep embankments, through prairie grass, over and under fallen tree trunks we finally located our spot just on the edge of the creek. Our pictures don't show much scenery since we were in a gully surrounded on three sides by bushes. The view north is probably the best.

After taking pictures we headed back to our van and then drove back to Regina arriving about four hours and 192 km after leaving. All in all we feel the day was a success although we did neglect to take a picture of us at the confluence. Maybe that had something to do with all the flies, mosquitoes and thorny branches we were subjected to. We didn't take a picture of the bush sitting at the confluence. If you have seen one bush, you have seen them all ... besides, the ones in the pictures we did take are exactly the same. Oh well, when we do the next one .....