Well, the day finally came after visiting a couple of confluence points (CP's) that had already been visited. It was time to venture out into new territory. Doug's brother lives in Melfort, SK so tackling 53N 103N was a logical destination. We drove to Melfort on friday night, stayed with Doug's brother and set out early saturday morning towards the CP. After an hour or so of driving it was apparent why this point had not been attempted before. 15km was the closest you can get with a car. Feeling highly energetic we laughed and said the task would be elementary and effortless. Because of course "Scott ran 20km last weekend in one hour". Koop also noted that it would most likely "take about 2 hours" and we would be back and victorious.

With that we sprinted off into the bush. At first it seemed ok - there were small trails and animal paths which made forest walking a little easier. The further we went in, the more difficult it was to find animal trails that led in the right direction. We often chose to take a small path leading sort of in the right direction rather than bushwacking straight for the CP. At about noon, we stopped to analyze the situation. We were about half way to the CP from the car and getting really tired. We had been walking for a couple hours already and definitely wishing we had brought some food. Then the thought occured that there was no way we were going to make it back to the car before dark at this rate. We had to start running more and heading more directly towards the CP rather than zig-zagging our way along trails. We took off running for a few more minutes and then collapsed. We were getting much too weak.

It was about that time, 7 km or so from the CP, that we made the wise choice to accept defeat and go back. This was probably a good decision since we could barely stand up anymore. We took a few pictures then headed back to the car (feeling very drained and quite hungry). The way back was horrible. It didn't take long before we would collapse every 1/2 km out of exhaustion. About halfway from the defeat point to the car each of us started to hallucinate from lack of energy and sustenance. I (steve) started to dream of chocolate milk and greasy burgers and...we won't go any further with this I think. Eventually we made it back to the car and figured we would have died if we walked another kilometer.

So basically, I don't know if it is possible to reach this point in one day. Winter made it easier to walk over streams and swamps yet difficult for camping and forest walking. I wonder if there is an easier access point to the CP? I wonder if I could get ahold of a helocopter.

Difficulty: 8 (terrible accessability, thick forest)
Enjoyment: 5 (definitely nice outdoor experience, fresh air, good exercise but too far for one day, lack of food, out of shape, poor planning).

This point is a beast! Be afraid!

This adventure was actually pretty spontaneous. Christie wanted to do some jogging and get some exercise and I (Steve) wanted to conquer a confluence point (CP). We came to a compromise and decided to jog to a CP. Of course we didn't have much time so we picked the closest point to Regina which I hadn't been to before (but someone else had previously visited it). The point is less than a km off a main road so we had to make it a little more challenging. This may be the first time anyone has made a CP more difficult. Anyway, we parked the car further away to allow for more exercise and difficulty. The best part of the approach to the CP was this farm dog (later found his name was George) who started to follow us. George had a ton of energy and kept bringing us big rocks to play fetch with. He was so excited by all the attention that he couldn't hold his bowels and bladder. We must have been laughing too hard with the George or something because apparently the farmer got insanely jealous and drove down the road to pick up George in his car. It was too bad because we wanted to get George in the CP picture. It would have been Steve, Christie, and George - the fearsome 3. And George would have got his own page on the confluence website. I better stop rubbing it in now, recognizing the instability of George's emotional state at such an unfortunate turn of events. So back to the approach - the CP was easily located, found and was conquered with little resistance. I made Christie drive on the way home because I got annoyed with her lack of enthusiasm for the extensive GPS features and pretty maps. Fortunately Christie caught the CP conquering bug and promised another adventurous excursion (preferably more treacherous). Difficulty: 2 (fields close to road, difficulty must be self induced by the CP conqueror) Enjoyment: 6 (good snow leaping, nice weather, George) I probably would not recommend venturing to this point unless you (a) want an unchallenging experience or (b) have too much time on your hands.

Well I (steve) just got my GPS this weekend and good timing too because there are so many confluence points that we have not conquered. Koop, Jadon and I had to go to Caronport for the day from Regina and found it very desireable to take a detour through 50N 105W. Being our first confluence point ever, the trip was highly energetic. This confluence point is a few kilometers away from Avonlea, SK and it was quite a delight to find the confluence in a ravine surrounded by flat plains. It made the journey more difficult, more scenic, and more conducive to wildlife viewing. Out of sheer enthusiasm and excitement we parked the car withing a couple km of the confluence point and took off sprinting like wildmen. Someone made the wise decision to walk along, I mean on the creek and it wasn't too long before Jadon's left foot cracked through the ice. For good reason though - we spotted a beaver and decided to go looking for it after our mission was complete. We trudged through the foot of snow spotting numerous deer and random abandoned outhouses. We sprinted across a farmers yard and decided to bail ourselves out if we got in trouble rather than being proactive and asking any sort of permission.

Finally we crossed a couple more frozen creeks (wisely sending Jadon to run across first) and got to the confluence point in record time. Next came the most difficult part of the journey - getting the GPS to center on the exact point while walking around on the side of a snowy hill (it had to be so exact cause we had to do it right). Next came a few more pics - of course we framed the traditional GQ pic revealing some skin for all the desperate fans hoping our successful journey and safe return. On the way back we snuck up on that beaver I mentioned earlier and he jumped into a hole in the ice. We contemplated whether he would attempt suicide or come up for air despite the fact we were standing around the only exit. Eventually he did pop up his cute, furry little head and we got a good pic and really connected with the guy for a few minutes. ah....hmmm.... With no further suspence, this confluence rating is as follows:

Difficulty: 3 (mild terrain, non-strenuous, low elevation, frozen streams)
Enjoyment: 7 (first conquering experience, high energy, non-plains)

We highly recommend venturing to this point. Most of south saskatchewan is pretty flat and boring. This point takes you through a delightful hike of varried terrain.

Christie and I were bored this fine Sunday afternoon and were really feeling very adventurous. We had to get out of Regina. So we grabbed some food and water and jumped in the car. We sat looking at the map wondering where we should go since we only had an afternoon. Then I had an idea stemming from a conversation the previous week. Supposedly in Fort San there was this large run down health care center that was used in the early 1900's for Tuberculosis treatment. Hundreds died in the sanatorium and supposedly a couple nurses committed suicide. Anyways, the thing that sparked my attention was the rumor that the whole building was still haunted. Supposedly the creepy janitor would take people on tours at night. That was enough of a lead for this afternoon.

We booked it to Fort San and finally found the old building. We walked right in the door and found the lobby completely deserted (it was Sunday afternoon you know). After waiting around for a while, it was apparent that no one was going to help us. So we noticed that some of the doors were open and we began to scope out the place. Some of the hallways had lights on and so did some of the bedrooms. The old building kept us entertained for over 3 hours. We never saw anyone until later in the day so we roamed though all the halls and rooms.

We especially liked the old maps which had various crawl spaces and hidden rooms marked. There was this one crawl space in the far right wing where all the lights had been burnt out. I held open the door while Christie crept through the cobwebs and dusty walls. She couldn't see a whole lot so while she held the door I used my camera flash to light up some of the rooms. One room at the end had an old medical trolly that was stained and old from years of use. I flashed a picture into a dark crawlspace at the end of the hall and went back outside with Christie to take a look at the pictures of the room. We were zooming around the crawlspace picture when we noticed something infront of one of the pillars. I zoomed in and we both let out a shriek as the picture revealed a severed head. After regaining composure, we notice that it was just plastic. Nevertheless, Christie informed me that she wasn't going in the hallway with the head anymore.

There was this other high room where a bunch of pigeons had been trapped inside somehow. They gave us a scare when we approached as they all swarmed around and bashed into windows. Being late afternoon, most of the other main hallways had sufficient sunlight to remove the edge of spookiness. Near the end of our exploring we did mysteriously run into the janitor. He was pretty creepy and didn't really care that we were walking around. Occasionally while walking through the rooms we would turn off bedside lamps that were left on for some reason.It didn't really phase us at the time but later we went to Chapters and read about the place and we found out that it is not uncommon to find random lights turned on.

We drew the line at this one tunnel located in the main wing of the building. All the surrounding rooms had locks on them and warning signs but this one had its lock undone. Inside there was a dark tunnel leading to a huge crawlspace (or so the map indicated). Warning signs beside the tunnel clearly depicted no entry, high voltage, and asbestos concerns. We didn't go in for fear of getting caught by the mysterious Janitor who was around the building somewhere. I regret it now though because the next day I heard that the tunnel was previously used to store the dead and connect to the morgue. If any place was haunted it surely would have been there. All in all, it was a great little afternoon adventure. We will definitely have to roam the province for other abandoned buildings.