this is very cool. and I'm also glad they didn't tell us where they are.
An interesting project.
Reminds me of something:
We own 12.5 acres in a rural location, about half wooded, half open. A few years ago I built a little trail on our property. About a mile long, it winds in and out of the woods, and sometimes across the field. The interesting thing about it is that until building the trail, there were many small parts of this land that we own that I had never walked on. My land, but it was just there, as a buffer between us and the neighbors, a home for possums and crows and skunks. Even the parts we mow didn't get walked on much. There's a well-worn path from the house to the shed, to the chickenhouse, to the garden, but other than that and an acre right around the house, that's all we really travel. So here's all this land within a few minutes' walk, and it's essentially untouched wilderness. Not remote in the sense of the linked article, but maybe remote in some other way, maybe kinda like being "alone" in a roomful of people. I see this kind of untouched land all the time. It's there in the woodsy median on the highway, between the creek and the parking lot, on the steep bank behind the shopping center, etc.
I haven't maintained my trail in more than a year. I think maybe I need to get Out There!*
*Credit to Another Kevin for this phrase.
It’s not a very carefully kept secret.
The cabin that they were sad to see in Wyoming is the Hawks Rest Patrol Cabin. South of Yellowstone National Park.
I have seen a list of remote locations on the internet. If I find again I’ll post a link.
There really aren’t that many secrets about the USA left.
Wayne
As usual, the Internet contradicts itself.
The Thorofare Patrol Cabin is listed as being closer to the most remote spot in the contiguous 48 states.
Suffice to say, the area between the two patrol cabins is remote.
Wayne
"Most remote places in the lower 48" makes a very interesting web search . JS.
I don't understand them being so coy about where these places are. It's not like they're the first person to ever go there. I've been to the FL location, which has another much less obscure name than they call it. It's a very popular destination for beach camping the within ENP.
The appeal of these kind of places is that they are remote and largely unspoiled by overcrowding. It takes significant effort to research and find these places, and most people are too lazy to put in the effort. As soon as you publish the exact locations, however, more and more people start going and it is no longer a wild and remote place. The ones that had to work hard to find such places are the most likely to respect such places and LNT, whereas the ones given easy access, with no work on their part, are the ones most likely to trash such places.
Last edited by gpburdelljr; 12-02-2017 at 17:49.
Reminds me of that time on the AT that I camped along a ridgeline...started setting up camp in the early evening. I had this feeling that I was in a really remote area, far from people or civilization. And then it got dark and I was surrounded by lights from houses I couldn't see through the trees.
Black Mesa in Oklahoma is fairly remote, also Oklahoma's high point....
Let's head for the roundhouse; they can't corner us there!
I thought the remotest place in the lower 48 was in SEKI NP.
One of the issue with computer assisted lists in my area is that most road databases dont deal well with private roads. Look at a road map of state and local roads in Maine and you will come to the conclusion that the 1/4 or more of the state roughly northwest of BSP is remote. Yet when you add in the private logging roads you will find that even though very few folks live there there are private roads to most areas, the main line roads tend to be kept open long term while some roads are only passable when logging operations are in effect. The other aspect is it may be remote on the ground but not in the air. Much of NW Maine is a Military Operations Area where low altitude military aircraft train. When they are training they may be running 100 feet above the ground.
Having spent many many years hiking and climbing in the DAKs, and hiking the NPT, the most remote point was pretty much in the vicinity where I figured it was and these folks found it. https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2...at-remote.html
.....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....
Big Bend NP is probably in the Top 10. Stanley, ID is applying for Extreme Dark Sky or something like that status. I’m sure Utah has dark sky as well. There’s a stretch of highway in northern New Mexico that is very dark. There aren’t enough people there to apply for the designation.
How about the place in Colorado that is farthest from:
Starbucks?
Walmart?
Google knows.
Wayne
The night sky is pretty amazing in BBNP.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
I looked it up and in my own state it is the Gila Wilderness (National Forest). Of course there are even easy trails there. I hadn't thought about it but I imagine the night sky is very amazing out there. I'm planning to take a trip there this winter to some hot springs. Population is about 100 in some of the "big towns".