WASHINGTON – One of the reasons people love to visit national parks is for the peace and quiet. Now, one researcher who has dedicated decades to studying noise has found the quietest square inch in all the parks of the Lower 48.
Parkadvocate reports the location is “marked by a small red-colored stone placed on top a moss-covered log” in Olympic National Park.
The quietest square inch is located in the Hoh Rainforest, which is in the largest wilderness area of Washington state.
Parkadvocate says the researcher, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, began studying noise pollution in the 80s when he found about 12 sites in Washington that had no human sound interference. In the 90s, that number had dropped to three. And now, Hempton believes there are just three locations in the entire continental U.S. that are free from human noise interference.
