During August 2003 I drove through British Columbia and into the
Northwest Territories on a combined confluence hunting and sightseeing trip.
I started close to 49°N and went as far North as 61°N, covered
6,200 kilometers (3,850 miles), did 7 successful confluence visits, and
had another 12 confluences that are incomplete. I made
a map that shows the route,
and the confluences in the order they were done, with the successful ones
shown with black markers. The incomplete visits are a mix of actual attempts
and situations where I drove somewhat close to the confluence, and included
a 'visit' as a way to document the confluence location for future visitors.
The first confluence on the trip was
52°N 121°W.
16-Aug-2003 -- After my incomplete visit to
59°N 121°W and a stay overnight in a
motel in Fort Nelson, I continued north on the Alaska Highway (Highway 97).
About 30 kilometers from Fort Nelson I turned north (Waypoint 054) off the
Alaska Highway onto the Liard Highway (Highway 77), which is paved as far as
the BC/Northwest Territories border.
About 10 kilometers along Highway 77 is the turnoff to the Forest Service Beaver
Lake recreation site (Waypoint 055). I continued north, hoping to find a road
leading towards the confluence. I crossed 59°N, and at Waypoint 056 there
was a gravel road heading west, with an older gravel road heading east, but
after just a few hundred meters it looked like it wasn't worth trying to drive
any further. I drove back down Highway 77 to Waypoint 058, where there is a
really old road heading east, with the
confluence being just over 10 kilometeres away.
As that road didn't appear to be driveable, I turned around and headed north again,
where, just beside a 15 kilometer marker on the highway, I found another
old road heading east (Waypoint 059).
At this point the confluence was 11.2 kilometers away, and the 'road' didn't look
very promising, so I decided to continue north. The diagonal line on the
satellite image that passes almost
right over the confluence is likely a pipeline.
Highway 77 continues north, and crosses the
Fort Nelson River, which starts at
Fort Nelson,
where the Muskwa, Prophet, and Sikanni Chief Rivers meet, and flows northwest
to meet the Liard River.
The next confluence on this trip was
60°N 123°W.