5 of the World’s Quietest Places

Hoh Valley. This area within Washington’s Olympic National Park offers one of the largest temperate rainforests in the U.S., including maples draped with lush fern-like moss.

Gobi Desert. Few people venture into this remote area of Mongolia other than nomads and paleontologists searching for fossils.

Loch Lomond. Highland mountains and forests surround this inland Scottish waterway. Likely the only sounds you’ll hear are the occasional cowbell and waves crashing on the loch.

Death Valley. This area of California’s Mojave Desert ranks as the lowest, driest and hottest spot in America. Who ventures into 200 square miles of 125 degree F temperatures in the summer? If you can take the heat, you can have the quiet.

Orfield Laboratories. This Minnesota research lab holds the Guinness World Record for quietest place on Earth. It is an anechoic chamber that absorbs 99.99 percent of sound and has no echo.