#2: [31-Aug-22]

07-Sep-2000 -- After our visit to 46N, 123W, we decided to visit this confluence, and hoped that no one else would get there before us.

We used the same planning tools we'd used for our previous trip; the Street Atlas USA software, Ada's Oregon topographical atlas, and the Rand McNally road atlas. There were three possible logging roads coming near the site, and they required approaching this steep and wooded area from widely different directions. We selected the approach which minimized the probable climb needed, which meant that our hike would be along a ridge. In the street atlas USA software, you can highlight a waypoint that must be included in its proposal for a trip route. This resulted in the route we took, and was significantly different from the original route suggested by the software.

Our estimation of the driving time was accurate. But the road we'd hoped to turn on for the last leg was double-gated; we walked. We had estimated it to be a 2-mile one way hike; it turned out to be 3 and 1/2 miles! It took 2 hours longer than we'd hoped. We were quite tired upon returning to the car. Mendalara was carrying the three-year old in a backpack. Also, our water supply ran out on the way back and it was in the eighties. Fortunately the cows (picture 5) supplied some comic relief.

On a positive note, there was no need to bushwhack through the forest, as the path led to a meadow which contained the confluence, and also a great view of the mountain we'd been glimpsing. And we all felt the trip was a good way to spend the day.

Ada, Lucas, and Alex spent much of the walk both ways developing ideas for Degree Confluence games. They thought it could make a good role playing game (RPG) using a system such as Dungeons and Dragons, or a computer game. Later, Ada found out about an RPG for palmtop computers called Kyle's Quest with a free level editor available, so she plans to make a Degree Confluence level in the relatively near future.

While we're putting in links, Ada wants to mention that she wore one of her Bruno t-shirts especially for the trip, but the decoration didn't show up in her picture. Visit the Bruno comic web site if you like comic strips and want to check it out.

Question for the day: is it wise to use this fragile-seeming ecosystem for so much grazing? Not to mention the clearcutting...wonder how the cows get used to the mega-earth moving equipment? I guess if you live in the Northwest, you live with the government's approach to land management.

narrative written by Ada Kerman and Mendalara

In the Yakama Indian Reservation.