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When I get into a wild place, the first thing I notice is the lack of city noise. I really hate noise. Being in Flag the last several days ... the quiet in the forest is as sweet as a cool drink on a hot desert day. Hiking partners get tired of me telling them to shut up, which is one reason I prefer to hike alone.

I think traffic noise is the worst. I don't know what it is about the characteristics of the sound, but traffic noise drives me up a wall.

I hate traffic noise too. I don't understand why people buy homes adjacent to a highway or other major thoroughfare. I have friends who live in a very nice neighborhood in Chandler, but at night when you sit out in their backyard, you hear the constant flow of traffic passing on AZ-87.

I see it up north a lot too. There are homes built in the middle of a nice pine forest, or on the slope of a hill with majestic views ... of the highway. Why?

But sometimes a little sound is nice. The sound of the wind rustling through Aspen leaves is among my favorites. A bubbling stream or waves crashing on the beach aren't too bad either! My favorite complete silent nature sound is while hiking/xc skiing/snowshoeing while it's snowing. The falling snow insulates sound so its usually completely silent. Its so peaceful.

My favorite man-made sound is that of a train rumbling down distant tracks (no whistle/horns though) ... I can live without traffic, horns, planes, sirens, gunfire, and screaming babies.

chumley wrote:The sound of the wind rustling through Aspen leaves is among my favorites. A bubbling stream or waves crashing on the beach aren't too bad either!

Oh, but those wouldn't be classified as noise

The constant inescapable noise of traffic is one of the things I notice when I go to Phoenix. That and smell of auto exhaust. Big cities would actually be nice if we didn't have a culture that loves cars so much. One thing I'll never understand: the love affair with the long commute. I think anything over 10 minutes is too long. It isn't so bad if you don't have to drive, but I've found that unless I'm driving someplace really scenic, driving sucks.

One thing I look forward to for this summer: listening to the wind blow through the leaves of the cottonwoods along the Gila River in the Gila NF.

jhodlof wrote:One thing I'll never understand: the love affair with the long commute.

I don't think anyone actually loves their commute. They just think it's an acceptable sacrifice for the lifstyle they want (if I'm willing to trade an hour of my life a day, I get to live in a house instead of an apartment). That being said, if we didn't have so many blinking cars, we wouldn't need these huge roads, giant parking lots and garages on every house - in some cities, as much as 40% of the land use is allocated to the automobile. It turns into a chicken-and-egg situation very quickly - do you have to have a car because your office is so far away, or is your office so far away because you (and everyone else) have a car? I HATE my commute - personally, philosophically and financially. My company moved offices during the last year from 4 miles to 20 miles from my house: at a time when opportunities to find a new job have been nil. I have the choice of either driving 35 minutes each way to work or selling my house at a loss and living out of my tent/hammock/shoebox.

I'm seriously considering the latter these days...

oh, sorry. got so wound up on that one, I forgot to say...

Silence in the snow creeps me out a little, but I'm learning to love it (I don't think the desert is ever really silent). I love the sound of the crunch of my boots on the ground - which is a part of why I usually prefer desert hiking to walking where the ground is soft and squishy. And there is nothing in the whole world more relaxing than the white noise of flowing water...

jhodlof wrote:I think anything over 10 minutes is too long. It isn't so bad if you don't have to drive, but I've found that unless I'm driving someplace really scenic, driving sucks.

haha! i hate having to drive "all the way across town" even tho Fountain Hills is like, 5 miles wide. At least we dont have traffic! (or billboards, streetlights, etc..) so i hear what youre shoutin' ;)

hey Desert Spirit, where's your triplogs? wheres your photosets? aint got none? for shame..

writelots wrote:And there is nothing in the whole world more relaxing than the white noise of flowing water...

..and at the same time having a nice campfire! ;)

writelots wrote:it's an acceptable sacrifice for the lifstyle they want

Reminds me of the marketing signs that apartment complexes put out near downtown anywhere "If you lived here, you'd be home already"

Sure its a choice. What I don't understand is the people who live an hour from work, and its still right on a main street! If that's what they want, why not eliminate the commute and live downtown?

jhodlof I agree with you. I hate commuting. I live in Tempe and used to work in the Scottsdale Airpark. The commute was awful. Bumper-to-bumper on the 101 morning and night for 15 miles. Urghh! After I got laid off and even though I was jobless and poor, I refused to even look for a job in Scottsdale. It just wasn't worth it to me. Now I'm fortunate to work less than three miles from my office. It takes me under 15 minutes door to door, either on my bike or if I drive. Its starting to get to the point where I can't get to work on my bike without getting sweaty, so I might have to relegate to driving again for a few months.

Complaining about a 10-30 minute commute is such a laughable Arizona situation. In most states the commute in major cities averages 1-2 hours...each way! Get some perspective!

Unless people are willing to live in central areas of large cities and walk/bike or take public transportation relatively short distances to their job, nothing is going to change. As the inner city gets worse, we keep moving out to the outskirts of the city and then driving downtown to work, in turn making the city bigger and the traffic worse. Or we move to a smaller town and expect all the same conveniences of a large town (walmart, chain grocery stores, fast food), only contributing to the growth of that town. We cause it and then we complain about it and then we make it a little worse and then complain about it a little more. It's pretty sad.

Ya know, I could do my current job anywhere. I telecommute anyway.

Hrm, maybe I SHOULD move

I grew up in a town < 1000 .. I'm cool with no amenities ;)

nonot wrote:In most states the commute in major cities averages 1-2 hours...each way

If I go far enough off-peak, 45 minutes each way is the minimum for me. Typical rush hour would be 90 minutes. An accident anywhere along the way can make it three hours. Heavy snow in the afternoon can make it 5-7. The road will be littered with cars that ran out of gas or got dead batteries in the paralyzed traffic. On nights like that, I just sleep on the Z-rest in my offi

I do not miss this about either DC, or the Bay Area (my 30 mile commute could take 2 hours). Odd though, when I was a kid I wanted to leave and go someplace big and exciting, I'm past that now. ;)

1.3 hour commute each way 85 miles. Have been doing it now for 19 years. Before that 8 years commute 55 miles and 1.5 hours. We are used to it now and enjoy the drive from Payson to Phoenix and back. My husband then drives 20 minutes to work after dropping me off. 50,000 miles a year.... but we butt up to the National forest and dead end street with no traffic or city noises.

On the flip side, Mrs. big_load's commute is either down the stairs or halfway across the country. Back on the original topic, it's nice and quiet here. The woods muffle sound quite effectively. Sometimes we can hear air traffic overhead, but just as often we hear coyotes.

I'm a big fan of living in the city. Currently live @ 19th Ave/Thomas in Phoenix, and I love it. I can get anywhere in the Valley except for the far outskirts in 30 minutes.

te-wa wrote:hey Desert Spirit, where's your triplogs? wheres your photosets? aint got none? for shame..

I guess I've done a lot of hiking in my life, but as far as posting them, I'm intimidated by all the hardcore backpackers here, so I haven't done any.

Hey, I didn't write that!

Intimidated by this crew? Come on, DS, share the love! This former Tucson guy needs to be reminded of all that I'm missing