#8: [12-Oct-17]

#7: [21-Sep-09]

#6: [06-Jul-08]

#4: [29-May-04]

#3: [17-Aug-02]

#1: [21-Apr-01]

#5: [15-Sep-07]

09-Jun-2001 -- I'd seen this confluence as unvisited on this site back in early April, and we'd hoped to be the first ones to visit it. However, we couldn't find a weekend that everyone was available until June, so another group (maybe two?) beat us to it. Judging from their pictures though, it looks like it would have been a much more difficult trek before all the snow had melted.

We started out Friday, June 8th from the SF bay area and headed up highway 120 to 108. I had only done a minimal amount of route planning before hand, so we were pretty much playing it by ear according to my GPS maps. We turned off highway 108 a little ways north of Sonora and started heading through back roads, which eventually turned into forest service roads. There were several times when we were thankful for our 4-wheel drive vehicles: a brand new Ford Explorer SportTrak and an older Subaru Justy. The drive was awesome, and we came across several campsites that we considered stopping for the night at, but we pressed on toward the confluence even as the clock ticked past midnight.

Eventually we decided to stop for the night to camp by a stream that was about a mile away from the confluence. We continued on in the morning after playing in the stream for a bit. Forest service roads took us to within about 1/4 mile of the confluence point and we hiked the rest of the way through the forest up a hill, over the crest and down the other side a bit.

Getting my GPS to read exactly 38N 120W was a bit difficult because of the dense tree cover, but I managed to snap a picture with 4 satellites locked on, and the GPS showing an EPE of 45 feet.

After we found the confluence, we decided to head toward nearby Cherry Lake. However, the road we were heading down suddenly came to an end at a place where it had been washed out and blocked off by the Forest Service. The place where the road had been washed out was just downstream from an incredible waterfall though, and we spent the afternoon exploring the area, swimming, etc. If you visit the confluence at 38N 120W, I'd highly recommend checking out the waterfall near N38 00.440' W119 58.381' It's every bit as amazing as one you'd find in Yosemite, but not a tourist in sight.

All in all, a great weekend of camping, exploring and having fun. I think we'll try for an unvisited one next :)