#3: [03-Jun-03]

#2: [21-Apr-02]

18-Aug-2001 -- This was my first stop on a 7-day, 3200km confluence hunting trip to the BC interior, covering 51N121W, 52N121W, 52N122W, 52N123W, 52N125W, 52N124W, 54N124W, 54N125W, and 53N123W.

My plans for this trip were not very structured - I didn't have a set itinerary or trip duration, and although I had done some research on all of the confluences that I thought I had any possibility of getting near, I didn't have all the possible maps and information that I could have found, but I was also wanting to 'hit the road' to see what was out there, rather than continue doing research.

I was going to do a combination of car-camping(sleeping in the back of my Pathfinder), and possibly using motels, depending on where I was at the end of each day. Having loaded up the truck with supplies, I departed Vancouver at 1PM on Friday, August 17th, and headed out through the Fraser Valley on Highway 1 to Hope. I then took Highway 1 to Cache Creek, arriving at 5:30PM.

Originally, I had planned not to attempt any confluences at this latitude, figuring that I may as well work on more northerly confluences, and leave ones closer to Vancouver for other times, such a weekend trips, but my original plans had me leaving Vancouver in the morning, not midday, so given the time of day, I decided to check out 51N 121W and camp somewhere in the area.

I headed east from Cache Creek on Highway 1 West, which is also Highway 97 South. About 26km from the Cache Creek Esso station 121W crosses the highway, and the confluence is about 26km north from there. I turned around and headed back to a gravel road on the uphill side of the highway, about 16.3km from the Cache Creek Esso, which turned out to be the Battle Creek Forest Service Road. About 7km up this road there is a 4-way intersection of gravel roads, including stop signs. I decided to turn right(east), to explore the road and see if it appeared to get me closer to the confluence. After driving another 7km down the road, having passed two lakes, it was getting close to 7PM, so I decided to go a little ways back to a clearing and camp for the night.

On the morning of August 18th, I went back to the 4-way intersection, and turned right(north), zeroing my odometer. After about 7.2km, there is a fork, with the left fork being the start of 522 Road. After trying the left fork for a bit, I continued on the right fork, and after another 1.6km, went left at another fork(523 Road is to the right). 3.6km down the road is another fork, with 524 Road to the left, but I went to the right, which ended in a clearcut, with the confluence being 12.6km to the NE. I backtracked to the 523 Road fork, stopping along the way to take a picture of the Emergency Helipad, which is just a sign next to a cleared flat dirt area next to the road. At the fork, I now went to the right on 523 Road. At about 3.5km along this road, there is another fork, but the right branch quickly ends in a clearcut, so I went to the left. It soon became apparent that I wan't getting closer to the confluence, so I stopped and took some 'video of the confluence', which was a mere 9.6km to the NE, before heading back to the highway, chalking this one up as an attempt. I stopped on the Battle Creek FSR, closer to the highway, to take a picture of the scenery.

Driving around on all these logging roads, with all these forks, made me think of the old computer game Adventure, and paraphrasing the line from in the maze: "you are in a maze of twisty little forest service roads, all alike" :)

Oh well, on to 52N121W.