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Yellowstone completely blew my mind. I now, finally understand why folks talk about it so much. I’ve been to national parks before. Badlands being the most recent that I visited in the beginning of this same road trip, but Yellowstone is like 20 national parks in one. I had no idea the vast amount of space and diversity that I was to witness every day we spent there. You can literally spend the entire day driving through the park, finding new sights and landscapes that are completely different to what you witnessed the day or even hours before.

Regrettably, this is the only soundscape I captured from my trip to Yellowstone, being such a multifarious subject, but it also happens to be one of my favorites I’ve captured thus far. Never before have I captured the sound of ‘space’ like this. You can really hear the distance that surrounds you there.

The trail we hiked is riddled with Lodgepole Pine trees that tower over you. I love these trees because you can hear them creak as they gently sway in the wind. Shortly after I started recording, what looked like a military-grade plane flew overhead, briefly shaking the near-silence as a reminder that even the most distant and heavily protected areas of our planet are still very much inhabited by humans in some shape or form.

Yellowstone was on the tail-end of our mid-west travels this past October, starting in Des Moines, Iowa to Badlands, South Dakota and ending in Yellowstone National Park, with pitstops at Mount Rushmore and Sheridan, Wyoming to enjoy the local pub culture.

3:31pm - 4:41pm
41°F and falling (Low of 15°F / High of 41°F)
Clear Skies
Wind: 5.8mph Variable
Humidity: 62%

I ventured on a trip with a couple buddies through the mid-west this past October. Specifically from two iconic national parks — Badlands in South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park. The Badlands were immediately an interesting sight to see as we drove in at dead of night. The layered rock formations suddenly surround you as you drive into the park, towering over you as if you’ve suddenly been cast as an extra in the 1960’s Star Trek series and you were beamed onto their extensive set for the season finale.

It was rainy and cold while we were there, limiting my ability to record and leaving little wildlife to be seen outside of the fur covered Bison + Bighorn Sheep in the distance. Still you can hear the occasional bird chirping in the cold and it’s interesting to hear how humans’ creations — mainly cars driving in and out of the canyons to the various cabins and shops or folks packing up for their day hikes or next adventure echo off of its towering spires of rock, sand and dirt.

The rainy weather only hammers home how fragile the landscape actually is, one that’s being molded and manipulated every day by the earth’s weather patterns, the local wildlife traveling through to get to the sprawling grasslands and of course the human tourism and inhabitants. Leaving you with the ultimate realization that you’re truly seeing something that is one-of-a-kind in the landscape, as it could be drastically different in a few days time.

The town ‘Interior’, South Dakota where our cabin was located within the Badlands has a population that’s hovered between 144 in 1930 to the low 60’s, back towards 100 occupants currently. This is certainly the ultimate experience of “Small Town America” buried inside one of our country’s most iconic scenic treasures. Though this recording is not my favorite, it was the only one I was able to capture during our brief visit to the Badlands and I think it’s important to have in the archive for you to hear.

8:20am - 8:55am
36°F and rising (Low of 33°F / High of 38°F)
Clear Skies
Wind: 12mph North
Humidity: 97%

What could be better than the sounds of the ocean and nightfall at the same time? Not much, and that’s why you’ll hear some folks walking by the beach path for a night stroll or the cracking of wood being gathered for a nearby campfire. For the most part this recording is the sounds of the ocean, crickets and local birds chirping into the night as the sun sets, but around the one hour mark some folks show up for a campfire. I thought about editing them out to contain only the continuous ambient sounds of the night on the shore, but then I remembered the purpose of this project is to capture the sounds of the moment, as they were. Unedited. Not that it’s all that jarring or loud, our campfire friends show up briefly in the background and then seem to drift into the night. If you wanted, I think you could easily use this one to fall asleep to. As if you’re about to join them in conversation before drifting off with the sand beneath you.

7:25 - 11:32pm
78° and falling (Low of 75° / High of 84°)
Clear Skies
Wind: 8mph East
Humidity: 78%

Many of you probably thought this project was dead. Apologies about that. It's been a busy year or so that's kept me away from editing, but not away from the actual recording. I'll be digging through the files now to share some sounds from the past year of my travels. This is the first of probably three or four recordings I'll be sharing from my recent trip to Puerto Rico. if you're looking for an hour or so of heavy water sounds, this is likely for you, with the water rushing so aggressively down the water falls to the running stream it almost sounds like white noise after a few minutes. If it wasn't for the birds chirping and the distant sounds of locals and tourists taking advantage of the nearby rope swing

This is by far my longest recording yet. If you're looking for some background noise for your full night's sleep, this will come awfully close clocking in just under seven hours, so long as you don't mind the occasional siren in the distance. We had rain all day today. Something I've been wanting to capture in the city for a while. Hope it brings you some peace.

11:15am - 6:00pm
52° (Low of 46° / High of 54°)
Light Rain
Chance of Precipitation: 100%
Wind: 11mph NE
Humidity: 89%
UV Index: 0

#11 Worthington State Forest Campground (Delaware Water Gap) | April 16th, 2017 by Field Recordings NYC