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Samir S. Patel

Stories

  • caption: Matt Mikkelsen carries "Fritz," his microphone system, to the path in the Hoh Rain Forest that leads to One Square Inch of Silence in Washington's Olympic National Park.CREDIT: SAMIR S. PATEL

    Listening For The Sound Of Silence In Washington's Hoh Rain Forest

    In 2005, when Gordon Hempton founded One Square Inch of Silence, he designated a spot, a few miles up the Hoh River Trail into the rain forest, the quietest place in the U.S. and marked it with a small, red stone. "In a place like this your auditory horizon isn't just 1 or 2 miles," he says. "You can hear everything that's happening in this valley. ... It's like we're listening to 5 miles or 10 miles around us right now. It's crazy."