Green Bank’s main trail rule? Power down those smartphones. Hikers eager to experience the ultimate unplugged getaway can veer off the ALT at Green Bank, where an access point connects to the observatory’s 15 miles of public, telescope view trails. This scenic hike traverses renowned West Virginia marvels like Blackwater Falls State Park and Dolly Sods Wilderness before joining the famed Appalachian Trail at the Virginia border. It was established by the Federal Communications Commission in 1958 to minimize radiofrequency interference. But a journey to its center in Green Bank, West Virginia, reveals a town at odds with itself. Experience the serenity of life off the grid in the United States National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile rectangular pocket that straddles the state borders of Virginia and West Virginia and overlaps a tiny slice of Maryland. (NRQZ-approved cell service is available at Snowshoe, Holstine says.) Another West Virginia gem, the 330-mile Allegheny Trail (ALT), crosses over 100 miles of the NRQZ’s mountainous terrain. The National Radio Quiet Zone limits wireless communications. Accommodations range from camping and yurt-style glamping options to log cabins and Snowshoe Mountain, a cozy ski resort with upscale digs and over 250 skiable acres. Keywords: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, National Science Foundation. Serrated quartzite spears atop Seneca Rocks, the Mon’s rock-climbing oasis, loom 900 feet above the North Fork River. She has internet at her property in Green Bank, West Virginia but as soon as she leaves home - and is not on. Yvonne Wallech loves the digital respite and sense of community in her tiny US town, where cell phone service is effectively barred and outsiders come seeking the shelter of that quiet.

The forest’s pine-speckled Spruce Mountain claims the state’s highest summit: Spruce Knob at 4,861 feet. Digital life encroaches on US 'quiet zone' refuge. Monongahela, known as “the Mon,” allures adventure travelers with rushing rivers, thick bogs, craggy peaks, and little to no cell service.

Radio silence zone west virginia