#4: [06-Aug-11]

#3: [13-Aug-08]

#2: [15-Sep-02]

#5: [05-Aug-23] (incomplete)

01-Sep-2001 -- Anyone who knows us would have correctly guessed that we’d spend the long Labour Day weekend doing some confluence hunting. In addition to successfully reaching 2 confluences on Cape Breton Island (see N46W60 as well), we spent some time hiking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It was a great weekend.

The weekend started off very badly, however. We were supposed to leave Boston Friday evening on the 5:55 p.m. flight to Halifax and then take a connecting flight to Cape Breton. Instead, our flight to Halifax was delayed over 2 hours forcing us to miss our connection and overnight in Halifax. Our options were to either wait for the next flight to Cape Breton (at 11:10 Saturday morning) or to drive there instead. We chose the latter.

The drive from Halifax to the area of the confluence took just over two and a half hours. We stopped alongside Highway 105 once we had reached 46 degrees north latitude. It was late on Saturday morning, September 1st, 2001. The weather was cloudy and the forecast called for heavy rain.

The map from MAPQUEST indicated that the confluence was on land, just off Highway 105; but we had decided to bring our one-man inflatable boat just in case. That turned out to be a wise decision because the confluence is actually located in a body of water that feeds into St. Patrick’s Channel.

From the stop alongside Highway 105, it’s a matter of scrambling down a short, though steep, embankment to reach the shoreline. From the shoreline, it’s about 120 metres south to the confluence.

While Mark paddled himself to the confluence, I relaxed on shore (I amused myself by watching a nearby crab and jellyfish). He had the GPS between his knees and paddled with his hands all the while being pushed to the southeast by the wind. As he reached the confluence, the sun briefly came out just in time for his pictures.

Relative to our previous 5 confluences, this one was fairly simple but just as enjoyable.

Photo 1 was taken only a short distance from the shoreline, looking to the east. It shows what the shoreline looks like, but from here, it’s still about 100 metres to the confluence. Photo 5 shows the view looking north from the confluence (back to the shoreline from which Mark entered the water).

In a small bay of the Bras d'Or Lake, about 50 m from land.