Paul Caccamo, from a Trail Journals prep entry:

For quite some time I’ve been feeling the desire to check out of our mechanized and digitalized existence. I’ve become extremely sensetive to machine sounds over the past few years. If I’m at a stoplight and my window is open next to a large diesel truck I can feel my internal organs grinding in tune with the engine, unpleasant to say the least. The ubiquitous leaf blower makes me want to strangle its inventor. Cell phones. Car stereos. Muzak in the mall. TVs blaring in the restaurant, the bar, the oil change place. The neighbor’s Harley at 7am Monday. Is it just me or has America gotten a lot louder in the past 20 years? I believe it was Aldo Leopold who called humans “the noisy species”.

I could use a break from all this noise.

That’s one reason I’m going. Five months of quiet. Yes indeed.

I know what he means. There are sounds in the wilderness, but no noise.