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the Degree Confluence Project
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United States : California

3.7 miles (5.9 km) E of Calimesa, Riverside, CA, USA
Approx. altitude: 1024 m (3359 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap topo aerial ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 34°S 63°E

Accuracy: 500 m (546 yd)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: buzzard #3: thick brush at the point where I degraded to having to crawl #4: soaking wet #5: gps showing how close I got #6: me walking down the road many people noticing my condition #7: homeless man fortunate enough to land a free ride but not me!

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  34°N 117°W (visit #11) (incomplete) 

#1: Near the points of confluence

(visited by john stein)

18-Apr-2011 -- My journey begins on the nearby freeway as I suddenly watch my numbers line up for a nearby point of confluence. I decided at that point to go for it. Little did I know what the day would hold. Without much to go on but only gps direction I parked at a spot east of the confluence which I thought was pretty close; about 2.5 miles east of confluence.

I began the hike by navigating around private property and barking dogs. The many trails accommodated me. I soon was following along a trail that followed the ridge line going upward. I was exited as I was getting withing 800 yrds. but as I got closer I realized to get on the right ridge I would have to follow a horse shoe shaped path up to the top and back down to avoid the valleys. At that point I decided just to go down and cut across the valleys. This is when things started going bad. The grass was wet and I ran into poison oak in the valley areas. I couldn't seem to cross at any point. I didn't feel like back tracking and decided to go down from there and then find a road to walk back to my car. As I got lower the brush got so thick that I was struggling to go a short distance and soon found myself crawling underneath the brush slowly down and then walking in the streams till I finally hit a road. Now I was in a private neighborhood and two security guys in a van slowly descended upon me. They offered me a ride to the front gate but that put me much farther from the place I had parked 2 1/2 miles away and then kept driving me till I finally got out at a gas station down by the freeway. I was soaked and I began walking down a highway and people seemed to be very aware of my condition. After a long walk down the highway my gps pointed north to the parking area and I cut up a field which led 2 miles up and down over steep hills to my car about 5 hours after I started. At this point I was exhausted and celebrated my trip over a hot fudge sundae at McDonalds. It probably would have saved a lot of time to research the maps ahead of time!

You can see my progress and pictures in realtime motion at everytrail (click on statistic mode to see realtime motion.)


 All pictures
#1: Near the points of confluence
#2: buzzard
#3: thick brush at the point where I degraded to having to crawl
#4: soaking wet
#5: gps showing how close I got
#6: me walking down the road many people noticing my condition
#7: homeless man fortunate enough to land a free ride but not me!
ALL: All pictures on one page