Farthest points

[Gumby]

Inspired by the drift of this thread https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...opular-destinations-113253-2.html#post2745093 , I thought it would be fun to share the farthest points we have been in our various travels. If it comes with a good story, even better. I'll start:

1. Furthest North - Fairbanks, Alaska (~65 deg. N.) It was early summer and I recall the very heavy drapes we had in our room in order to sleep

2. Furthest South - Strait of Magellan (~54 deg. S.) Conning my submarine on the surface.

3. Farthest East - Messina, Italy (~15.5 deg. E.)

4. Farthest West - Ka'ena Point, Oahu, Hawaii (~158 deg. W.)

5. Highest point - Chinchero, in the Peruvian Andes (~12,500 ft) (I don't count the airliner)

6. Lowest point - not permitted to say, but deep enough underwater to die quickly if we had a big enough leak.

7. Most remote - someplace in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.


I look forward to expanding my range.

 

[Lewis Clark]

6. Lowest point - not permitted to say, but deep enough underwater to die quickly if we had a big enough leak.

If the leak is big enough, you don't need to be all that deep. : )

 

[braumeister]

North: Nordkapp, Norway. About 71 degrees north, well past the Arctic Circle.

South: Vernadsky Research Station (Ukrainian), Antarctica. A bit more than 65 degrees south, so not quite to the Antarctic Circle but not far from it.
Had a delightful visit as the scientists get very few visitors and were more than happy to show us around. They do some interesting stuff studying the ozone layer. It’s also known as the southernmost bar in the world.

East: Kirkenes, Norway. About 30 degrees East, very close to the Russian border.

West: Bangkok, Thailand. About 100 degrees East, but the farthest west from my home.

Highest: One of Colorado’s “Fourteeners” but I don’t remember which. I used to climb one almost every month when I lived there.

Lowest: Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California. 282 feet below sea level.

 

[marko]

Farthest: The island of Kiribati. At the time they had one plane a week from Hawaii. Air Nauru shared the plane with Air Tungaru so you took a flight in on one airline and out a week later on the other airline even though it was the same plane. It was essentially a cargo flight with just a few seats for passengers. Before we landed the pilot came out and said that the runway was very short so he was going to jam the wheels into the ground because he couldn't afford to bounce. Wow! Hard landing for sure!

As far as distance, I used to get a "round the world ticket" from NorthWest Airlines. That meant that for about $900 more than the $5K First Class seat from Boston to Amsterdam you could continue on to Asia. So about 6 times a year, I'd go Boston, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and then head on to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and then head east back to Boston. (sometimes I'd go the other way to prevent dizziness).

Some flights nearly over the pole were astonishing.

 

[Gumby]

Farthest: The island of Kiribati. At the time they had one plane a week from Hawaii. Air Nauru shared the plane with Air Tungaru so you took a flight in on one airline and out a week later on the other airline even though it was the same plane. It was essentially a cargo flight with just a few seats for passengers. Before we landed the pilot came out and said that the runway was very short so he was going to jam the wheels into the ground because he couldn't afford to bounce. Wow! Hard landing for sure!

As far as distance, I used to get a "round the world ticket" from NorthWest Airlines. That meant that for about $900 more than the $5K First Class seat from Boston to Amsterdam you could continue on to Asia. So about 6 times a year, I'd go Boston, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and then head on to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and then head east back to Boston. (sometimes I'd go the other way to prevent dizziness).

Some flights nearly over the pole were astonishing.

That sounds like fun to go all the way around the world. I was quite enamored of the life of Phileas Fogg when I was young.

What took you to Kiribati?

 

[HenryD]

I haven't strayed from the northern hemisphere. Yet.

North - Reykjavik, Iceland 64ºN
South - Golfito, Costa Rica 8ºN
East - Tokyo, Japan 139ºE
West - Honolulu, Hawaii 157ºW
Highest - Mauna Kea, Hawaii 13,796 ft
Lowest - Death Valley, California -282 ft
Most Remote - Continental divide, Yellowstone NP

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

1. North: Hallbjarnarstaðir, Iceland. Achingly close to the Arctic circle at ~66.2ºN.
2. South: I am a piker, here. Sao Paolo (~24ºS won't win me any plaudits in this crowd).
3. East: Antalya, Turkey (~31ºE)
4. West: Fukuoka, Japan (~130ºE)
5. Highest: I suppose this would be the cable car to Mont Blanc (~12,400 ft), as our trips to Mauna Kea (13,800 ft) got canceled due to blizzards.
6. Death Valley (-280 ft.), because I am pretty sure I never scubaed that deep!
7. Remote from where? South Point, HI, I suppose, but Saskatoon felt more remote.

 

[razztazz]

North: The Fairbanks Alaska metropolitan area

South: San Antonio plus or minus

East: Southern Germany a few minutes from the Swiss border

West: A cold War radar shack on the tip of mainland Alaska

Highest: Somewhere in Nevada between 8,000 & 9,000 feet.

Lowest: Death Valley

Most Remote: That radar shack in Alaska. Nevada and parts of I-80 in Wyoming seemed almost as remote.

 

[Gumby]

...
7. Remote from where? South Point, HI, I suppose, but Saskatoon felt more remote.

However you want to define it. I was thinking of remote from normal civilization.

 

[marko]

That sounds like fun to go all the way around the world. I was quite enamored of the life of Phileas Fogg when I was young.

What took you to Kiribati?

I did the round the world about 20 times over the years. I don't know if I'm several days older or younger than I actually am!

Kiribati had an earth station (satellite tracking) run by the Japanese 'Nasa'. My company had equipment there and back in the early 80's I was a service tech and had to go fix a piece. The repair took about 4 hours but I had to wait a whole week for the plane back to Hawaii...did a lot of exploring, swimming, fishing. A memorable trip.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

[-]North: Jasper National Park, Canada[/-]
North: Edinburgh Scotland (who’d have thought it was farther north than Jasper?)
South: Santiago, Chile
East: Manama, Bahrain
West: Zama, Japan (near Tokyo)

The last three were on business. Nothing like flying coach 9 hours from Atlanta to Chile overnight, doing meetings all that day and the next, and catching the red eye home. Then the boss wanted to know if I were coming into work when I got off the plane since it would only be 9:00 AM.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Forgot to mention that on the flight to Tokyo from Chicago I was just north of Alaska. I’ve always wanted to see the Arctic for some reason and that view out the airplane window is as close as I’ll probably get.

 

[Gumby]

...
Most Remote: That radar shack in Alaska. Nevada and parts of I-80 in Wyoming seemed almost as remote.

When we went to Wyoming in 2019, we drove one day on I-90 from Sheridan to the Black Hills. I thought the 70 mile stretch between Buffalo and Gillette, WY was the most desolate place I had ever seen. Not a house, a tree, a cow or any another living being that I could see. The landscape reminded me of the pictures sent back by the Mars rovers.

I also drove with my family from Reno, NV to Salt Lake City on I-80 when I was a boy. Pretty much the same experience as Wyoming. Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.

 

[CardsFan]

I'll play. Using STL as my zero point (90deg. W, 39 deg. N)

1. Furthest North - Stockholm, Sweden (~60 deg. N.) I also recall the heavy drapes. If I recall correctly it was June, so it never really got totally dark at night.

2. Furthest South - Cape Town South Africa (~34 deg. S.)

3. Farthest East - Mumbai, India (~72 deg. E., or about 162 deg E from STL). Close second, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (~69 deg. E.).

4. Farthest West - Wuhan, China(~114 deg. E or 156 deg. W from STL)

5. Highest point - Jungfrau (actually Jungfraujoch), in the Swiss Alps (~11,332 ft) (I don't count the airliner either)

6. Lowest point - about 15' below sea level while snorkeling in Key West, St. Croix or Jamaica.

7. Most remote - Can't think of anything really remote.

 

[ls99]

Farthest north, north of Jan Mayen 71 N. Ship heaved to, dory races around ship and some small icebergs.
While there the Aurora borealis was in full bloom horizon to horizon, Radio communications was zero for the duration.


South can,t, recal latitiude somewhere south of cape of good hope not quiet to Antarctica. Ship's pit log indicated 5 Knots forward, Transit satellite (before GPS) showed about 3 Knots backwards. For several days. Was a bit windy. Discovered that albatrosses don not flap their wings to take off. Just wait for a 30 foot or any tall wave to lift them up, spread their wings to stay aloft. For landing, just wait for a tall wave, sit and close their wings.


Cicumnavigated the globe. So no east or west limits.

Have my equator crossing cerificate, having been been found worthy by Neptune's representatives, declared Shellback.

Deepest, about sea level, maybe more in an Aleutian Hotspring about fifty feet from the Bering sea.

Remote? Most any place in the Aleutians. Very sparsly populated.
Highest, other flying in commercial 747, around 7000' feet up on Pavlof volcano, Aleutians. Oh yeah it is an active volcano, still. Installing seismometers and telemetry gear.

In other unusual activity: Have skninny dipped in the Bering sea many times with dashes back to the hot spring. Rinse repeat annually for about 14 years.

 

[SecondCor521]

Inspired by the drift of this thread https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...opular-destinations-113253-2.html#post2745093 , I thought it would be fun to share the farthest points we have been in our various travels. If it comes with a good story, even better. I'll start:

1. Furthest North - Fairbanks, Alaska (~65 deg. N.) It was early summer and I recall the very heavy drapes we had in our room in order to sleep

2. Furthest South - Strait of Magellan (~54 deg. S.) Conning my submarine on the surface.

3. Farthest East - Messina, Italy (~15.5 deg. E.)

4. Farthest West - Ka'ena Point, Oahu, Hawaii (~158 deg. W.)

5. Highest point - Chinchero, in the Peruvian Andes (~12,500 ft) (I don't count the airliner)

6. Lowest point - not permitted to say, but deep enough underwater to die quickly if we had a big enough leak.

7. Most remote - someplace in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.


I look forward to expanding my range.

1. Pretty much the North Pole but that was at 40K feet or something in an Emirates wide body jet on my way to India with my Dad. On the surface, it looks like London, England, which is not that impressive at ~51N.

2. Sadly Singapore, which is pretty much on the equator at ~1N. I think I've officially never been to the Southern hemisphere.

3. Considering Greenwich, legally it would be Tokyo, Japan apparently at ~139E. Business trip. But I flew across the date line to get there. The furthest east conceptually for me would be Varanasi, India, because I flew pretty much eastward to get there.

4. On a boat off the west coast of Kauai, Hawaii at ~159W. Special trip with my daughter.

5. Summit of Mauna Kea, 13,803, but we drove pretty much to the top. Also summit of Boundary Peak. Twice, on foot. Once solo, once with my son on a special trip. 13,147.

6. Submarine off the west coast of Kona harbor, Hawaii. Maybe 80 feet under? Same day as #5 above, which means my record is about 13,883 feet of elevation change not generated by an airplane.

7. The summit of Boundary Peak is pretty remote. Almost zero light pollution so the night sky and the Milky Way is unbelievably amazing. I was more alone and remote when I was attempting a summit of Kings Peak in Utah. I was spending the night near Dollar Lake the second night of my trip and as far as I knew there were no other humans within a twenty mile radius. Just me and some juvenile moose.

 

[braumeister]

Thinking about most remote, I remembered this one.

Never went there, but I was once "offered" an assignment to a small, highly classified location where my only contact with civilization would be a package of mail once a month. No phone, no TV, no radio. This was around 50 years ago, so of course no internet. Not very thrilled with the idea, since it would have been a minimum of a full year there. As it turned out, Vietnam was considered a higher priority and I was sent there instead. No, I can't tell you where it was.

 

[slaternuthink]

The mark that will be hard to beat was set by Victor Vescovo.
Start with The Adventurers Grand Slam - climb the highest peak on each continent (7), and ski to both poles.
Then bag the lowest point in each of the 5 oceans.
He had to construct and fund the 5 deeps project himself as there was no capable ship/sub combo in existence at the time.
So, highest and lowest places on earth.

 

[DrRoy]

North: Lofoten Islands, Norway. 68.3 deg N

South: Tierra del Fuego 53.5 deg S

East: Bodø, Norway. 14.4 deg E

West: Kauai, Hawaii. -159.8 deg W

Highest: Klein Matterhorn 12745 ft

Lowest: Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California. -282 ft

Most remote on land: White Pocket, Arizona

 

[skyking1]

Farthest west Kauai.
East would be St Petersburg.
North I believe is Bethel Alaska out on the Yukon Delta, in our own airplane.
South Point or Ka Lae, Hawaii

EDIT:
Bethel wins for both West and North, LOL. 159 W vs 161 W

 

[Gumby]

The mark that will be hard to beat was set by Victor Vescovo.
Start with The Adventurers Grand Slam - climb the highest peak on each continent (7), and ski to both poles.
Then bag the lowest point in each of the 5 oceans.
He had to construct and fund the 5 deeps project himself as there was no capable ship/sub combo in existence at the time.
So, highest and lowest places on earth.

There are at least two US Navy submariners who became astronauts and who thus hold the record for the maximum vertical separation between places where they have lived.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2015/june/submariners-space

Edit: Upon further reflection, the record is actually held by the astronauts who traveled to the moon.

 

[aja8888]

Farthest north: Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - not vacation but work. This was very remote. Lots of Moose, cold, very cold, colder. Dark or light depending on the season. No nightlife.

(Pretty far north) I've been as far north in Canada as Norman Wells and spent a couple of nights there. Interesting place. Esso has a refinery in Norman Wells and Enbridge's pipeline ends there so it's close to being the end of the world. I was doing a project at the refinery in the winter as that's the best time to be there from a transportation standpoint (many road out in the rest of the year).

South - In the Java Sea on natural gas production platform operated by ARCO Indonesia.

Highest - Took the Concorde from Paris, France to Kennedy airport in 1979. We got up to ~ 40,000+ feet and at Mach 2. Nice ride, sad to see it go.

Lowest - Death Valley

Most remote - Central Sumatra, Indonesia - at an oil production facility - we had armed militia with us as we were told that it wasn't safe for edible humans in the bush.

East/West - all over the globe.

Best place to live - Texas!

 

[mountainsoft]

I haven't done much long distance traveling, but I'll play anyway...

North - Fairbanks, Alaska to see the Northern Lights.

North (by car) - Jasper, Alberta (or Mt Robson, BC?), part of our trip to see the Canadian Rockies.

South - The big island of Hawaii, Puerto Vallarta Mexico, or Tulum Mexico. I'm not sure which is farthest south.

South (by car) - Somewhere along the gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana when I was a boy. Unfortunately, I don't remember where that was.

East - Ironically, I was born in Centralia, Illinois and have never really traveled anywhere east of there. Odd...

West - Polihale State Park, or Ke'e Beach on Kauai, Hawaii. Anywhere on Kauai really.

West (by car) - Anywhere on the Washington/Oregon coastline.

Highest - Other than airplane flights, the highest ground I've stood on is probably on Haleakala on Maui. I think that was around 10,000 feet or so.

Lowest - I've put my toes in the ocean, so sea level? I've been in a few caves, but most were up in the mountains so the actual elevation was probably still above sea level.

If you stand on the surface of the moon, does that qualify as being the highest or ground level? Hmm...

 

[MuirWannabe]

North: Isle of Skye Scotland
South: Just inside the Antarctic Circle at about 67 degrees south
East: Shanghai China
West: Delhi India
Highest: Mt. Whitney, CA 14,505 feet
Lowest: Badwater Basin, Death Valley CA -282 feet
Most remote: Antarctica was pretty remote. Otherwise I’d say well down in Lake Powell on a houseboat.

Fun thread!

 

[2017ish]

Interesting thread! Hadn't thought about this before.

1. North, North coast of Iceland, nudging out Fairbanks.
2. South: surprisingly, Buenes Aires looks to beat out Sydney. (The 2020 antarctic trip will supplant this--hopefully this year!)
3. East: Dar es Salaam
4. West: dive boat off lizard Island Australia.
5. Lowest, dead sea (430.5 metres (1,412 ft) below sea level.
6. Highest was hiking up to look down at rainbow mountain near Cusco 16,700 ft.
7. Most remote is tough. Probably in upper Amazon basin of Peru, Manu biosphere/reserve, off the Madre de Dios river. No electric, far from cellular contact, warnings of what to do if you happen upon uncontacted tribespeople, etc)