Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkxingu
The darkest place I've ever been was Yosemite back in 2005. For the star walk, rangers had people shut all flashlights off and, after 15 minutes of acclimation, walk out to Tuolomne Meadow. It was AMAZING. I also had great experiences in Baxter State Forest and the 100-Mile Wilderness. It's amazing what you can see in such conditions.
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Nothing can compare to a tour of Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. The cave's guides turn off dozens of flood lights while saying, "This is the view of the cave during the 120 million years when a river flowed through here". The area formerly illuminated was immense, and nobody could speak a word.
The
second darkest area I've experienced was the top of my neighbor's Wolfeboro driveway, about 1959.
My sister and I had just finished an evening of board games, when we were confronted with putting one foot in front of the other and try not to fall off the paved roadway surface. We had about 1000 feet to travel home.
After a minute, we realized we could see the grassy edge of the roadway because the light from bright stars had become our missing flashlight. It took decades before the term, "starshine" became popularized.
Starshine has gradually faded, and lately, bright floodlights illuminating a Wolfeboro auto dealer's lot four miles distant took all that starshine away.
