Jets and a busier but still wonderful Wilderness

Posted on September 11th, 2025 in Wilderness Experienced
Olympic Wilderness, Washington

By Matt Levin

For the most part my long-term commitment to Wilderness Watch has been philosophical—I want to be sure that the Wilderness is there, for all of us, and that the government (in all forms) is following the rules that are laid out to protect that resource. I’m very proud to be a part of our ongoing collective effort.

It’s not as often as I would like, but now and again I do get to be in the Wilderness myself. In Vermont we have just a few protected spots, and there is one trail in the Green Mountains that is important to me in part because I get to pass one of those weather-beaten “Entering Wilderness—Proceed at your own risk!” signs that make so many of us feel just a bit more alive and connected to the natural world.

This July, my wife and I were able to go on a much more ambitious trip to the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness, which is the coastal strip of Olympic National Park. We headed to an isolated beach on the Pacific Coast, returning to a place where I had spent many contemplative weekends 30 years ago, when I was younger and had more time for things like contemplation.

It was a wonderful trip, filled with adventures and mis-adventures, beauty and nature. The journey involved several miles of what would, to most, be a pretty arduous path. In several places, hikers have to go up and down very steep slopes using rope ladders, and others where boulder-hopping over ocean waves is sometimes needed. If you are staying overnight, as most do, you have to do all this while carrying full overnight backpacks. The ladders are pretty intense, at times kind of rustic, but to me seem to fairly balance Wilderness, safety, risk, access, and remoteness.

I should not have been surprised by how much things had changed when, several hours after setting out, we finally got to our destination. Our angry climate had been busy. I do not know for sure, but presumably higher tides and fiercer storms had washed away many feet of beach and some of the dirt shelf where the best camping is located. The spot that I used repeatedly 30 years ago had entirely washed away, and the point of land where it was located was now just sand. The innumerably driftwood logs that used to create magnificent piles along the edge of the forest had also mostly disappeared.

A change that surprised me even more was that the solitude I once found there was also gone. Maybe it’s because I have lived in Vermont for the past 25 years, and our little corner of the world is still relatively empty. But I was not prepared to see a place that many years ago had seemed almost completely inaccessible to now be host to a Boy Scout troop, a dad with two little girls, and several other groups—all making the really tough five-plus mile hike to get there in the middle of the week in July. This was now, seemingly, a rather busy place.

While it was a little disappointing that my formerly remote haven may have become not so remote and that I did not find the solitude I was hoping for, everyone was there having a lovely time and appreciating the Wilderness for all the special things that it has. It was still stunningly beautiful and powerful. So, no real complaints there.

Popularity and the increased push into the “great outdoors” may be somewhat unavoidable (and all too common everywhere, I am learning), but one thing that did really get my goat and felt totally out of place was the more-than-once-a-day overflights by the fighter jets. Flying in pairs, their easily audible, war-like noises intruded into the wild-ness every day we were there. That distinctly different noise was completely wrong in a Wilderness area and so disruptive to the wilderness character of the place and to why we were all there. It’s unfortunate that our military can’t find a way to balance their needs with other competing, and equally important, societal needs.

As we all know only too well, these challenges to our National Wilderness Preservation System are ongoing and increasing. It makes me feel a little less frustrated, and a little less disempowered, to know that Wilderness Watch continues to work hard to try to keep track of these kinds of impacts, and to seek solutions.

I will carry with me the new memories of this recent trip for many years to come. The Wilderness, as ever, has given me much to contemplate, even if for many reasons it’s now a bit harder to find quiet spaces to do so.

Matt Levin lives in an old farmhouse in central Vermont with his wife and two children. He used to live in the Western states, and in the 90s had an office in the Union Club building in Missoula that was noteworthy because a) it was a converted broom closet and, more importantly, b) it was downstairs from the old Wilderness Watch office. He gets into the woods far less these days than he used to.

50 Comments

  • Military jets can go and pilots can play war anywhere. So it seems possible that the flight paths can be relocated away from wilderness and roadless areas. Their flight paths must he protested!

  • It is not only the noise pollution the jets are making, but the damage they are doing to the environment and begs the question are these flights really necessary and cost effective.

  • The Niangua river in Missouri has suffered a similar fate. When I began floating it 30 years ago, the plant life in the water was green and beautiful and the river bed was also as clean you could possibly imagine. The water was crystal clear. It is mostly fed by Bennet Spring. Now it’s dirty and littered. I used to be able to float early in the year to avoid most of it, but now it’s nearly unavoidable. It deeply saddens me.

  • I experienced the horrible jet noise a couple years ago while hiking in the Hoh rainforest part of Olympic NP. It ruined our time there.

  • I live in a quite spot near the Chesapeake Bay. Very private, a tidal marsh for a backyard. Sea level rise is a future threat. When I’m on the deck, enjoying the solitude, I’m constantly annoyed by the small aircraft buzzing around from a small airport north of where I live. People taking flying lessons. Not just the noise, but the spewing of carbon dioxide. Did some online searches and found that the EPA and the FAA were trying to regulate the use of leaded fuel, but along comes the current President to put a stop to it.

  • Very nice story and lament of the changes you experienced; perhaps that is how I view my precious and little time I get in actual nature. Changes, too many people, noise and light pollution all wreaking havoc on what little actual nature is left to be just Nature for the sake of it and for wildlife to thrive, not just survive. I have never done so many comments via Regulations. gov or to my elected officials in the last 7 months to stop what this administration is doing at every level to pull out from us, everything that is NATURE. I worry about what will be left after he is gone and what Congress will do, if anything, to put back the destruction to our federal agencies and all the public lands we value and need. We need Grizzly Bears too! We need our forests not to be timbered; We need our oceans, rivers and streams. We need our BLM land and Wilderness land. I’ll keep fighting.

  • The cattle People should just *Take a Hike*!
    They have no right to Kill off the Wild Horses* & the Burro’s!
    Even Theodore Roosevelt knew better !
    Cows do not belong in our inland, they belong on Private land, they Destroy our Inland!
    Wild Horses & Burro’s help smaller animals to get to water during Drought, they are a necessary while *YOU* are *NOT*!
    These animals help to control & prevent Fires!
    Humans are quickly *DESTROYING* our innards & Wild life!
    We are killing off our land!
    Just like Wolves & Aspen trees have been gone for over 80 years!
    Now the Wolves came back & so have the ASPEN trees!
    The Federal Government is getting more IGNORANT Harming & Destructive!
    Maybe because they are listening twosome BILLIONAIRES!

  • Please minimize the flights of military aircraft over wilderness areas. The public owns the federal and state lands, not the military, We should be able to enjoy the wilderness without military noise.

  • We need to come together to preserve the outdoors- nature and wildlife alike- for the sake of our planet’s future.

  • At my age (86), remembering the places I visited in years long gone I appreciate that some wilderness still exists, even though planes fly over and it is populated by visiting people. Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota was also wilderness 25 years ago, but also is a bit stressed today as humanity populates more and more the ‘out of the way’ places. In my youth (Western Pennsylvania) a hike of several hours would see no people. At that time nobody minded that I hiked private property and there were a lot of ‘wilderness’ patches. Those places now have been civilized by homes and lawns. It is good that some places have endured as ‘wilderness’.

  • Air Force should NOT be flying over the wilderness! I thought there was a SC campaign to stop that route.
    There is a Wildlands sub-team called Recreation Issues that talks about this topic. I participate in this and can give a contact for anyone that would like to join.

  • It is sad that the once quiet places aren’t so much anymore. The upside is we still have some. One of my favorite places to sit among trees, watch birds and other wildlife is now long gone. In its place a housing development of small renditions of Victorian era houses with a lawn barely enough to walk the perimeter of each home. sigh. In my case it is true, I can never go home again.

  • Trips like this to the beautiful Wilderness will be stifled to the max by the T-Rump Admin. & his Minions so that, the Fossil Fuel Ind. will become more dangerous; but, much wealthier. The planes flying overhead would be just a small part of the Destruction Planned on Beautiful Areas! Truly sad!

  • I was the last backcountry ranger for the northern Olympic Coast’s Ozette District back in 2010-11. NPS eliminated these district based backcountry positions in favor of rotating rangers around different districts, and in doing so lost the place based knowledge and loyalty to the land that living and working in such awe inspiring places cultivates. My two summers had inordinately nice weather on the coast coinciding with cool and rainy summers in the mountains of western Washington. This lead to my district of Ozette having the highest visitation of any backcountry area in the entire NPS Wilderness system according to one of the higher-ups I reported to. These numbers also may have been a byproduct of my goal to cover 10mi+ each day while spending every night possible out there, in doing so crossing many people’s paths. Still, the heavy usage was notable, and groups of people with little knowledge of minimum impact practices were common.

    I’d estimate 95%+ of visitors had excellent intentions and ethics, and I saw those who didn’t as a major reason for why my extremely rewarding job was necessary. One of my favorite passages from the Tao te Ching came to mind, “What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher, what is a bad man but a good man’s job.” I tried to always help people realize why the regulations and wilderness ethics were in their self-interest. I had no enforcement authority, but at times I would rove with Law Enforcement Rangers who would send me ahead to assess situations and educate. Many times the LE’s said I saved groups from a ticket with what they called “$150 worth of guilt trip” that got them to voluntarily dismantle their massive illegal bonfires or trash based art structures before they approached. They would point to the disappointed looks they saw on the wives and children towards the lead perpetrator dads, who were all too often self described “Boy Scout Troop Leaders” as their justification for disregarding the law and wilderness ethics. “That wife and his kids will never let him forget this, and that’s a lot more effective than a ticket!” was a common reason the my LE boss would give for not citing them. I really did not intend to make anyone feel bad, just to correct the behavior, and I often got thanks from those I had to confront for their own safety and that of the environment they hiked out to enjoy. This included a group of supposed Boy Scout leaders who were cutting down trees for firewood during a no burn season. I am more concerned than every that nobody is out there now to prevent unnecessary injuries, treat and evacuate those that do occur, or put out unattended fires and mitigate other damage to the land. Being a backcountry ranger there was the best job I could imagine, and that beautiful Olympic Coast will always be in my heart.

  • I backpacked from Glacier park down through the Tetons, Zion, Bryce ending up in Grand Canyon. For 6 months I hardly encountered any highway noise or city lights. I stayed off the “popular” trails and experienced a lot of solitude and peace for the first time in my life. This was over 40 years ago and I don’t know how these places have changed, but it was a life altering experience for me and I will fight to keep our wilderness wild.

  • I hiked that same Pacific beach trail about fifty years ago. There were no rope ladders yet. The second time I went there, a storm hit us halfway through. Everything was different the next day. Rivers were rising. We had to turn back at one, and were barely in time to get back across the first one.

    I was lucky to be hiking so many years ago when it was still half-wild and mountain streams were safe to drink from, and people weren’t everywhere and a plane overhead was uncommon.

  • Unfortunately they are flying low over our homes too across the country, commercial jets, private ones, noise pollution is now a constant sound in all our ears, along with the accompanying jet fuel contaminant pollution. I’m glad to say I’ve never flown and my auto footprint is small as well. Unfortunately it’s the opposite for many others, and that were all part of the problem, although some of us- far more than others.

  • I’m sorry to hear that.
    Things aren’t the way they used to be.
    Fear and aggression intrude on silence in even the most isolated and untouched places.

  • Wilderness is where you make it in an ever changing world. Where Matts favorite beach wilderness has washed away over time some of my favorite wilderness has burned away by fire the last few years in Oregon where I live.

    • Then there’s overpopulation over large swaths of formerly lower human dense areas, of only 100 years ago, formerly bathing in lakes and retrieving water from outdoors as my own US born, father in his low 70’s recalls. Overpopulation of large numbers of humans wanting or needing military protection drives the increase in demand for these intrusive, but more necessary- military jet intrusions, of quiet peace of all life on earth.

  • Popularity and the increased push into the “great outdoors” may be somewhat unavoidable (and all too common everywhere, I am learning), but one thing that did really get my goat and felt totally out of place was the more-than-once-a-day overflights by the fighter jets. Flying in pairs, their easily audible, war-like noises intruded into the wild-ness every day we were there. That distinctly different noise was completely wrong in a Wilderness area and so disruptive to the wilderness character of the place and to why we were all there. It’s unfortunate that our military can’t find a way to balance their needs with other competing, and equally important, societal needs.

    As we all know only too well, these challenges to our National Wilderness Preservation System are ongoing and increasing. It makes me feel a little less frustrated, and a little less disempowered, to know that Wilderness Watch continues to work hard to try to keep track of these kinds of impacts, and to seek solutions.

    I will carry with me the new memories of this recent trip for many years to come. The Wilderness, as ever, has given me much to contemplate, even if for many reasons it’s now a bit harder to find quiet spaces to do so.

    This is so very true & truly a concern on an ever increasing ‘ENTITLED HUMAN POPULATION’.
    There is Not the respect for wilderness nor the wildlife that Tries to survive.
    We need better stewsrdship if our wild places & wild life.
    In this current politic b.s. time we need a lot of help from regilar people to help keep the wilderness wild & minimal human impacts

  • Thank you for this report on returning to a beloved childhood spot, no longer so remote and quiet.
    Perhaps it’s because our winter home is not far from one of the biggest Air Force bases in the country, the noise of these jets of war does not bother me. I look up and marvel at the expertise of making them and flying them and know that, sadly, we need them. I do wonder, however, what the wildlife thinks about them. Perhaps they get used to them too?
    I am always delighted to return to my quiet Vermont home.

  • There are so many people in the world now. The human population has doubled in the last 45 years. The digital age has made every remote area across the globe accessible through social media. I’m happy to know that you’re bringing this issue to light. Perhaps, people will have fewer kids. Even better, maybe they will decide to have no children at all. The earth’s resources are finite. But we certainly have not gotten that through our heads yet.

  • Matt,
    Lived out there 72 to 75. My son is at present moving from Lunenburg VT to Corvallis OR. I hope he gets to have some of what we enjoyed 50yrs ago.
    Thnx

  • Save the wilderness! Save it for environmental and medical reasons. Save wilderness wildlife. Save water sources. Don’t do business as usual there. Don’t drill. Save the wilderness so humans can go there and be renewed in spirit.

  • Thank you for this nice reflection and insight! I,too, don’t get into the wilds as frequently as I used to or dream to, but when I do, it seems quiet reflection very frequently shattered by loud jets. Thank you again for this article

  • As a veteran I understand our need to train and hone our defenses but agree wholeheartedly with you that military aircraft have no business over national parks, monuments or wildernesses. Unfortunately our nation as a whole has lost its love, respect and support for nature. I am also grateful for Wilderness Watch, Earthjustice, and other groups who continue to fight for these immensely important places of natural balance, habitat, and solace.

  • Beautiful story. True on point in so many ways; humanity’s need for the wilderness alongside the “need” to have a strong military. I couldn’t agree more that there is no need for the second to encroach upon and disturb what is truly a necessity for the spirit. I live near an air force base, and the jets flying overhead grate on my nerves, which are already frazzled by our hectic society. I find respite in the nature preserve near my home, but unfortunately, I often need to block out the traffic noise that can be heard there. There are ever fewer places one can go, where nature is truly preserved. I’m grateful for all those who are fighting to protect it.

  • Beautifully written. Thank you. The last time I lived on the West Coast was in 2021, north of the Olympics: mostly in Bellingham (and Orcas Island for a few months). I heard many complaints from Whidbey Island residents because of the increasing flights from its Naval Air Station (NAS), so it must be a problem to the south of the NAS as well. I just moved from the south Denver area, and the jets were all too present. I’m living near the Canadian border now, far from military bases that host jets, and it’s wonderful. What a difference! Amazing.

  • I completely agree. Noise pollution is entirely real & disrupting to nature & nature’s rights – what needs protecting now more than ever.

  • It’s amazing, in a not so impressive way, that as much as you wanted to be…you couldn’t find how to be ‘alone’. . . Sandwiched between the ocean and a wild interior. Sometimes it’s the disappointment of not finding it that can override the experiences we have but, it looks like you were able to find at least enough to celebrate the trip for its challenging ways and natural beauty. We used to celebrate the whole experience and now it’s like we have to use a highlighter to abbreviate them.

    I guess in some ways it shows even more how special these trips or visits into Wilderness are so incredibly valuable. To be able to have the opportunity is irreplaceable. I enjoyed the read!