City lights on the trail

[Dudeboard]

I've only hiked the AT through the smokies, but was disappointed to see city lights at night everywhere. And not just near Gatlinburg, but just about every night the views weren't socked in by fog.

Is it this way all along the AT, vast stretches of city lights? Or are there sections where you really feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere when you're on a ridge on a clear night, instead of it looking like you're coming in for a landing in L.A.? What areas of the AT are good and bad in this regard?

[torch]

Most of Pennsylvania and New Jersey along the Kitaninney Ridge are bad. Southern New York has New York City visable from the first ridge. Connecticut and Mass are better because the cities turn to towns. For the most part, though, that is the fate of hiking in the Eastern US. With the exception of northern New England and the Northern Great Lakes, most of the east is only small pockest of forest with very little true wilderness left.

[A-Train]

I'd recommen hiking the Maine portion of the AT. Its rough and rugged but also beautifully remote. You won't see city lights or even town lights for that matter. Avoid the mid atlantic states as they are all a stones throw from civilization

[Jaybird]

[QUOTE=Dudeboard]I've only hiked the AT through the smokies, but was disappointed to see city lights at night everywhere. And not just near Gatlinburg, but just about every night the views weren't socked in by fog......
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i, too, was disappointed to see sooooooo many lights while on the trail......

BUT, once i got home & looked @ my full length A.T. map....i realize the trail
is a very thin slice of real estate & runs by & thru some towns (sometimes
thats NOT A BAD THING...example: Damascus)..while we hate the
encroachment...we must embrace..the fact that we all must live together.
...hikers & town people.....("why can't we all just get along?")


of course, since there ARE towns so close to the trail...the walk to your food drop isnt that far! hehehehehehehe :D

good luck with yer hike! 24 days til CLINGMAN'S DOME!

[Brushy Sage]

One of the things that amazed me as I was learning to fly was the number of lighted areas I could see during the night time hours. And even in transcontinental flight (I didn't pilot those planes!) one can see lights almost anywhere in the USA. They are more scattered in some of the remote areas of the western US. Except for the lights of occasional ships, the oceans remain relatively dark (sometimes brightly illuminated by the moon). I have read that radio receivers now pick up 60-hertz buzz (the frequency of our power grid) in Anarctica. So it's an electrical world we live in. One positive factor might be that when we see the city lights from mountain crests, that's an indicator that the air is fairly clear; there are times when fewer lights are visible in the Smoky Mtns because of the pollution haze.

[Lugnut]

Check out the photo I just posted to see how bright the east coast is. I'm only talking lumens here. Don't know what the education level is. :)

[Brushy Sage]

Check out the photo I just posted to see how bright the east coast is. I'm only talking lumens here. Don't know what the education level is. :)

Amazing photo! Thanks for posting it.

[Tater]

Check out the photo I just posted to see how bright the east coast is.
Photo? Where? Don't see a link.

[Jersey Bob]

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[Jersey Bob]

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[Jersey Bob]

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[oyvay]

National Parks magazine ran an article about light pollution being a problem in all parks in the lower 48(few years ago). There were more dark patches in the western US and only far northern Maine was a dark spot. The lights from Canada "bleeds" into the White mtns.
The blackout that hit the NYC area last summer, probably gave its residents the best and first good views of rooftop stargazing since before the industrial revolution. (and what they're missing with all those lights)

[torch]

I have heard a story that when the earthquake hit the Bay area in '89 and knocked out the power, that the police received several calls from panicked citizens reporting strange wisps of glowing clouds in the sky that some of the more paranoid claimed caused the earthquake.

It was the Milkyway...none of them had seen a sky without light polution, apparently.

[Chappy]

North Korea is completely dark at night. Not suggesting anyone go there for hiking, though.

[Cosmo]

I agree with going to Maine to find some dark sky. Closer to "civilization" one might try southern VT. From the Goddard Shelter on Glastonbury Mtn the only light you can see is...the tower on top of Mt Greylock. Oh well. Seriously, S VT is one of the most remote sections of trail in NE south of Maine--at least in terms of road crossings and nearby towns. The north end of the LT is also a good choice--except during ski season...

My peve is more about sound. I remember waking one morning at Shaker campsite in Mass, and couldn't identify this constant drone I was hearing. Turned out to be the Mass Pike, more than 5 miles to the north.

Planes are another annoyance. When I'm camping at higher altitues, especially in the fog, aircraft noise is quite prevelant. One thing I distinctly remember about Sept 11th was going to my monitoring section of the AT the next day to try and get some relief--off trail in the middle of the woods at "my special" rocky clearing. It was earie to be out there an not hear any sound--not even airplanes.

Cosmo

[steve hiker]

It was earie to be out there and not hear any sound--not even airplanes.
No burds peeping? ;)