TOP 7 ADVENTURES IN THE DARK
The dark, among other things, represents the Unknown--an integral element of any true adventure journey.
The world is filled with dark places. Sometimes the source of that darkness is a sun-blocking wall of stone. Sometimes it's dozens of meters of water. Sometimes it's the nature of the earth's orbit itself. But whether in cave, ocean, or northernmost latitude, there's a certain allure, o traveler, about the dark. It hides knowledge--knowledge that adventurers crave. It hints of danger. It cloaks and conceals and caches. It shadows and shields and screens. Indeed, it adds a certain element of mystery that eludes those who spend all their time in the blazing light of day.
Thus, wandering wanderers, we give you the TOP 7 ADVENTURES IN THE DARK...
Seventh on our prestigious list of dark places: HAMMERFEST, which claims to be the northernmost city (a city being defined as having at least 5,000 inhabitants) in the world. The city is nestled on the rocky coast of Kvaløya island, connected to the mainland by a bridge. Situated as it is on the top of the world, the city experiences months of prolonged darkness during the winter months. But even in the dark, Hammerfest is a nifty little hub for adventure--from skiing and snowboarding to glacial hiking, from gazing at the dancing Northern Lights to serious fishing and dark-water SCUBA diving. Of course, the city is a convenient starting point for further forays into the North... Another Hammerfest claim to fame: they say they have the highest ratio of hairdressers per person than any other Norwegian city (?).
KAZUMURA
WHAT TO BRING
+ Headlamp
+ Rope
+ Helmet
+ Gloves
+ Kneepads
+ Rapelling gear
+ Small notebook and pencil
Hawaii's LAVA TUBES absolutely deserve a place on this month's Top 7. Largely undiscovered until the mid-1990s, the lava tubes (caves formed from lava floes) reach scores of miles into the earth underneath the island's most recently active volcano. Hurry--the caves are yet to be commercialized, and unless you want to brave it alone somehow, the courageous adventurer can make a reservation with a local spelunker who leads tours himself (Phone: 808-967-7208). Traversing the entire length of Kazumura Cave, the longest cave in the tube system, takes two days and involves 1,097 meters (3,602 feet) of vertical movement through caverns, up and down ladders and ropes, and over cracks and drops, making it not only the world's longest cave, but also the USA's deepest. And, headlamp aside, it's filled with darkness.
A LONG WINTER AT SOUTH POLE STATION, Antarctica, merits Top 7's fifth-place notch. For months, you'll experience life sans the sun. Built only a few hundred meters from the exact center of the icy continent, South Pole Station can be reached by extremely motivated individuals via dogsled...or by plane from McMurdo Station. Unfortunately, in order to call South Pole Station home, the intrepid wanderer need first earn several high degrees in upper-atmosphere physics, meteorology, earth sciences, geophysics, glaciology, biomedicine, or astrophysics, then vie for a place on the station's scientific team. Not impossible. Once there, you'll have only your fellow team members and an occasional Stercorarius antarctica to keep you company, but the vast, glistening icescape of Antarctica to greet you every day (or should we say: all night long?).
BOTTOM OF THE WORLD
The wandering journeyer will find our fourth adventure-in-the-dark in the red deserts of southern Utah: A NIGHT HIKE IN ZION NATIONAL PARK. After obtaining a permit for an overnight hike, the park, filled with cliffs and arches, waterfalls and caves, grand vistas and steep slopes, is yours. Go carefully, however--hazards abound, especially in the dark. Wear a trusty headlamp, and bring extra water. We recommend the Angels Landing trail--an 8.6-kilometer (5-mile) journey up a very narrow "path" leading to a summit high above the floor of Zion Canyon. Also worth looking into: the Narrows, a 24-kilometer (15-mile) trek on/in the Virgin River--including a three-kilometer stretch between soaring 640-meter (2,100-foot) cliffs a mere six meters (20 feet) apart! Awesome during the day. Incredible at night.
A NIGHT DIVE AT THE S.S. YONGALA, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, lays claim to our third slot. Voted by many as the best diving spot in the world, the Yongala comes especially alive at night in vivid bursts of color that aren't so accentuated during the day. Sunk by a cyclone in 1911, the 109-meter (360-foot) Yongala is a protected historical landmark today, apart from lying within Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Balancing buoyancy 30 meters (99 feet) beneath the black water, the night diver may run into any number of sea creatures, including sea snakes, turtles, large rays, sharks, sizable schools of sizable fish, and possibly even a whale or two (Yongala enthusiasts claim that a diver will see more undersea life here than on the Great Barrier Reef itself...). Thanks to the government's protection, all sorts of things that would otherwise have been swiped long ago are still visible to divers--including human remains. One hundred and thirteen people died when the Yongala plunged to the bottom of the ocean...
S. S. YONGALA
Mixing with the locals is an essential to most great adventure journeys, and our second-on-the-list requires it. Find a local who knows what he/she is talking about, and descend into THE SUBTERRANEAN TUNNELS AND CAVERNS OF PARIS.
CATACOMBS
Crisscrossing the literal foundations of France's capital city, these tunnels, some of them many centuries old, stretch for miles in the pitch blackness. Hidden entrances, secret passageways, strangely-decorated walls and ceilings, and other, odder encounters are a certainty. The most famous area, of course, is the official Catacombs, where Parisian officials of the past decided to bury the dead who didn't fit in the city's overcrowded cemeteries. A must-see, but we strongly suggest a foray into the unknown afterwards. Again, make sure you are with someone who knows his/her way around. Weird, often scary, sometimes disturbing, and occasionally beautiful finds lie hidden in the utter darkness. One could explore the tunnels for months. So with that, we say to you, o traveler: Be sure you know your way out.
{
STATS
Name: Nanga Parbat
Height: 8,125 meters (26,657 feet)
Location: Pakistani Kashmir
First conquered: July 3, 1953 (H. Buhl)
}
HIMALAYAN NIGHT
And the number one adventure in the dark? This one's for the serious mountain climbers out there: A NIGHT AT CAMP FOUR NEAR THE SUMMIT OF NANGA PARBAT, Pakistan. There are several Himalayan peaks that could vie for this coveted spot, but after careful consideration we have selected this, the ninth-highest peak on earth. Rising up more strikingly than most of the other "Eight Thousanders," Nanga Parbat commands the adventurer's attention--and always has. For decades, the mountain was one of the world's great killer peaks, claiming dozens of lives as men strove to conquer the summit. At camp four, one perches precariously at 7,100 meters (23,300 feet). The sky is strikingly awash with stars, and the surrounding snow on near and distant peaks possesses a faintly incandescent glow. Of course, this other-wordly view is most likely being experienced by dehydrated, exhausted, ice-encrusted climbers--but even then, it's magnificent. At midnight, the determined adventurer sets out, headlamp at the ready, for the long-awaited summit push--through snow, over rocks, in the dark.
Seventh on our prestigious list of dark places: HAMMERFEST, which claims to be the northernmost city (a city being defined as having at least 5,000 inhabitants) in the world. The city is nestled on the rocky coast of Kvaløya island, connected to the mainland by a bridge. Situated as it is on the top of the world, the city experiences months of prolonged darkness during the winter months. But even in the dark, Hammerfest is a nifty little hub for adventure--from skiing and snowboarding to glacial hiking, from gazing at the dancing Northern Lights to serious fishing and dark-water SCUBA diving. Of course, the city is a convenient starting point for 
Hawaii's LAVA TUBES absolutely deserve a place on this month's Top 7. Largely undiscovered until the mid-1990s, the lava tubes (caves formed from lava floes) reach scores of miles into the earth underneath the island's most recently active volcano. Hurry--the caves are yet to be commercialized, and unless you want to brave it alone somehow, the courageous adventurer can make a reservation with a local spelunker who leads tours himself (Phone: 808-967-7208). Traversing the entire length of Kazumura Cave, the longest cave in the tube system, takes two days and involves 1,097 meters (3,602 feet) of vertical movement through caverns, up and down ladders and ropes, and over cracks and drops, making it not only the world's longest cave, but also the USA's deepest. And, headlamp aside, it's filled with darkness.
A LONG WINTER AT SOUTH POLE STATION, Antarctica, merits Top 7's fifth-place notch. For months, you'll experience life sans the sun. Built only a few hundred meters from the exact center of the icy continent, South Pole Station can be reached by extremely motivated individuals via dogsled...or by plane from McMurdo Station. Unfortunately, in order to call South Pole Station home, the intrepid wanderer need first earn several high degrees in upper-atmosphere physics, meteorology, earth sciences, geophysics, glaciology, biomedicine, or astrophysics, then vie for a place on the station's scientific team. Not impossible. Once there, you'll have only your fellow team members and an occasional Stercorarius antarctica to keep you company, but the vast, glistening icescape of Antarctica to greet you every day (or should we say: all night long?).
The wandering journeyer will find our fourth adventure-in-the-dark in the red deserts of southern Utah: A NIGHT HIKE IN ZION NATIONAL PARK. After obtaining a permit for an overnight hike, the park, filled with cliffs and arches, waterfalls and caves, grand vistas and steep slopes, is yours. Go carefully, however--hazards abound, especially in the dark. Wear a trusty headlamp, and bring extra water. We recommend the Angels Landing trail--an 8.6-kilometer (5-mile) journey up a very narrow "path" leading to a summit high above the floor of Zion Canyon. Also worth looking into: the Narrows, a 24-kilometer (15-mile) trek on/in the Virgin River--including a three-kilometer stretch between soaring 640-meter (2,100-foot) cliffs a mere six meters (20 feet) apart! Awesome during the day. Incredible at night.
A NIGHT DIVE AT THE S.S. YONGALA, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, lays claim to our third slot. Voted by many as the best diving spot in the world, the Yongala comes especially alive at night in vivid bursts of color that aren't so accentuated during the day. Sunk by a cyclone in 1911, the 109-meter (360-foot) Yongala is a protected historical landmark today, apart from lying within Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Balancing buoyancy 30 meters (99 feet) beneath the black water, the night diver may run into any number of sea creatures, including sea snakes, turtles, large rays, sharks, sizable schools of sizable fish, and possibly even a whale or two (Yongala enthusiasts claim that a diver will see more undersea life here than on the Great Barrier Reef itself...). Thanks to the government's protection, all sorts of things that would otherwise have been swiped long ago are still visible to divers--including human remains. One hundred and thirteen people died when the Yongala plunged to the bottom of the ocean...
And the number one adventure in the dark? This one's for the serious mountain climbers out there: A NIGHT AT CAMP FOUR NEAR THE SUMMIT OF NANGA PARBAT, Pakistan. There are several Himalayan peaks that could vie for this coveted spot, but after careful consideration we have selected this, the ninth-highest peak on earth. Rising up more strikingly than most of the other "Eight Thousanders," Nanga Parbat commands the adventurer's attention--and always has. For decades, the mountain was one of the world's great killer peaks, claiming dozens of lives as men strove to conquer the summit. At camp four, one perches precariously at 7,100 meters (23,300 feet). The sky is strikingly awash with stars, and the surrounding snow on near and distant peaks possesses a faintly incandescent glow. Of course, this other-wordly view is most likely being experienced by dehydrated, exhausted, ice-encrusted climbers--but even then, it's magnificent. At midnight, the determined adventurer sets out, headlamp at the ready, for the long-awaited summit push--through snow, over rocks, in the dark.