Snowy Doings Among the Silent Giants

Need to hear absolutely nothing for a bit? Go Sequoia.

TOTAL SILENCE FOUND: A scenario that serves up perfect quiet and stillness for one person might be loud to another. While someone can read or write without distraction in a coffeehouse, someone else might find the clinking of dishware and hum of the cash register and whirring of the espresso machine to be a soundtrack as distracting as the beeping of a backing-up truck. If you count yourself among that second group, you can sometimes feel as if all places have been be-noised in this world, to some extent, in the way that supporters of the dark sky can sigh over how light our nights have become. But there are still spots that get pretty dang dark at night, and starry, too, and they are some of the same destinations that possess an epic quietness, depending on how deep and off-the-road you go. Yep, we're about to type the words "national park" here, specifically Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, which happen to rock both dark skies by nightfall and really quiet snow-crunchy days in wintertime, a time when fewer visitors venture up the mountain to behold the giants. If you need your dark sky, your silence, and a little snowtime activity, check out...

THE WINTER TO-DOS... that go on among and around the Largest Living Things on the Planet. (The sequoias have totally trademarked that, right? If not they should, because we'd be rocking that billing on all of our business cards and stationery.) Snowshoe outing, cross-country skiing, and snowplay are listed as three lively choices if you need some exertion. But if you want things quieter -- much quieter -- and you count yourself among "(f)it and experienced backcountry travelers" then consider booking the Pear Lake Winter Hut, which is very -- very, very -- off the beaten path, which, truth be told, isn't all the beaten regardless of where you head around the sequoias in the colder months. So, where's your quiet meter at? Are dishes clinking sending you to distraction, not to mention car horns, people chatting on their phone, and the usual hubbub of the day-to-day? There are some big trees and snowy pockets that will see you, and your quiet-seeking brain, now.

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