#12: [22-May-22]

#11: [17-Oct-15]

#10: [20-May-13]

#9: [21-Apr-10]

#8: [28-Nov-09]

#7: [07-Sep-08]

#6: [18-Mar-08]

#5: [11-Jun-04]

#4: [29-Nov-03]

#2: [27-Apr-02]

#1: [02-Jan-00]

25-May-2003 -- This was the fourth successful confluence visit for Memorial Day weekend 2003. Following 36-117 in Death Valley, the intersection at 35-117 would complete a giant square for the weekend. From Fossil Bed road, stop at the service road along the power lines. Then follow this road before proceeding directly to the point. I made the mistake of proceeding direct from Fossil Bed road - with my wife, kids, and golden retriever in tow. About ¾ of the way there, you become surrounded by nasty weeds that have hundreds of stickers - almost like running into a cactus. Not fun.

When we got to the confluence, my kids who had been chasing the go-to arrow on the eMap were extremely excited to find a geocache. I told them we were going on a treasure hunt but did not expect to find real treasure. We took a small plastic ring and left a red bungee tie I had found earlier in the day.

At this point, everybody was suffering from stickers in their legs and we went direct towards the powerlines (the offending plants were still unavoidable) to walk the rest of the way back along the dirt road. Back at the RV, it was a good hour with tweezers and a thorough brush for our dog before we were ready to proceed.

The original plan was to camp at Rainbow Bridge National Monument just a couple miles down the road but the call of a hot shower was overpowering. On the way back, we saw a Desert Tortoise in the road trying to get up the 2' embankment it had gone down. We moved it out of the road in the direction it was heading.

A great weekend with four confluences!! (Except for the stickers.)