Calm your mind at the world’s first certified quiet hiking trail. What is a certified quiet trail? As the name suggests, these trails are nearly-silent natural environments. Recently, the non-profit organization Quiet Parks International (QPI) named Cuifeng Lake Circular Trail in Taiwan the world’s first certified quiet hiking trail. With scientific recordings of the trail not exceeding 25 decibels, the area earned QPI’s certified quiet trail designation on July 18, 2022.
Silent visitors can explore the secrets that keep this location so serene. Outside Taiwan’s Yilan county, Cuifeng Lake Circular Trail winds through a cypress forest and traces the edges of Cuifeng Lake. A lush carpet of green moss both adds to the area’s beauty and serves as “a layer of natural sound-absorbing foam,” according to QPI.
“As a result,” QPI explains on its website, “[the trail] feels like a natural audio control room. Far from the hubbub of human-caused noise, the lowest measured volume is fewer than 25 decibels, which is almost silent.”
On July 18 (World Listening Day), QPI held a certification ceremony for the trail. The Hagaparis tribe of the Atayal People, a Taiwanese Indigenous group from Nan’ao Township, began the ceremony with prayers and performances. As a traditional hunting area, Cuifeng Lake’s forest remains important to the Hagaparis.
“For a densely populated island to have the world’s first certified ‘Quiet Trail’ carries special meaning for Taiwan,” Lin Hua-ching, director of the Forestry Bureau, told CNN Travel.
Additional quiet trails may be on the way as QPI pursues its commitment to “saving quiet for the benefit of all life.” Currently, the Los Angeles-based organization is evaluating locations such as Niobrara Wild & Scenic River in Nebraska and Finnhamnen, Kvarken Archipelago in Finland for quiet trail certification. People from all over the world can also nominate quiet places via the QPI website.