#2: [09-Jun-14]

01-Jul-2002 -- 01 July 2002 – Well, chapter 2 of the "2002 49th parallel tour" was a success!

Today we conquered our second confluence point in as many days. Today’s trek was far less complicated than experienced at N49 W117. We crossed the border into the United States at Roosville, BC into the state of Montana. This approach from the American side provided the simplest way of reaching our goal. Approximately 6 km south of the toll booth to the east from highway 93 was Burma Road, a gravel road which would take us to within 1 ½ kms of the confluence point. From there, we continued to hike up Burma Road taking an indirect route rather than bushwhacking directly up the steep slope. The road ended at the 49th parallel border cut, a 10 meter wide clear cut that divides Canada from the United States. Today being Canada Day it’s ironic that we spent part of our day within the nation of our southern neighbour trying to reach a small imaginary point within our great country. We traversed about 600 meters along the border cut at an average slope of about 80-90% and by 2 p.m. we reached our goal.

One of the amazing things about this group was that one of our members (Sarah) was six months pregnant and is a Virgin Bushwhacker. An accompanying photo shows the degree of pregnancy. From the vantage point of N49 W115, there is a spectacular view to the West across a wide valley that contains Lake Koocanusa. What a great way to spend Canada’s 135th birthday from a point as far south as you can go in Mainland British Columbia.

The borderline with the U.S. is running about 20 m south of the Confluence.