#3: [12-Aug-03]

#1: [11-May-02]

10-May-2002 -- Continued from 50N 108W

Alberta was wonderful. We didn't go after any confluences, but managed some early season biking along the incredible Icefields Parkway, between Banff and Jasper.

In Jasper I left the confluence film with a developer, a mistake that will lead to a summer-long comedy of frustration until I finally receive them.

Now we find ourselves in Prince George, B.C.'s "northern capital". After restocking provisions, we leave town on majestic route 97, a highway that runs all the way from northern California to the Yukon Teritory.

Just out of town we turn on to Chief Lake Road and drive through "suburban" Prince George, 18k or so to the west. A road built for future house lots brings us down into a gulley, less than 1k from the confluence.

This is bear country, and Liam is a bit wary of this bushwack, so we make plenty of noise. We see lots of elk sign as we tromp through the mossy spruce forest, still snowy in early May, but no evidence of bears.

The GPS zeroes out near the base of a tree, not surprisingly. This confluence, like the others we've seen in Canada, would seem like an unlikely place to run into other humans. Howevever, the very next day will bring other confluence hunters, contemplating the same random patch of mossy ground.

This makes me wonder if two groups have ever bumped into each other on the way to a confluence somewhere. I'd love to hear about it...

A huge grizzly two days later in the Yukon will insure that this is to be the last confluence attempt of the trip. Time to press on for Alaska...

Coordinator's Note: For examples of two groups running into each other while searching for the same confluence, see 40N 124W and 53N 113W