darkest place you have ever been?

[ledbetter]

Those looking for dark skies might want to check out IDA, the International Dark-Skies Association. And yeah, it's real and it's based in Tucson.

 

[hsa]

On an astronomy forum I read that only half of the population has seen the Milky Way. I would bet that 75% havn't seen it more than a couple times.
I can see it from my back yard and it makes for a lot of apreciation for flashlights. I turn the lights off and stare at the beauty of the night sky a lot though.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

On an astronomy forum I read that only half of the population has seen the Milky Way. I would bet that 75% havn't seen it more than a couple times.
I can see it from my back yard and it makes for a lot of apreciation for flashlights. I turn the lights off and stare at the beauty of the night sky a lot though.

I saw it that time I mentioned in the thread, and sadly never again. Too much light pollution in the city I live in.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Mt. Whitney at night during a flash flood. Lights couldn't cut much through the thick black fog/clouds and rain.

Mammoth Caves, Kentucky

Wind Cave, South Dakota

Solo Backpacking out of Cottonwood Lakes area (out of Lone Pine, CA) in November. 25 lumen Princeton Tec Eos headlight running on first generation Eneloop AAAs when it's in the high teens/low 20s F does not give much brightness and runtime. I was the only one in the mountains at the time.

Winter trip to see family in Canada. We drove above the Great Lakes in winter. This was around year 2000. Brightest light was CC Trek light running on 3AA alkalines, which don't perform well below 0 degrees F.

 

[hsa]

You can see a lot further into the winter woods with dark adapted vision and moonlight than you can with a flashlight.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

You can see a lot further into the winter woods with dark adapted vision and moonlight than you can with a flashlight.

True to a degree, but when it's cold and dark, I'll be indoors getting warm whether it's in a car, building, or two wall four season tent for backpacking. There is little to no moonlight inside a four season tent. Backpackers tend to hike in daylight and camp at night, especially in the snow. Still should bring a light for safety.

 

[High_Noon]

I'd have to say that the darkest place I've ever been was when my young daughter was incorrectly diagnosed with a very rare disease. The brightest light on the planet would not have helped.

 

[bykfixer]

Hey Chance, two words……

BiC lighter……

 

[RickQuixote]

During Geology Field Camp, which was required for my degree in Geological Engineering, we had one week where we learned to map mine tunnels in the Camp Bird gold/silver mine in Colorado. We started each morning boarding a mine car and traveled 1-1/2 miles into the mine until we reached the end where they had stopped digging. The mine was not in operation so there were no lights. All we had were the lamps on our mining helmets. We split into teams of two and spread out with about 100 yards between each team. I was in the last team, the one farthest from the end of the shaft. When we turned our helmet lamps off it was dark as it can get. Even with the lamps on all you could see was what was right in front of you. We had muck boots on because the shaft had started filling with water after they stopped mining it and there was 6"-12" of water on the floor of the shaft. I honestly had the time of my life down there. 1.5 miles into the mountain and about a mile of rock above us. The mine shaft was about 6 feet in diameter so I was constantly banging my head. Thankfully, I had my helmet on. Good times!

 

[bykfixer]

Welcome aboard Rick.

Don't know that I would have made past the first 100 feet in before everybody else on board would be voting me off the train for screaming like a girl then crying like a baby……

And CG……that's one place I would not use a BiC lighter. A coal mine shaft.

 

[wweiss]

You can see a lot further into the winter woods with dark adapted vision and moonlight than you can with a flashlight.

This is very true. Especially if there is a snow coating - almost seems like day after a while.

 

[wweiss]

I'd have to say that the darkest place I've ever been was when my young daughter was incorrectly diagnosed with a very rare disease. The brightest light on the planet would not have helped.

No one can gain say that. Quite a dark place.

 

[parnass]

..Howe Caverns ...

Me, too. Underground in Howe Caverns.

 

[Mr. Tone]

It was just this summer in a place called Blue Springs Caverns in southern Indiana. We took a boat ride into a cave and were about a half hour into the cave. The guide turned all the boat lights off so we could experience true cave darkness. Never before have I not detected even a hint of light, and it was very freaky. I can't imagine being inside of a cave and losing your lights or something and being stuck in total darkness. I of course had an EDC light but didn't turn it on as it would have ruined the whole effect.

 

[Ishango]

I have visited several (tourist) caves around the world by now where they often have that moment to show what actual darkness means. It's still interesting to see that total lack of light. The first one was at a young age in my home country in the abandoned marlstone quarries well known here. I wasn't afraid, because I had my really great 2 lumen Solitaire in my pocket (and my parents being there as well might have helped too). I wasn't EDCing then, but figured that going into a "cave" was a good reason to bring my Solitaire.

Interesting enough that on a visit many years later I saw the first bright LED light in use by the guide which got me started into collecting flashlights (I have had only Maglites and was astonished to see so much light coming from such a small light).

 

[Burgess]

Thank you for the tip about BlueSpring Caverns.

I've bookmarked the site !

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I'd have to say that the darkest place I've ever been was when my young daughter was incorrectly diagnosed with a very rare disease. The brightest light on the planet would not have helped.

On that note, I'll add one more. Right after my mom passed away from cancer in October 2007, we had to evacuate from the Witch Creek fire for 5 days. When we were finally allowed back into town (after locals with guns ran through the blockade), we had no running water for several days and much of our town had no power for up to two weeks. All of the power poles had burned down and needed replaced. I went to visit some friends on the outskirts of town to give them some flashlights and batteries. Around their property was like another planet. The ground was covered in black ash, and there were no lights on in sight at night, nor for the next two weeks. Still had some smoke in the air that hadn't cleared yet darkening the night sky. Those were dark days.

 

[Swordforthelord]

I was about 16 years old and we spent a few weeks camping as a family in and around Virginia. We took a commercial tour of Luray Caverns, and during the tour the guide turned off all of the lights to introduce us to true "Cave Like Darkness" I literally could not see my hand in front of my face!

Same here, except I was in Raccoon Mountain Caverns in TN, long ago. The tour issued us helmets with incan lights. They switched to LED's years ago and it's a lot easier crawling around in that cave without a giant battery pack on your belt.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

The dark side of Uranus is the darkest. I haven't personally been there but I have heard rumours.

Uranus is often mistaken for just a big black hole.

I have in fact been 3000 feet down in a nickel mine with no light and that was quite dark also.

 

[fuyume]

The darkest place I have ever been is a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

>down
You have moved into a dark place. It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

>