Sometimes getting some peace and quiet involves turning off your TV and phone for the evening. But sometimes you need to truly disconnect and get away from it all — and when that urge strikes, you’ll be happy to know that a place in Washington was just voted the quietest spot in the continental United States by Conde Nast Traveler.
It all started in 1984 when Gordon Hempton, a botanist who lives in Port Angeles, started looking for a silent place.
Glenn Scofield Williams / Flickr He initially found 21 silent spots in Washington… but a decade later, thanks to traffic and aircrafts, only three were left.
Hempton’s goal was to find the last places on earth that are entirely untouched by humans.
Brent Miller / Flickr To meet his requirement, visitors must be able to expect silent intervals of 15 minutes or more during the day.
Needless to say, not many places in the U.S. meet those requirements.
Benji Morin / alltrails.com But Hempton did find a place in Washington the qualified: The Hoh River Valley on the Olympic Peninsula.
Specifically, the quietest spot in the continental U.S. is a moss-covered log 3.2 miles up the Hoh River Trail from the visitor’s center.
June Orleander / alltrails.com
Of course, the Hoh is pretty peaceful on any given day, so there may be no need to track down the one specific log.
James Gaither / Flickr However, if you want to experience the silence for yourself, look for an oddly shaped Sitka spruce on the north side of the trail and follow that little path north for about 200 yards.
The Hoh River Trail is over 30 miles long in its entirety, so if you want to complete the whole thing, you’ll have to make it a backpacking trip.
Sarah Steffens / alltrails.com The good news is, most hikers won’t complete the entire trail due to time and energy constraints, so you’ll enjoy plenty of peace and quiet once you’ve gone past the first 5 miles.
Needing some silence is a great excuse to visit the Olympic Peninsula, which is full of gems every Washingtonian should get to experience.
Glenn Scofield Williams / Flickr
He initially found 21 silent spots in Washington… but a decade later, thanks to traffic and aircrafts, only three were left.
Brent Miller / Flickr
To meet his requirement, visitors must be able to expect silent intervals of 15 minutes or more during the day.
Benji Morin / alltrails.com
But Hempton did find a place in Washington the qualified: The Hoh River Valley on the Olympic Peninsula.
June Orleander / alltrails.com
James Gaither / Flickr
However, if you want to experience the silence for yourself, look for an oddly shaped Sitka spruce on the north side of the trail and follow that little path north for about 200 yards.
Sarah Steffens / alltrails.com
The good news is, most hikers won’t complete the entire trail due to time and energy constraints, so you’ll enjoy plenty of peace and quiet once you’ve gone past the first 5 miles.
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