#3: [02-Feb-14]

#2: [08-Nov-03]

Note: This confluence is listed as attempted because at least one photo is required for a successful confluence. It's posted here as information for future visitors.

11-Nov-2001 -- On a visit to Condominiums Pillar, just east of San Carlos, Mexico

I was testing my Etrex GPS unit near sea level, to see how accurate it was. It was about 10 to 20 feet low.

Looking at the Lat/Long Values, I found I was only about 1 mile east, and 3 miles south of the N28 W111 confluence. This would be my first visit ever to a confluence.

I packed a green plastic bottle for use as a register, put a signed sheet of paper in it (but no writing implement), and also packed a quart of water.

Early next morning my wife drove me as close as possible on the main highway to San Carlos, which still left a two mile hike due north through the flat desert.

I'm and experienced off trail hiker, and did not find the going too bad. The main hassles were a green cyclone fence just north of the highway (look for gaps every 300 feet or so), a barbed wire fence a bit further north, easily crossed, many grass seeds that filled my socks, a small rancho that I skirted around to the west, thick brush along dry water courses, and a lone cow (or bull ?) with big horns, that I avoided.

On the bright side, it was good exercise, and there were interesting obsidian and quartz pebbles scattered along parts of the journey. The terrain was fairly flat and the surface smooth, so the main hindrance to progress was detouring around patches of thick brush.

The GPS unit pointed me towards a low pass between two hills. As I got close to the confluence it seemed I might have to do some climbing on the western hill, but it turned out the spot lay right at the eastern foot of this hill, with a gradual rise to the left (west).

The actual spot is on sandy ground, so I made several short trips to the west to gather enough stones to make a nice 2 foot high cairn at the confluence. The green plastic soda bottle is in the center of the cairn. By removing (and hopefully replacing) a few stones at the top you can access this register.

I have to admit getting a bit excited when the GPS unit read out all those zeros at the exact Lat/Long crossing. There were no signs of previous visitors to this spot. The GPS unit read 108' elevation at the confluence, though of course there will be some variance here if repeated readings are taken.

For extra credit I also built 3 much smaller cairns at the NAD 27 Mexico, NAD 27 Conus, and Nad 27 Cent datum confluence points. These all lay about 1 to 200 feet slightly uphill to the west.

It was becoming warm, and I was not motivated to climb the hill for a view, so I set off for a return hike to the Condominiums, which were about 3 miles distant per the GPS unit.

This route was slightly different than the route in. A bit less brushy, and with a different small rancho spotted slightly east of my path. After perhaps an hour I was back at the beach, where I found a shady spot and spent a long time getting the grass seeds out of my footwear.

Unfortunately I did not realize photos were needed for confluence submission, but will be sure to bring a camera if I try another.

Andy Martin, Tucson Arizona

Confluence located November 11, 2001