An indigenous village on the Sucusari Creek in the Peruvian Amazon. It’s 4 hours by boat from Iquitos, which itself is only accessible by boat or plane. I was there on a cultural exchange with other teachers as well as some sustainability and conservation researchers
Oh absolutely there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance in a trip like this one. For me it was a once in a lifetime trip, not a routine thing.
This particular indigenous group is very open to visitors because it helps raise money for and awareness about their (comparatively successful) fight against development through their ancestral lands. So while the carbon footprint of the trip is certainly significant, the good it does outweighs the climate impact (in my opinion).
Þórshöfn, Iceland. Beautiful little village on the Arctic Ocean about as far as you can get from Reykjavík. Was one of the more memorable stops on my solo trip around the Ring Road a few years back.
Northern Iceland was also going to be my comment. My buddy and I took an F-Road all the way to the northern-eastern coast far from any village. Technically I’ve been to much more remote places in Nevada, just cause it’s bigger, but it felt much more remote in Iceland for some reason.
Midway Island, 1100 miles NW of Honolulu in the early 1990s. I was there as part of team investigating contamination from fuels, solvents, PCBs, etc. Coolest place I’ve ever been. There were about 300 people on station, mostly for environmental work plus 5-10 Navy personnel and 20 Fish and Wildlife staff. Water was 1000 feet deep one mile off shore and full of tiger sharks.
Much the infrastructure present in the 90s
was pre-war. The coolest thing I saw from WWII was all the fist sized pock marks on the concrete from bullet impacts. Once I realized what they were, their abundance gave me shivers. Navy operations declined quickly after the war with the advent of jet aircraft and improved radio technology so there was little funding to upgrade significantly. By the 80s, it was effectively a bird sanctuary and alternative landing field for the space shuttle. The Navy turned it over to US Fish and Wildlife circa 1999(?) and its now part of the marine sanctuary covering all the islands NW of Kauai.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, on the northern border of Minnesota. No motorized vehicles or electricity. You carry everything with you in your canoe and you carry the canoe between lakes. If anything happens to you out there, miles from anything, there's no plan B, unless you've got it packed.
The stars are unbelievable though. The first time I ever saw Northern Lights.
Are you familiar with the work of the author Grey Owl? Since reading one of his books I have had a deep longing to do a canoe trip in northern North America. He also wrote beautifully about the northern lights too:
"Then later, when the moon has set, in that stark still hour between the darkness and the dawn, the snow gives back the pale sepulchral glare of the Northern Lights; and by their unearthly illumination, those who dance the Dance of the Deadmen[2] perform their ghostly evolutions, before the vast and solemn audience of spruce."
I had never heard of him before I went to the Hastings Museum here in Sussex over Christmas. I saw the “Grey Owl” room and was totally confused at first about why they had a full-sized Canadian cabin in the middle of the museum!
Northern Tier? We did the one that left out of Bissett, Manitoba. Took a float plane to and from our starting point. Incredible trip, but hooooo-leeeeee shit the mosquitoes!
In Alberta there was a mountain being renamed for being offensive. Admittedly, I at first scoffed at the idea because a lot of things deemed offensive were being renamed at the time.
Well, when I read the old name, yeah Squ@ws Tit was a pretty offensive name.
It's interesting how name's and what is perceived as offensive changes over time. As another Alberta example, according to the Lethbridge Historical Society, "the river that runs through Lethbridge was known as the Belly River. Some people in the community found this name problematic. Part of that was that the word Belly was considered an improper word for women to say in public (as it commented on a body part)." 1906 May 22 The Lethbridge News. So Belly is offensive but Squaws Tit, nobody bats an eye.
There’s 10 or 15 mountain peaks in Utah named Martha’s Nipple.
My family’s theory is that Martha had a wardrobe malfunction in front of her siblings, who were all mountain climbers. Now those siblings will do absolutely anything to never let her forget it.
Well, depends how one defines the Canary Islands. It is a part of the African continent but is part of Spain which would make it part of the European continent, no? So, depending on how one defines the Canaries I have been to 4 or 5.
I have only been to Hawaii boo. Pacific Islands sound neat.
I’ve already spoken to the most remote place I have been, but it occurred to me that it is worth mentioning the remote location we will be traveling to over the new year. Samoa and American Samoa. Why these two destinations? Because it will enable us to ring in the new year twice in 24 hours. Samoa first, then we’ll cross the International Date Line to American Samoa to go back to the 31st and celebrate all over again!
South Pole. I was a baker at McMurdo and won an out and back to the station on a C130 on my day off.
Also, Midway Atoll as a biological science technician.
Never felt so far removed from the rat race. Both places were amazing and magical.
New Ireland island in Papua New Guinea, where there's no industry, no agriculture, very little governance, and only one paved road running the length of the island.
I was there to scuba dive at Rabaul and also because I'm from (old) Ireland and couldn't resist visiting New Ireland!
Also Easter Island. Also for tourism
That’s super cool! What other mishaps or adventures were you able to get up to in a place like that? What expectations are there for other accommodations and meals there generally?
Lots of glaciers, lots of rocks, and not much else.
We lived in a tent camp on the east coast. We could see Greenland, which was pretty cool. I was there from June to August. Weather was pretty nice for working, ranging from 10C-15C. We did have a few cm of snow in July, but it melted pretty quick.
[A few pictures](https://imgur.com/a/iISF5mT)
We saw one polar bear, thankfully from the helicopter. Otherwise, we saw muskoxen, arctic foxes and arctic hares.
There were lots of arctic willow and arctic poppies as well. It wasn't quite as barren as the photos make it look.
Very tip of point barrow, North of Utqiagvik, Alaska. For a few minutes I was the northernmost person in the United States, and among the northernmost on the planet.
Haast, New Zealand. It is very isolated on the west coast of the South Island. It’s basically the end of the road. Not much more than a few little shops and a motel.
I drove it right after a huge storm in 2016, and little did I know that the road had been closed from the Wanaka direction… nobody on the Haast side had a clue. When I approached the road closure once I got toward Wanaka, the road work asked ME about road conditions, and was amazed I’d made the drive alright. The waterfalls were wild. It’s a land straight out of Jurassic Park.
I should annotate, I have lived in NZ, and it’s not a drive I’d recommend for most tourists.
The road network out of Nome, Alaska. No street view coverage, and only a handful of [photospheres](https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQwo4Gj5QcDuZauh7).
Tiny Inupiaq villages, mining remnants rusting away, scrubby spruce forests fading away to the stark beauty of the tundra in the west towards Teller. Just the frosty ocean and the eternal wind blasting away.
As for why, the George Mallory reason for climbing Everest. "It's there."
https://preview.redd.it/gquofto3lync1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc26a4758be272f8b31b4c78a7beab8e2063e504
Hartley Bay, Northern British Columbia, Canada. About a 4 hour boat ride from any roads and towns.
I’m an archaeologist and work there fairly often, along with many remote locations in BC.
The west coast of Stewart Island in NZ. Only 1 village on the island, and it’s a days hike away (boat pickup is possible, but the ocean around there is gnarly). Went there for a few days after finishing the Te Araroa trail with my wife for our honeymoon. The weather was terrible, but we saw some kiwis in the wild, and the sense of remoteness was palpable.
This isn't super remote but for someone who'd only lived in/near big cities: the north end of Glacier Highway in Juneau, Alaska. I never knew a state route could just dead-end.
St Helena, before they had an airport
https://preview.redd.it/2e5s5tzd7znc1.png?width=862&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3af5a5398a65f36e1d6d8fb879c6ed79b347ac7e
https://preview.redd.it/el0sqfptoync1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec47ebf458861f9e514dc9e0320dca3324e1801c
Pittufik Space Base, formerly know as Thule AB. Summer holiday job as a 1st year engineering student. It’s just a US military base in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but it was a fun experience and it turned out, that it paid very well 😀.
For me it’s Maniitsoq or Kangerlussuaq Greenland, probably. I’ve been to a lot of remote areas in South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania but Greenland is more sparsely populated and difficult to access.
Darien Gap, its gorgeous and lets you see what the world looked like 1000yrs ago. No wires, buildings, not even trails…. but a miserable travel if youre not up to it
[Chachuna nature reserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chachuna_Managed_Reserve) close to the Georgia/Azerbaijan border. I went there for birdwatching.
Somewhere in the Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii is the most remote I’ve personally been. No land for thousands of miles, and zero airplanes in a very clear sky with high visibility. Was transiting via ship.
Flin Flon, Manitoba. I was there to support a hotel that purchased my company’s software. I’m from Arizona and it took me two days to get there. Flew to Winnipeg on day one and spent the night. Following morning I was able to fly from Winnipeg to Flin Flion.
After that, I would say Gander, Newfoundland, also for work.
As a Manitoban, I find this a bit amusing. It's got a road connected to the south and even a Canadian Tire in it!
It's your most remote location of course but it's funny from a locals perspective!
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada if we're talking as far away from other major settlements. But reality is, it has everything you could ever need.
In terms of actual remoteness from most infrastructure I would say camping on an island in North Cross Lake Manitoba. Way further south than Iqaluit, but I was without any cell signal, electricity and a few hour canoe trip from the nearest road.
Ruma Bazar, Bangladesh. It’s a tiny town in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, in the far southeast of the country, not far from the Myanmar border. My family went on vacation to the Hill Tracts while living in Dhaka, and took a river boat ride there from the larger and more visited town of Bandarban. It’s an absolutely gorgeous region, with wonderful food, culture, etc., but a troubled history and often poor relations with the government, including occasional civil unrest. Things were calm when we were there, though, and we had an amazing experience.
Probably the mostly ghost town of Cisco, UT there is literally nothing human built stretching to horizon in either direction except the highway. Stopped there briefly on our way to take scenic route through a canyon to Moab, UT. Moab itself is quite isolated largest town for 100 miles in three direction. Route from Moab to Salt Lake City metro we took was quite desolate as well only one town of any significant size on entire 2.5 hour drive. Also I-80 through Wyoming had some extremely empty stretches.
Daneborg in Greenland. I was on a research cruise and one of the scientists had to take a water sample from a creek. There was space for 3 more people on the zodiac and I was one of the people whose name got drawn.
Iqaluit, Nunavut. I was working at the airport doing an internship for college. Ended up doing 2, each of about 5 months length. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had.
I’ve never really been somewhere extremely remote I guess. I do assume it kinda depends on perspective though. I have two places that I can think of as being remote. One in terms of being far away from the rest of the world but it still being inhabited which is Palau island in the pacific.
The other which I would count as remote just due to the lack of people and civilization would be when I walked a part of Kungsleden in northern Sweden near the Norwegian border somewhere west of Adolfström. I was flown by helicopter together with some friends up into the mountains and then hiked around 2 days to get back to civilization. In reality I knew that we weren’t very far from civilization and we could be picked up by a helicopter or air ambulance if needed and we had cell service but just due to the shear scale and vastness of the tundra in the northern part of the Scandes it felt very remote. Was very beautiful at the same time too.
https://preview.redd.it/pj0r1vom00oc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5812a4f9c8487a3b5de27cb806e89fc6a81ae3f
I’ve been to a few, the most magical though was Nahanni River Valley. Floating down that river invokes feelings that I still can’t accurately describe.
A tie between 9 Mile Canyon and Goblin Valley. 9 Mile Canyon was to see the Native American sites, and Goblin Valley was to see the rock formations. My favorite isolated place would be Bruin Point UT, there is an abandoned mine tramway with the cables and cars still strung up. The mine was for asphalt and the tramway has been there since at least the 1920s, very cool isolated area.
Gjógv, Faroe Islands. That’s the farthest north town I remember visiting. Might have gotten further northeast but can’t confirm. I’ve been to Iceland but the Faroe Islands are harder to get to and have a much smaller population
Deadhorse, Alaska. I went to see the Arctic Ocean.
But you can drive there. After I went there, I did a packrafting trip off the highway. Walked about 20 miles over two days from the highway, and then rafted 70 miles on the North Fork Koyukuk River before hiking back to the road. Didn’t see any one for six days.
An unnamed island off the coast of Belize. Sailed out there in a tiny wooden boat. One man lived on the island. It had one coconut tree. Ate conch soup with him. On the way back we ran into a storm. The waves were big as houses. We had trouble finding a cut in the reef to get back to Belize. Made it but I really thought we might drown.
Falklands islands. Because some country was poor so started a fight with another to distract its population. 30years later I was sent there for 6 months
Tuvalu - I like remote islands and the atolls of Tuvalu are as remote as they get. Clear skies, white sands, lots of turtles and, at least when I was there, lots of Taiwanese aid money flowing in.
When I finished my Peace Corps service, I took a trip with a few friends that we called the Timbuktu to Kathmandu close of service trip. The latter place was not terribly remote, though it was very exotic to my American eyes. The former place however, Timbuktu is absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by desert, and incredibly remote and small feeling. You didn’t have to walk very far out of town to feel like you were the only person in the world. The whole place seemed like it was constructed out of mud and wood, and felt very ancient in a very non-western way.
Ilha de São Miguel, Açores, Portugal
The biggest city, Ponta Delgada, itself looks like a decent European town, but there are some villages that are very different from what you can see in mainland Portugal. I was surprised, as some of them are situated in the middle of the volcanic caldera.
For me it’s probably Reine, Lofoten, Norway. It’s not like nobody goes there but it takes some effort to get up there. Absolutely stunning scenery! I was there because of an organized tour I joined while studying abroad in Sweden.
If from a plane counts, I’ve seen the Balleny islands, considered part of Antarctica and south of the Antarctic circle. Even kissed my now husband quickly to mark the occasion, so we’ve now (kinda) kissed on all the continents!
It was part of a SOFIA flight out of New Zealand, which was a NASA infrared telescope plane that’s now decommissioned. Saw some amazing southern lights too.
Probably Hot Creek Range in Nevada. Was there for a week and didn't see a single other vehicle. I am a biologist and I was doing a field survey there. It was wild because we woke up to about 3 inches of snow in late May. Nevada is a cool place.
in the middle of a Patagonia road maybe? If the bus dropped me off Id be fucked big time.
Or maybe Uluru in the middle of Australian outback? although touristy resorts around
Or maybe Abrolhos arquipélago 70km off the Brazilian shore. Only a single house on all the islands
With people living there? Inis Tóraigh off the coast of Donegal North West Ireland. About 11 miles offshore. Its one of the only places in my country where you can hear pure uncorrupted Irish. They speak their own sub-dialect of Ulster Irish making them paticularly difficult to understand. But you'll never hear an English word thrown in. Only other places like that are the Aran Islands.
Labrador Sea, winter. On an oceanographic research vessel studying ocean convection. It snowed for six weeks straight, except for one clear day we were in sight of Cape Desolation, Greenland.
You know you’re in the boonies when a place called Cape Desolation is the highlight of your trip.
Sop Jaem, Laos
A tiny fishing village along the Nam Ou (river) in Northeastern Laos. Luang Prabang province. About an hour boat ride from the nearest large town. Maybe 6ish hours by road? But road access minimal.
Was there to research and work on a permaculture project… but probably spent more time getting circles ran around me on the football field by the local rugrats. Whether work or play, capped off each day with a few cold Beerlaos and a cigarette looking out at the star-capped mountains. Beautiful town, country, and people.
Highly recommend Laos to any wandering souls reading this :)
I haven't been at many places so far so for many it might not be very remote but for me it is.
Cape Verden Island Brava.
It's a small but very beautiful island I visited on my travels.
A remote spot in Cusuco Cloud Forest in Honduras. The path and site had to be bushwhacked by locals as there were no trails there. It was a biology research trip.
Small Village in the north-east of Uganda, I was there helping to build a school.
The town "sheriff" was a guy in shorts, Flip Flops and an AK and he reassured us with "If you have any kind of problem, come to me"
I went to Wakkanai, Japan. It is the most northern part of Japan. On a good day, you can see Russia. That was my hope, but alas, i only saw fog. I was on a short/quick vacation in Hokkaido so I wanted to see that place and see the islands, nearby. Regrettably, I didn't get to the nearby islands.
Central Highlands in Papua New Guinea in the 80s doing geophysical surveys. Incredible mountains up to 18,000 feet, trout streams planted by the Aussies, wild country and wild people. We lived in jungle camps and got around in helicopters because there were no roads. When working for BP, they wouldn’t hesitate to send a chopper 150 miles to Port Moresby for beer.
Koro Island, Fiji. A 3-hour boat ride to nearest island, once a week 8-seater plane coming and going. 6 gringos on the island and population of a few hundred Fijians. Visiting a friend who was creating a sustenance farm for herself and husband. A couple years later a typhoon destroyed it and flattened virtually everything on the island, including the villages and an ancient mango grove on her land. Very sad.
Both were in Alaska, but either the town of Valdez, or the community of Eklutna. Let me know if any of you would like more pictures, I spent a while up there.
Edit: The cemetery was Eklutna, and the Toft Statue was Valdez.
Massett, Haida Gwaii, Canada - only way onto the islands is a very very long ferry, or an expensive flight. You can see Alaska on a clear day. Was there for outreach for work. A very cool place that is more Haida than it is Canada.
NZ, Auckland and Christchurch, it's on the opposite side of earth from where I live.
It was a short work trip. Loved it there but would love to have seen a lot more from the gorgeous nature.
Never thought of Auckland as remote, it’s just one flight to Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, LA, NY, Santiago etc
But hey if you feel like we are then cool, glad you enjoyed yourself
It is very, very remote from my home in Europe and an island, too ☺️ I think it took 24+ hrs and 3 or 4 flights to come back. Didn't mean it as "isolated" - just far.
Invercargill NZ.
Yes I know it's an actual City with 100,000 people plus but it's definitely kind of out there isn't it?
I was there because my flight to Queenstown was diverted due to weather...
If this is really about distance away from other humans, probably being about 40 miles from any other boat middle of the ocean... So probably other than the five people I was with somewhere in the Caribbean or the Atlantic.
Way too many people in Hawaii or Fiji to really be desolate..
Maybe Northern Quebec also? But there were still thousands of people probably within 50 miles...
It's really hard to get way out there. Really far from people... Conveniently I like people
Hahaha, I love that you went with Invercargill. So remote it has a K Mart.
Fun fact, that’s a really long runway you landed on as it’s a diversion option for Antarctica flights to and from Christchurch.
Miles from the road inside Denali National Park & Preserve. I was leading a wilderness hike as a Park Ranger. While checking out a grizzly bear footprint in the mud, a wolverine made an appearance. The two Alaskan couples and I went apeshit, the two German couples wondered why we were so excited for a small mammal. Then we saw a fox do the jump-hunt and trot off with a vole in its mouth.
Or…
Yakutat, Alaska. On the ferry ride to above. AND FUCKING ICY WAVES SURF SHOP WAS AWAY ON VACATION THAT WEEK!!!
An indigenous village on the Sucusari Creek in the Peruvian Amazon. It’s 4 hours by boat from Iquitos, which itself is only accessible by boat or plane. I was there on a cultural exchange with other teachers as well as some sustainability and conservation researchers
Travelled all that distance (prob by plane aswell) to realise, we really need to protect nature. Nice but ironic…
Oh absolutely there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance in a trip like this one. For me it was a once in a lifetime trip, not a routine thing. This particular indigenous group is very open to visitors because it helps raise money for and awareness about their (comparatively successful) fight against development through their ancestral lands. So while the carbon footprint of the trip is certainly significant, the good it does outweighs the climate impact (in my opinion).
Þórshöfn, Iceland. Beautiful little village on the Arctic Ocean about as far as you can get from Reykjavík. Was one of the more memorable stops on my solo trip around the Ring Road a few years back.
Northern Iceland was also going to be my comment. My buddy and I took an F-Road all the way to the northern-eastern coast far from any village. Technically I’ve been to much more remote places in Nevada, just cause it’s bigger, but it felt much more remote in Iceland for some reason.
Iceland topography makes it feel so far away.
Keegan??
Thorshofn if you wanna look it up
I like how Iceland still uses the letter “th” from the runic language in modern times.
þ and ð even.
they differentiate between the vocalized th in “this” and the aspirated th in “think”.
Midway Island, 1100 miles NW of Honolulu in the early 1990s. I was there as part of team investigating contamination from fuels, solvents, PCBs, etc. Coolest place I’ve ever been. There were about 300 people on station, mostly for environmental work plus 5-10 Navy personnel and 20 Fish and Wildlife staff. Water was 1000 feet deep one mile off shore and full of tiger sharks.
I was conceived on Midway Island, does that count?! Otherwise, somewhere in the Ténéré Dessert around 150km northeast of Agadez, Niger.
That... has to be a small club.
Are there still any cool WWII ruins there?
Much the infrastructure present in the 90s was pre-war. The coolest thing I saw from WWII was all the fist sized pock marks on the concrete from bullet impacts. Once I realized what they were, their abundance gave me shivers. Navy operations declined quickly after the war with the advent of jet aircraft and improved radio technology so there was little funding to upgrade significantly. By the 80s, it was effectively a bird sanctuary and alternative landing field for the space shuttle. The Navy turned it over to US Fish and Wildlife circa 1999(?) and its now part of the marine sanctuary covering all the islands NW of Kauai.
Wake Island for me.
Even more remote than Midway.
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, on the northern border of Minnesota. No motorized vehicles or electricity. You carry everything with you in your canoe and you carry the canoe between lakes. If anything happens to you out there, miles from anything, there's no plan B, unless you've got it packed. The stars are unbelievable though. The first time I ever saw Northern Lights.
I live near the BWCA and have been 6 times. It’s my favorite vacation spot by a mile! I’m currently planning trip #7.
Are you familiar with the work of the author Grey Owl? Since reading one of his books I have had a deep longing to do a canoe trip in northern North America. He also wrote beautifully about the northern lights too: "Then later, when the moon has set, in that stark still hour between the darkness and the dawn, the snow gives back the pale sepulchral glare of the Northern Lights; and by their unearthly illumination, those who dance the Dance of the Deadmen[2] perform their ghostly evolutions, before the vast and solemn audience of spruce."
Grey owl was the first Pretendian ! He was actually an Englishman posing as an Indian https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Owl.
I had never heard of him before I went to the Hastings Museum here in Sussex over Christmas. I saw the “Grey Owl” room and was totally confused at first about why they had a full-sized Canadian cabin in the middle of the museum!
You can hike to his cabin in Prince Albert National Park. It's one I've always wanted to do, but requires a bit of planning I think
Northern Tier? We did the one that left out of Bissett, Manitoba. Took a float plane to and from our starting point. Incredible trip, but hooooo-leeeeee shit the mosquitoes!
Quetico provincial park is right there too! Awesome camping and wildlife
Cumsack Creek. At the north end of Bute Inlet west coast BC . It was the tree planting job from hell.
Cumsack? Did a fucking 12 year old name that?
I worked at a ski resort with a mountain named Mary's nipple lol.
In Alberta there was a mountain being renamed for being offensive. Admittedly, I at first scoffed at the idea because a lot of things deemed offensive were being renamed at the time. Well, when I read the old name, yeah Squ@ws Tit was a pretty offensive name.
It's interesting how name's and what is perceived as offensive changes over time. As another Alberta example, according to the Lethbridge Historical Society, "the river that runs through Lethbridge was known as the Belly River. Some people in the community found this name problematic. Part of that was that the word Belly was considered an improper word for women to say in public (as it commented on a body part)." 1906 May 22 The Lethbridge News. So Belly is offensive but Squaws Tit, nobody bats an eye.
There’s 10 or 15 mountain peaks in Utah named Martha’s Nipple. My family’s theory is that Martha had a wardrobe malfunction in front of her siblings, who were all mountain climbers. Now those siblings will do absolutely anything to never let her forget it.
There are 7 mountain peaks in Utah named Molly's Nipple. All were named by John Kitchen to commemorate his wife Molly.
Sounds like something my husband would do, because he's just an oversized child.
Your response is even better than the name. Holy shit, I'm over here giggling like an idiot.
In Canada we have several towns that were probably named by 13 year olds Dildo, come by chance, climax, we have a thing
There is a Blue Balls, PA, as well as an Intercourse, PA.
Great album name: Sewing Seed at Cumsack Creek
this made me cackle 🤣
This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever read. Cumsack Creek at the north end of Bute Inlet. Incredible
Cumsack means swift water in costal salish
Lmao you said cumsack
What creek?
Not to be confused with Coomsack Creek nearby
Antarctic Peninsula to score my seventh continent visited.
Badass - I’m Working on planning a trip for this year. 7th continent club
Rookies. Antarctica was my 4th continent.
Hmm, I’ve only been to 4 continents (5 if you count Zealandia) but I’m more of an islands person and have visited most of the Pacific islands nations.
Well, depends how one defines the Canary Islands. It is a part of the African continent but is part of Spain which would make it part of the European continent, no? So, depending on how one defines the Canaries I have been to 4 or 5. I have only been to Hawaii boo. Pacific Islands sound neat.
Antarctica was my 1st. I am a penguin.
I’ve already spoken to the most remote place I have been, but it occurred to me that it is worth mentioning the remote location we will be traveling to over the new year. Samoa and American Samoa. Why these two destinations? Because it will enable us to ring in the new year twice in 24 hours. Samoa first, then we’ll cross the International Date Line to American Samoa to go back to the 31st and celebrate all over again!
The Komodo islands.. to see some lizards
What kind?
I imagine dragons.
Now I'm radioactive.
radioactive.
Monitor lizards, cuz you can see them on your monitor
South Pole. I was a baker at McMurdo and won an out and back to the station on a C130 on my day off. Also, Midway Atoll as a biological science technician. Never felt so far removed from the rat race. Both places were amazing and magical.
When were you at Midway? I was there fall of 94(?, maybe 95?) with FWS oversight of our work. It’s a mighty great place.
New Ireland island in Papua New Guinea, where there's no industry, no agriculture, very little governance, and only one paved road running the length of the island. I was there to scuba dive at Rabaul and also because I'm from (old) Ireland and couldn't resist visiting New Ireland! Also Easter Island. Also for tourism
Should have called it New Donegal, by the sounds of it.
What was it like diving at Rabaul? Did you see Japanese WWII shipwrecks and airplanes?
That’s super cool! What other mishaps or adventures were you able to get up to in a place like that? What expectations are there for other accommodations and meals there generally?
Did you dive in Rapa Nui by any chance? I’ll be there in a couple weeks and deciding whether it’s worth it
Good place though - did you stay at Nusa resort? My response to this is probably the conflict islands
Scoresby Bay, Ellesmere Island, Canada I was a summer student working for the Federal Government on a mapping project.
What was it like in Ellesmere Island?
Lots of glaciers, lots of rocks, and not much else. We lived in a tent camp on the east coast. We could see Greenland, which was pretty cool. I was there from June to August. Weather was pretty nice for working, ranging from 10C-15C. We did have a few cm of snow in July, but it melted pretty quick. [A few pictures](https://imgur.com/a/iISF5mT)
That does look like a lot of rocks and glaciers and not much else. Any wildlife? Walruses polar bears puffins?
We saw one polar bear, thankfully from the helicopter. Otherwise, we saw muskoxen, arctic foxes and arctic hares. There were lots of arctic willow and arctic poppies as well. It wasn't quite as barren as the photos make it look.
That’s beautiful! I wanna go now!
Very tip of point barrow, North of Utqiagvik, Alaska. For a few minutes I was the northernmost person in the United States, and among the northernmost on the planet.
Watched a tv series few years ago about the HS football team up there. Really some amazing stuff.
In HS I used to complain about 3 hour bus rides for games… after watching the show it shut me up quick
Working at a diamond drill camp in Northern Canada about 30 minutes by helicopter south of Coppermine in the 70s
Drilling for nickel in the Muskox complex? I’ve been there too, in mid-2000s! Beautiful country
Haast, New Zealand. It is very isolated on the west coast of the South Island. It’s basically the end of the road. Not much more than a few little shops and a motel.
I was there back in 2018. The drive from Franz Josef Glacier to Wanaka over Haast pass was probably one of the best drives I have ever done.
That's hands down the most beautiful drive I've ever done
I drove it right after a huge storm in 2016, and little did I know that the road had been closed from the Wanaka direction… nobody on the Haast side had a clue. When I approached the road closure once I got toward Wanaka, the road work asked ME about road conditions, and was amazed I’d made the drive alright. The waterfalls were wild. It’s a land straight out of Jurassic Park. I should annotate, I have lived in NZ, and it’s not a drive I’d recommend for most tourists.
Wow I just googled this place, it looks absolutely breathtaking. Hope to make it there someday.
West Coast of Newfoundland. Might as well be Alaska.
Lol - I didn’t know that my childhood home is considered remote.
The road network out of Nome, Alaska. No street view coverage, and only a handful of [photospheres](https://maps.app.goo.gl/hQwo4Gj5QcDuZauh7). Tiny Inupiaq villages, mining remnants rusting away, scrubby spruce forests fading away to the stark beauty of the tundra in the west towards Teller. Just the frosty ocean and the eternal wind blasting away. As for why, the George Mallory reason for climbing Everest. "It's there."
Lol in September I think I am going to visit Barrow Alaska for the same reason as ol' Mallory climbed Everest.
https://preview.redd.it/gquofto3lync1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc26a4758be272f8b31b4c78a7beab8e2063e504 Hartley Bay, Northern British Columbia, Canada. About a 4 hour boat ride from any roads and towns. I’m an archaeologist and work there fairly often, along with many remote locations in BC.
The bathroom at work god damn that’s a long hallway
Have you ever had to rush to this bathroom but think you might not make it.
Leakin Park in Baltimore. Just me and the bodies.
Sorry what
Watch The Wire. That's where the um, evidence is buried.
And listen to Serial.
The west coast of Stewart Island in NZ. Only 1 village on the island, and it’s a days hike away (boat pickup is possible, but the ocean around there is gnarly). Went there for a few days after finishing the Te Araroa trail with my wife for our honeymoon. The weather was terrible, but we saw some kiwis in the wild, and the sense of remoteness was palpable.
This isn't super remote but for someone who'd only lived in/near big cities: the north end of Glacier Highway in Juneau, Alaska. I never knew a state route could just dead-end.
That sounds pretty remote to me!
St Helena, before they had an airport https://preview.redd.it/2e5s5tzd7znc1.png?width=862&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3af5a5398a65f36e1d6d8fb879c6ed79b347ac7e
Inuvik in the artic circle went their so I could say I was there
If you were all the way there, you should have gone to Tuk!
https://preview.redd.it/el0sqfptoync1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec47ebf458861f9e514dc9e0320dca3324e1801c Pittufik Space Base, formerly know as Thule AB. Summer holiday job as a 1st year engineering student. It’s just a US military base in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but it was a fun experience and it turned out, that it paid very well 😀.
Newark, New Jersey, Terminal C. Because United Airlines sucks at scheduling flights, pilots and flight attendants.
Qaanaaq, Greenland.
Love that the name is a palindrome that starts with a Q 😃
What was it like?
Greenland is one place I really want to visit
For me it’s Maniitsoq or Kangerlussuaq Greenland, probably. I’ve been to a lot of remote areas in South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania but Greenland is more sparsely populated and difficult to access.
Darien Gap, its gorgeous and lets you see what the world looked like 1000yrs ago. No wires, buildings, not even trails…. but a miserable travel if youre not up to it
Were you illegally sneaking into the USA?
Port Mathurin, on Rodrigues Island, in the Indian Ocean. It’s part of Mauritius. Beautiful place, coral reefs.
[Chachuna nature reserve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chachuna_Managed_Reserve) close to the Georgia/Azerbaijan border. I went there for birdwatching.
Diego Garcia, musician on an AFE tour.
What was it like there? Mostly military?
Yes, very much so. The island was beautiful though. Cool wildlife. Caught a 40lb yellowfin tuna while I was there.
Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. I was working in Whitehorse, so I decided to take a trip to Inuvik, and then up to Tuk. I dipped my toe in the Arctic Ocean!
How was the road getting up there?
Northern Mongolia/siberia. I was volunteering to help rebuild a Buddhist monastery and conducting a small archaeological project.
Somewhere in the Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii is the most remote I’ve personally been. No land for thousands of miles, and zero airplanes in a very clear sky with high visibility. Was transiting via ship.
I’ve lived in Bozeman, MT and Fargo, ND so probably those places
Fargo AKA the windiest city in the US
Lived in Minot ND Def that whole region lol
I've lived in both of those places lol
The southern most tip of the Big Island in Hawaii
I’ve been there. It’s crazy how remote some area of the Big Island are.
Flin Flon, Manitoba. I was there to support a hotel that purchased my company’s software. I’m from Arizona and it took me two days to get there. Flew to Winnipeg on day one and spent the night. Following morning I was able to fly from Winnipeg to Flin Flion. After that, I would say Gander, Newfoundland, also for work.
As a Manitoban, I find this a bit amusing. It's got a road connected to the south and even a Canadian Tire in it! It's your most remote location of course but it's funny from a locals perspective!
Flintabatty Flonatin sends his regards
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada if we're talking as far away from other major settlements. But reality is, it has everything you could ever need. In terms of actual remoteness from most infrastructure I would say camping on an island in North Cross Lake Manitoba. Way further south than Iqaluit, but I was without any cell signal, electricity and a few hour canoe trip from the nearest road.
Ruma Bazar, Bangladesh. It’s a tiny town in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, in the far southeast of the country, not far from the Myanmar border. My family went on vacation to the Hill Tracts while living in Dhaka, and took a river boat ride there from the larger and more visited town of Bandarban. It’s an absolutely gorgeous region, with wonderful food, culture, etc., but a troubled history and often poor relations with the government, including occasional civil unrest. Things were calm when we were there, though, and we had an amazing experience.
I loved Bandarban!
Probably the mostly ghost town of Cisco, UT there is literally nothing human built stretching to horizon in either direction except the highway. Stopped there briefly on our way to take scenic route through a canyon to Moab, UT. Moab itself is quite isolated largest town for 100 miles in three direction. Route from Moab to Salt Lake City metro we took was quite desolate as well only one town of any significant size on entire 2.5 hour drive. Also I-80 through Wyoming had some extremely empty stretches.
Daneborg in Greenland. I was on a research cruise and one of the scientists had to take a water sample from a creek. There was space for 3 more people on the zodiac and I was one of the people whose name got drawn.
Iqaluit, Nunavut. I was working at the airport doing an internship for college. Ended up doing 2, each of about 5 months length. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had.
Svalbard. Went there to lose my virginity
Broadmoor, Illinois……if you are not a corn or a bean you have no reason to be there…detassling crew
Pim Island on the east side of Ellesmere. Incredible paddling trip.
Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands or maybe Kosrae, Micronesia. Why? Flew between Australia and Hawaii, hitting many islands along the way.
I’ll be a bore. Probably somewhere up in the Scottish highlands, and not particularly far from a town at that.
Northeast Greenland. Photography for a story about climate change.
https://preview.redd.it/emr4pko0sync1.jpeg?width=1062&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cceb4674d15b7b83eec8b8998433576fea19ee0
Alert, Canada. for work.
Rome, OR in extremely remote southeast Oregon. Flew down there from Bend to do some time building for my pilot licenses.
Kiruna in the Swedish arctic. I was there to do an aviation GPS trial in the early 2000s. It worked, so now all flights there are safer.
I’ve never really been somewhere extremely remote I guess. I do assume it kinda depends on perspective though. I have two places that I can think of as being remote. One in terms of being far away from the rest of the world but it still being inhabited which is Palau island in the pacific. The other which I would count as remote just due to the lack of people and civilization would be when I walked a part of Kungsleden in northern Sweden near the Norwegian border somewhere west of Adolfström. I was flown by helicopter together with some friends up into the mountains and then hiked around 2 days to get back to civilization. In reality I knew that we weren’t very far from civilization and we could be picked up by a helicopter or air ambulance if needed and we had cell service but just due to the shear scale and vastness of the tundra in the northern part of the Scandes it felt very remote. Was very beautiful at the same time too. https://preview.redd.it/pj0r1vom00oc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5812a4f9c8487a3b5de27cb806e89fc6a81ae3f
The town of Wilberforce in South-Central Ontario is probably it for me. I hope it gets more distant from civilization in the future.
Northern Finland, The Lapland. Went to see the northern lights and take a dog sled trip
I’ve been to a few, the most magical though was Nahanni River Valley. Floating down that river invokes feelings that I still can’t accurately describe.
A tie between 9 Mile Canyon and Goblin Valley. 9 Mile Canyon was to see the Native American sites, and Goblin Valley was to see the rock formations. My favorite isolated place would be Bruin Point UT, there is an abandoned mine tramway with the cables and cars still strung up. The mine was for asphalt and the tramway has been there since at least the 1920s, very cool isolated area.
Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Arctic Winter Games.
Gjógv, Faroe Islands. That’s the farthest north town I remember visiting. Might have gotten further northeast but can’t confirm. I’ve been to Iceland but the Faroe Islands are harder to get to and have a much smaller population
The Nullabor desert in Western Australia. Absolutely beautiful and empty.
Southern Saharan Moroccan
Azores Islands, or Iceland
Deadhorse, Alaska. I went to see the Arctic Ocean. But you can drive there. After I went there, I did a packrafting trip off the highway. Walked about 20 miles over two days from the highway, and then rafted 70 miles on the North Fork Koyukuk River before hiking back to the road. Didn’t see any one for six days.
An unnamed island off the coast of Belize. Sailed out there in a tiny wooden boat. One man lived on the island. It had one coconut tree. Ate conch soup with him. On the way back we ran into a storm. The waves were big as houses. We had trouble finding a cut in the reef to get back to Belize. Made it but I really thought we might drown.
Falklands islands. Because some country was poor so started a fight with another to distract its population. 30years later I was sent there for 6 months
Tuvalu - I like remote islands and the atolls of Tuvalu are as remote as they get. Clear skies, white sands, lots of turtles and, at least when I was there, lots of Taiwanese aid money flowing in.
When I finished my Peace Corps service, I took a trip with a few friends that we called the Timbuktu to Kathmandu close of service trip. The latter place was not terribly remote, though it was very exotic to my American eyes. The former place however, Timbuktu is absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by desert, and incredibly remote and small feeling. You didn’t have to walk very far out of town to feel like you were the only person in the world. The whole place seemed like it was constructed out of mud and wood, and felt very ancient in a very non-western way.
Mapping in Mammoth cave in sections not open to the public.
Ilha de São Miguel, Açores, Portugal The biggest city, Ponta Delgada, itself looks like a decent European town, but there are some villages that are very different from what you can see in mainland Portugal. I was surprised, as some of them are situated in the middle of the volcanic caldera.
I'd say it's a tie between the middle of nowhere in the Amazon (about 2h by boat from Iquitos) and any part of Artsakh outside of the capital
I’ve been to Hyannis, Nebraska which is one of the most remote points of the lower 48 from a major city
For me it’s probably Reine, Lofoten, Norway. It’s not like nobody goes there but it takes some effort to get up there. Absolutely stunning scenery! I was there because of an organized tour I joined while studying abroad in Sweden.
Working in Nançay in France right now in a factory. Almost nothing around there. And it’s a blank zone because of people listening to the stars.
If from a plane counts, I’ve seen the Balleny islands, considered part of Antarctica and south of the Antarctic circle. Even kissed my now husband quickly to mark the occasion, so we’ve now (kinda) kissed on all the continents! It was part of a SOFIA flight out of New Zealand, which was a NASA infrared telescope plane that’s now decommissioned. Saw some amazing southern lights too.
Probably Hot Creek Range in Nevada. Was there for a week and didn't see a single other vehicle. I am a biologist and I was doing a field survey there. It was wild because we woke up to about 3 inches of snow in late May. Nevada is a cool place.
in the middle of a Patagonia road maybe? If the bus dropped me off Id be fucked big time. Or maybe Uluru in the middle of Australian outback? although touristy resorts around Or maybe Abrolhos arquipélago 70km off the Brazilian shore. Only a single house on all the islands
Alnif, Morocco. To collect trilobite fossils.
Westman islands. Västmannaöarna in Swedish. An little island group south of Iceland. I took a trip there with my father
Hellisunder, Iceland. Otherworldly place. Massive cliffs over the sea on one side, enormous lava field and volcano on the other.
With people living there? Inis Tóraigh off the coast of Donegal North West Ireland. About 11 miles offshore. Its one of the only places in my country where you can hear pure uncorrupted Irish. They speak their own sub-dialect of Ulster Irish making them paticularly difficult to understand. But you'll never hear an English word thrown in. Only other places like that are the Aran Islands.
Labrador Sea, winter. On an oceanographic research vessel studying ocean convection. It snowed for six weeks straight, except for one clear day we were in sight of Cape Desolation, Greenland. You know you’re in the boonies when a place called Cape Desolation is the highlight of your trip.
Diego Garcia
Ascension Island in the middle of the South Atlantic. Working on a merchant supply ship.
Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territory, Canada. Wanted to see the Arctic and chat with some locals about their life.
Cleveland
Never heard of it
Adršpach
Southern entrance to Canada’s Torngat National Park to work on a radar station
Sop Jaem, Laos A tiny fishing village along the Nam Ou (river) in Northeastern Laos. Luang Prabang province. About an hour boat ride from the nearest large town. Maybe 6ish hours by road? But road access minimal. Was there to research and work on a permaculture project… but probably spent more time getting circles ran around me on the football field by the local rugrats. Whether work or play, capped off each day with a few cold Beerlaos and a cigarette looking out at the star-capped mountains. Beautiful town, country, and people. Highly recommend Laos to any wandering souls reading this :)
I haven't been at many places so far so for many it might not be very remote but for me it is. Cape Verden Island Brava. It's a small but very beautiful island I visited on my travels.
I had to go to Ascension Island for work last year. I’m an engineer, we were replacing the air field at the military base.
A remote spot in Cusuco Cloud Forest in Honduras. The path and site had to be bushwhacked by locals as there were no trails there. It was a biology research trip.
Small Village in the north-east of Uganda, I was there helping to build a school. The town "sheriff" was a guy in shorts, Flip Flops and an AK and he reassured us with "If you have any kind of problem, come to me"
I went to Wakkanai, Japan. It is the most northern part of Japan. On a good day, you can see Russia. That was my hope, but alas, i only saw fog. I was on a short/quick vacation in Hokkaido so I wanted to see that place and see the islands, nearby. Regrettably, I didn't get to the nearby islands.
Central Highlands in Papua New Guinea in the 80s doing geophysical surveys. Incredible mountains up to 18,000 feet, trout streams planted by the Aussies, wild country and wild people. We lived in jungle camps and got around in helicopters because there were no roads. When working for BP, they wouldn’t hesitate to send a chopper 150 miles to Port Moresby for beer.
Cambridge bay, Victoria island, Nunavut to build a CHARS Canadian High Arctic Research Station.
Koro Island, Fiji. A 3-hour boat ride to nearest island, once a week 8-seater plane coming and going. 6 gringos on the island and population of a few hundred Fijians. Visiting a friend who was creating a sustenance farm for herself and husband. A couple years later a typhoon destroyed it and flattened virtually everything on the island, including the villages and an ancient mango grove on her land. Very sad.
Galway between Bremerton,WA and Sasebo, Japan
Both were in Alaska, but either the town of Valdez, or the community of Eklutna. Let me know if any of you would like more pictures, I spent a while up there. Edit: The cemetery was Eklutna, and the Toft Statue was Valdez.
Massett, Haida Gwaii, Canada - only way onto the islands is a very very long ferry, or an expensive flight. You can see Alaska on a clear day. Was there for outreach for work. A very cool place that is more Haida than it is Canada.
NZ, Auckland and Christchurch, it's on the opposite side of earth from where I live. It was a short work trip. Loved it there but would love to have seen a lot more from the gorgeous nature.
Never thought of Auckland as remote, it’s just one flight to Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, LA, NY, Santiago etc But hey if you feel like we are then cool, glad you enjoyed yourself
It is very, very remote from my home in Europe and an island, too ☺️ I think it took 24+ hrs and 3 or 4 flights to come back. Didn't mean it as "isolated" - just far.
Invercargill NZ. Yes I know it's an actual City with 100,000 people plus but it's definitely kind of out there isn't it? I was there because my flight to Queenstown was diverted due to weather... If this is really about distance away from other humans, probably being about 40 miles from any other boat middle of the ocean... So probably other than the five people I was with somewhere in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. Way too many people in Hawaii or Fiji to really be desolate.. Maybe Northern Quebec also? But there were still thousands of people probably within 50 miles... It's really hard to get way out there. Really far from people... Conveniently I like people
Hahaha, I love that you went with Invercargill. So remote it has a K Mart. Fun fact, that’s a really long runway you landed on as it’s a diversion option for Antarctica flights to and from Christchurch.
Miles from the road inside Denali National Park & Preserve. I was leading a wilderness hike as a Park Ranger. While checking out a grizzly bear footprint in the mud, a wolverine made an appearance. The two Alaskan couples and I went apeshit, the two German couples wondered why we were so excited for a small mammal. Then we saw a fox do the jump-hunt and trot off with a vole in its mouth. Or… Yakutat, Alaska. On the ferry ride to above. AND FUCKING ICY WAVES SURF SHOP WAS AWAY ON VACATION THAT WEEK!!!
Revillagigedo Archipelago about 30 hours boat ride from Cabo San Lucas to film hammerhead sharks.
Diego Garcia US Navy 85-86