#2: [24-May-03]

29-Jul-2002 -- Tried to get this confluence on a trip that took me through Dalhart, TX. Not sure when I'll get back this way again, but I thought I'd share some information with the next seeker.

I started out by calling the Hartley county sheriff's office who told me I needed to speak with the Dallam county sheriff's office (both in Dalhart, go figure). I spoke with a woman at the county sheriff's office about going out to this area. She said it shouldn't be a problem, in general, but she couldn't tell me who actually owned the land in question. I was concerned about being on a large corporate farm and not knowing it. That area is mostly large farms.

I took US 54 southwest of Dalhart to ranch road 694. I followed it about 15 miles west to Bunker Hill road. It wasn't a bad road at all. The MapSource maps and MapQuest.com show a road going west from that intersection at N36 00.623 W102 52.600. I can tell you first hand that there is no road there. In fact, many of the roads that show up on MapSource either did not exist or were tracks across a field.

From Bunker Hill and RR694, I went north to what is called Hefner Road. After going west about 5 miles, I came to a dead stop at a farm house that was in the process of being abandoned by its current residents, who do not speak English and have little interest in confluence hunting. At this point, I was about 3 miles away on a bearing of about 70 degrees. I backtracked and looked at the maps on my GPS. It looked like by going north to RR102, I might be able to track south to the confluence. I was not successful there, either, because the S4 Ranch has "No Trespassing" signs up on their property. I was about 6 miles north at this point.

Having spent the 90 minutes I allotted to the search, I continued on to my destination. I would advise the next hunter to perhaps start the attack from the south or southwest. Good luck.