Waucoba Mountain. The confluence point is in the canyon on the left. Click here for more pictures.
Waucoba Mountain. The confluence point is in the canyon on the
left. Click here for more pictures.
VISIT DATE: October 9, 2001
LOCATION: Inyo County CA, Inyo Natl Forest, near the NW corner of Death Valley National Park. Inside Waucoba Canyon, 3.5 mi W of Waucoba Spring, 1.6 mi SSE of Waucoba Peak.
APPROACH: From the interior of Death Valley National Park, take the 4WD trail S from Ubehebe Crater, continue to the southern entrance of Saline Valley, then N to Waucoba Spring, hike 3.5 mi W on foot the the confluence point.
RESULT: The bottom line is that I didn't make it this time. I got within 2.5 miles and me and my wife decided together that it wasn't a good idea to proceed. Read on for the complete story.
BACKGROUND:
For those not in the know, a "Confluence Point" is simply a location somewhere on the Earth's surface where the latitude and longitude can be expressed as whole numbers. The proliferation of inexpensive handheld GPS receivers has made the discovery and visiting of confluences a trendy new hobby.
The Degree Confluence Project web site has become an on-line Mecca of sorts for this activity. If you have a GPS receiver and a digital camera, you too can be famous. A 4WD vehicle (or mountain bike, canoe, etc.) can also prove useful depending on the location.
Some of these locations are quite famous and/or historically significant, such as the "Four Corners" monument where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet (although it turns out that the confluence is actually more than 2 miles E of the monument - look here for more information on this).
California is home to 44 confluences, and so far 43 have been visited, thus providing the motivation for my trip.
PREPARATION:
The last unclaimed confluence point in California lay beyond the far northwestern boundary of Death Valley National Park, just outside the area that was annexed in 1994 (The park boundary follows 117° 59' W longitude in this area). A web search revealed that this area is of interest to geologists as well as Sierra Club "Peak Baggers", and people in general who are looking for one of the few remaining truly isolated spots in California.
I planned my trip as a three-day excursion. I've been to Death Valley many times but always stayed on the paved roads. I was eager to use my 4WD Toyota Tacoma to get into Saline Valley via the Death Valley approach that would take me through the Racetrack Playa and Teakettle Junction. My plan was to spend one night in Death Valley, one night in Saline Valley, make it to the confluence point, then get out via Big Pine while it was still daylight and return home to the Bay Area (whew!).
After examining the various topo map resources available online, I used my Garmin Vista to set a waypoint where Waucoba Saline Road and 37° N latitude intersected. According to the topos, I would find a wash there that I could follow W into Waucoba Canyon. It would be a moderately strenuous hike - around 1800 ft gain in 3.5 miles. At around 3 miles I would bear right into a smaller NW branch of the canyon. When I got really close at around 7600 ft, I'd have to hike strait uphill another few hundred feet, again in a NW direction, until I got to the confluence point.
The Degree Confluence Project page for this confluence can be found here. You can view the topo map by clicking here.
THE TRIP:
We got to the Stovepipe Wells Motel late Sunday night on the 7th. We started out around 10AM on Monday morning. Our goal for the day was to make it into Saline Valley and get as close to the Waucoba Spring area as possible. The drive to Ubehebe Crater, then down to the Racetrack area was uneventful. I had never been there before and found it quite enjoyable. René and I had lunch there and walked out onto the playa.
The next part was the trip from the Racetrack into Saline Valley via the Lippencott Mine Road. This road has a reputation as one of the most challenging 4WD roads still open in the park. The good news is that it really wasn't that bad. Some very generous off-roaders are keeping the washouts patched up by piling rocks into them (Thanks!). For the drive in, I sort of buddied up with an older couple in a Jeep Wrangler and a younger couple in another Tacoma and the six of us formed sort of a caravan. There were a few scary switchbacks but it really wasn't any worse than Titus Canyon.
I've had my 2000 Tacoma (stock SR5 V6 4WD, no TRD package) for nearly two years and this was the first time I had taken it out into the wilderness and really pushed it to see what it could do. It handled just fine and never let me down. I didn't have to use the low L4 gearing at all, and the lack of a rear locker was never an issue. I'm particularly grateful to Toyota for including the heavy-duty Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires as original equipment. They held up against all those nice sharp little rocks with no trouble at all.
I was very happy when we made it into Saline Valley by early afternoon, because it meant that getting to Waucoba Spring before nightfall was quite do-able. The southern part of the Saline Valley Road is boulder-strewn and poorly graded which meant I couldn't do better than 5 mph, but by late afternoon I'd gotten past that. The mid-part of the valley near the salt marsh and the sand dune area alternates between smooth dirt and washboard so I averaged 15 mph which felt like freeway speed compared to where I'd just been. By sunset I was trying my damnedest to get to Waucoba Spring and I made it around 7:30 just after it was dark. My wife and I camped in one of the 4WD trail heads which was now just a turnout since all the 4WD trails in this area were closed when Saline Valley was added to the park in 1994. We ate dinner and packed it in for the night.
On Tuesday the 9th, we woke up around 7:30AM and set out on the hike. We started about half a mile north of Waucoba Wash (which almost exactly lines up with 37°N). We followed some old 4WD trails and then hiked cross-country over a few low hills, looking for the best path to use to start working our way into the canyon. After about half an hour and two thirds of a mile we stopped to see how we were doing. The canyon entrance was about half a mile away to the west. Unfortunately, it was obvious to both myself and René that we had underestimated the difficulty of this hike. We had failed to bring heavy-duty hiking boots, or a first-aid kit, or sufficient water (we were sharing a one-quart bottle for a six mile desert hike).
Both me and René were already pretty tired, and we were starting to realize that this hike was going to kick our ass. Now my wife and I normally like this sort of thing on local Bay Area hikes, but the problem is that we were in one of the most remote wilderness areas in California. This was not some Sunday stroll where we could overdo it, then just drive home and crash out. What would be a minor nuisance on a local hike could cost us dearly out here. Since neither of us wanted something like that on our conscience we chose to turn back.
So... We got back to the truck and drove north out of Saline Valley. The north way out is much more passable (and scenic, according to my wife) then the south way. In fact it's probably do-able without 4WD as long as you have decent clearance and good tires. We were having lunch in Big Pine by around 12:30, and drove home to the Bay Area via the beautiful drive along Highway 120 through Yosemite.
FUTURE PLANS:
René and I are hoping to try this again, perhaps as soon as November. First we need to upgrade our gear (i.e. spend more money at REI), and go on a few conditioning hikes in the Bay Area. With any luck we will try again over Thanksgiving weekend. This time we'll do both the approach and exit from Big Pine because it can be done in two hours which makes a single-day hike do-able as long as you get a hotel room in Big Pine or Bishop.
If anyone wants to try to get there before us, they have my blessing. Just be sure that you and your vehicle are both in good condition. All the rules that apply to cross-country desert hiking apply to this trip. In particular the "one gallon of water per person per day" rule is NOT an exaggeration. As far as I know nobody has met with injury or worse during a confluence hike, and I don't want to see 37°N 118°W be the first to claim someone. Please feel free to contact me via email if you'd like more info on this hike and I'll be happy to give you all the information I have.
UPDATE (October 26th)
Well, it looks like someone else got there first. Click here to read Jack Frickey's account of his successful hike to 37°N 118°W. René and I still want to do this but we're not going bust our humps to get out there again in November. More likely we'll get in shape by tackling some local confluences, then try for 37°N 118°W later in the season, depending on how the roads look as Winter sets in, and how successful we are at getting into shape for a hike that includes some heavy bushwhacking and a little ledge-climbing thrown in.