Hoh River
November 3, 2008 1:35 PM Subscribe
Silence Like Scouring Sand. "One of America's quietest places, and the valiant effort to keep it that way." (Previously.)
We were up Hurricane Ridge a few weekends ago to watch the sun set over the glaciers of Mt. Olympus. The scale and beauty of the park are pretty stunning.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:52 PM on November 3, 2008
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:52 PM on November 3, 2008
If a quiet place is one where you can listen for fifteen minutes in daylight hours without hearing a human-created sound, there are no quiet places left in Europe.
She's obviously never gotten lost walking about in the Scottish Highlands
posted by dng at 1:53 PM on November 3, 2008
She's obviously never gotten lost walking about in the Scottish Highlands
posted by dng at 1:53 PM on November 3, 2008
Rare Soundscapes of Vanishing Habitats
posted by homunculus at 1:59 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 1:59 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Oh how I hate the noise of urban life.
posted by Roman Graves at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2008
posted by Roman Graves at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2008
There are none east of the Mississippi River.
You don't know what you're talking about, do you?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
You don't know what you're talking about, do you?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
She's obviously never gotten lost walking about in the Scottish Highlands
Or Białowieza.
posted by homunculus at 2:12 PM on November 3, 2008
Or Białowieza.
posted by homunculus at 2:12 PM on November 3, 2008
there are no quiet places left in Europe. There are none east of the Mississippi River. And in the American West? Maybe twelve.
Bogus.
posted by event at 2:34 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]
Bogus.
posted by event at 2:34 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]
It’s not easy to find silence in the modern world. If a quiet place is one where you can listen for fifteen minutes in daylight hours without hearing a human-created sound, there are no quiet places left in Europe. There are none east of the Mississippi River. And in the American West? Maybe twelve. One of these is in the temperate rainforest along the Hoh River in Olympic National Park.
What a pretentious bunch of nonsense. I have been hundreds of places in the U.S. where there are no human sounds except the pounding of the blood in my own ears and the sound of my own breathing. No human sounds -- heck no humans period. And the One Square Inch of Silence? Please. I've been up the Hoh River and many other places just like it throughout North America. There are lots of quiet places but the greatest problem are high-altitude jet planes and rarely can you hear them. But 15 minutes of silence or even 15 hours -- no problem.
posted by JackFlash at 2:36 PM on November 3, 2008
What a pretentious bunch of nonsense. I have been hundreds of places in the U.S. where there are no human sounds except the pounding of the blood in my own ears and the sound of my own breathing. No human sounds -- heck no humans period. And the One Square Inch of Silence? Please. I've been up the Hoh River and many other places just like it throughout North America. There are lots of quiet places but the greatest problem are high-altitude jet planes and rarely can you hear them. But 15 minutes of silence or even 15 hours -- no problem.
posted by JackFlash at 2:36 PM on November 3, 2008
Not only is it total bollocks (Europe, East of the Mississippi, etc) it's egregiously over written bollocks. Even the title doesn't make sense when you think about it for, oh, three seconds.
I'm off to listen to some death metal. Bah.
posted by rhymer at 2:56 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
I'm off to listen to some death metal. Bah.
posted by rhymer at 2:56 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
You don't understand. My backyard is much more precious than your backyard could ever be.
posted by Quonab at 3:01 PM on November 3, 2008
posted by Quonab at 3:01 PM on November 3, 2008
Missing the point much?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:06 PM on November 3, 2008
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:06 PM on November 3, 2008
But 15 minutes of silence or even 15 hours -- no problem.
Like fame, everyone will eventually get their 15 minutes of silence.
Speaking of silence, though, let's not forget Mr. John Cage and his anechoic chamber. Ain't no place you can go and get away from "human-created sounds", unless you kill yourself.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:23 PM on November 3, 2008
Like fame, everyone will eventually get their 15 minutes of silence.
Speaking of silence, though, let's not forget Mr. John Cage and his anechoic chamber. Ain't no place you can go and get away from "human-created sounds", unless you kill yourself.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:23 PM on November 3, 2008
Silence Like Scouring Sand.
Have you ever been near a sandblaster?
posted by longsleeves at 3:47 PM on November 3, 2008
Have you ever been near a sandblaster?
posted by longsleeves at 3:47 PM on November 3, 2008
I am Wa-Sha-Quon-Asin, Grey Owl.
He who flies by night.
I come to bring you...
a single green leaf.
It comes from a faraway place.
I don't know.
Do you hear that?
It's called silence.
Sometimes I wake up
from this dream...
at night...
this nightmare
that there's no more silence.
All the land's full of roads.
All the roads are full of motorcars,
and everyone's sitting there...
in all this noise and stink.
I call out to them.
"Hey," I say. "Where is it
you're all in such a hurry to get to?"
posted by sfenders at 4:12 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
He who flies by night.
I come to bring you...
a single green leaf.
It comes from a faraway place.
I don't know.
Do you hear that?
It's called silence.
Sometimes I wake up
from this dream...
at night...
this nightmare
that there's no more silence.
All the land's full of roads.
All the roads are full of motorcars,
and everyone's sitting there...
in all this noise and stink.
I call out to them.
"Hey," I say. "Where is it
you're all in such a hurry to get to?"
posted by sfenders at 4:12 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]
hm, seems that was from the movie Grey Owl, not the man himself. Ah well. Close enough to what he wrote somewhere or other.
I don't understand why traffic noise is so bothersome, but there's no doubt it is a huge difference between a place with it, and a place without it. It somehow seems a more profound difference than between a normal forest with all its sound and action, and being someplace truly silent like out on the ice of Lake Superior on a calm winter day when the ice isn't making noise, but I don't understand why.
Wish my computer wasn't so noisy, that's for sure.
posted by sfenders at 4:21 PM on November 3, 2008
I don't understand why traffic noise is so bothersome, but there's no doubt it is a huge difference between a place with it, and a place without it. It somehow seems a more profound difference than between a normal forest with all its sound and action, and being someplace truly silent like out on the ice of Lake Superior on a calm winter day when the ice isn't making noise, but I don't understand why.
Wish my computer wasn't so noisy, that's for sure.
posted by sfenders at 4:21 PM on November 3, 2008
David Brin already had this idea, in Earth. There was a park which was set aside as a silent place, no planes were allowed, and only like 2 humans a month could enter.
The problem with reading a lot of scifi is that few things really seem surprising.
posted by signal at 5:58 PM on November 3, 2008
The problem with reading a lot of scifi is that few things really seem surprising.
posted by signal at 5:58 PM on November 3, 2008
Ummm, wouldn't America's quietest places be, like, underground and stuff? You know, mine shafts, caves, fallout shelters, that sort of thing...
posted by Tube at 7:44 PM on November 3, 2008
posted by Tube at 7:44 PM on November 3, 2008
If a quiet place is one where you can listen for fifteen minutes in daylight hours without hearing a human-created sound, there are no quiet places left in Europe. There are none east of the Mississippi River. And in the American West? Maybe twelve.
The author is incorrect or at best sheltered. There are many places to do this in the American East. Most of them happen to be, as Tube eponysterically pointed out, underground.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:54 PM on November 3, 2008
The author is incorrect or at best sheltered. There are many places to do this in the American East. Most of them happen to be, as Tube eponysterically pointed out, underground.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:54 PM on November 3, 2008
"there are no quiet places left in Europe. "
+1 dng & large areas of Wales and the Lake District??
I'm lucky, I have Hilbre Island to visit
posted by gallagho at 1:10 AM on November 4, 2008
+1 dng & large areas of Wales and the Lake District??
I'm lucky, I have Hilbre Island to visit
posted by gallagho at 1:10 AM on November 4, 2008
there are no quiet places left in Europe.
I take it that they haven't been to Sápmi lately.
posted by melissam at 6:31 AM on November 4, 2008
I take it that they haven't been to Sápmi lately.
posted by melissam at 6:31 AM on November 4, 2008
And obviously she's never been to parts of western North or South Dakota either.
posted by Ber at 3:13 PM on November 4, 2008
posted by Ber at 3:13 PM on November 4, 2008
« Older 「荒ぶるマンボウのポーズ！！」お疲れ様でした！ | Obama's grandmother dies hours before the election Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 1:49 PM on November 3, 2008