N 50 W 115 - Elkford, British Columbia - Confluence Spots on Waymarking.com

The confluence spot N50 W115 is located on the side of Profile Mountain in the Elk Valley, near Elkford British Columbia. To reach the confluence point we drove 3.4 kms on a forest road followed another 5.5 kms by foot/bike along forest road and trail, before making a short (150 meters) but steep climb to reach the target location.

The following image shows the route we followed to reach the confluence point

Here is the full story of our adventure to reach N50 W115.

To reach the confluence spot we first traveled north along Highway 43 towards Elkford. Just as we entered Elkford we turned left onto Alpine Drive and almost immediately turned left again onto a Forest Service Road (N 49 59.521 W 114 55.523). The road was wide and level and could be traveled with most larger vehicles. We drove a 2WD pickup and had no problems navigating the road. We drove 3.4 kms before we needed to park the vehicle (at N 50 00.706 W 114 57.330) and continue on without the aide of motorized vehicles. In a steady drizzle of rain we set out on mountain bikes. I was accompanied on this adventure by my brother-in-law, and a bunch of kids. The kids ranged in age from 13 down to 6 years old. The first few hundred meters of trail is narrow and tricky to navigate by bike, due to a land slump / slide in the area. After that the road becomes wide and easy to follow - although it's a continuous uphill climb for a good while. We traveled one kilometer from the parking location before we elected to ditch the bikes and continue on foot (the kids were having a hard time with the climb).
The road continued to climb gradually for maybe another 1-2 kilometers before it became wider and more level. It followed close to Boivin Creek and we could hear the water rushing in the creek below but could not see it through the trees. Eventually we came to a point where the confluence point was directly north of us, with the river being in the way.

A view towards the Confluence Point which is approximately in the center of the photo. This image is taken from the opposite side of Boivin Creek, facing north. The point lies to the immediate right of the narrow strip of trees between the two clearings (which are not actually clear, but full of waist-high growth and various tripping hazards in the form of old stumps, rock, and downed trees)

We were 376 meters from the point but needed to continue on the road to reach the river crossing at N 49 59.731 W 115 00.141, 530 meters from the confluence spot. At that point we found the old logging road bridge had been removed but a small single log "bridge" was installed in its place, and we took our turns crossing over the shallow but no-doubt frigid waters below.

Crossing the "bridge" over Boivin Creek which we were very happy to find

The logging road immediately below the confluence point

Once on the north side of the river we turned to the east and headed along another wide logging road until we were directly below the point. From N 49 59.932 W 114 59.937 it was 147 meters straight up the mountainside to reach the point. This was the toughest part of the trek. The area had been largely clear-cut some time ago and was littered with discarded bits of trees, which were well concealed beneath a thick layer of newer vegetation. The rain ensured that the steep climb up was tricky and very wet. We slowly made the climb up until we reached about 30 meters from the confluence spot. At that point we needed to travel further to the east, into a small section of land that was not clear cut. We finally found the point, surrounded by dense ground cover. We found no evidence of the visit in 2002 (reported on the Degree Confluence Project website) and we made no attempt to leave any sort of marker given the amount of ground cover and the heavy snows that must blanket the area through the winter.

Bon Echo stands at N 50 00.000 W 115 00.000; photo facing SSE

By the time we returned to the logging road we were completely soaked from the rain and wet vegetation. We retraced our way back to the foot bridge and then back to where we left the bikes. After that it was a rapid down-hill ride to the parked vehicle. In all we traveled 11 kilometers from the vehicle to the confluence spot and back.