Distance to a Road: 3.2 miles
Cell Phone Coverage: Yes
Public Land: Yes, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
Travel Method: Motorboat
Travel Time One-Way: 1 hour
Something We Learned: A Remote Spot adjacent to a large shipping channel can make us question our definition of remoteness - do shipping channels count as roads?
Project Remote is working to precisely calculate and travel to the remotest locations in each of the 50 United States. Below is a written account of our 1-day boating trip to document the Delaware Remote Spot. This is our 9th state Remote Spot documented as part of Project Remote.
Click on the ‘Play’ button below to view our panoramic video of the Remote Spot.
Because we are not permitted by the Refuge to spend the night, we motor to the Spot in our 18ft jon boat. The distance from the nearest boat ramp is too far, and would have depended on just the right conditions, to get there and back by canoe in one day.
We are met with this sign as we attempt to turn onto the road going to our boat ramp - not the best sign at the beginning of our trip. We ask around and learn from a local that the road is always closed and we should just go around the sign. Okay….
As we launch our boat we pass crabbers bringing in their morning catch - bushels of blue crabs. We navigate to the channel past fishing boats and crabpot markers, as always Skyla is excited to be out on the boat and Going Remote.
Ryan navigates using our handheld GPS, the same one we use for land Remote Spots. The Remote Spot is up ahead in the marsh grass and Skyla couldn’t be more thrilled! I guess the novelty of going to Remote Spots is starting to wear off. More likely this has something to do with not being able to eat…
Approaching the Delaware Remote Spot - 3.2 miles from the nearest road.
Just south of the Spot we see a huge barge in the distance out in the middle of the bay. Several more follow. The shipping channel in Delaware Bay is apparently very active and connects, through the Delaware River, to Philadelphia. Humans have been controlling the depth of this waterway since the 1880s.
A nuclear power plant (in New Jersey) is visible to the north of the spot. The debate about nuclear power is too complicated to get into on the pages of our website but we can say that this large cooling tower definitely takes our feeling of remoteness down a notch…
…as do all the large ships in the distance. But the sun was breaking through the clouds and shining just right and even Remote Spotters like us can appreciate the drama of a huge ship.
At every Remote Spot we conduct what we call a Remote Spot Assessment (RSA). We spend 15 minutes recording quantitative data on human presence/absence as being detectable by a single human observer from the Remote Spot. Specifically, one of us stands calm and observes all surroundings for 15 minutes. We observe sights, sounds, and smells of anything of human origin, then we identify it, estimate distance, and record the compass bearing of the datum. Additional to the RSA, we also make wildlife observations. Last, and not least, we make high resolution, panoramic photo and video of the Remote Spot. Through our efforts, we are measuring remoteness as it currently exists in the United States.
One of the unique pleasures of Remote Spotting is listening to the natural sounds of an area. At the Delaware Remote Spot, the sound of the water rolling against the grassy shoreline was peaceful and soothing.
The Remotest Family in Delaware.
The remotest nursing experience in Delaware.
Captain Ryan heading us back to port. We wish we could have camped out on the Spot but we understand the need to keep some conservation lands as refuges for wildlife. With all the development, superhighways, and industry that is so prevalent in the east, these lands are small oases of habitat.
Happy toddler! We are once again impressed by the trooper that our daughter is. She is ready and willing to do just about anything. When we are home for more than a few days, she asks when we are going to camp out in the loft, Go Remote, or sleep in our tent. About the only thing stable in her life is that we are with her all the time, and that seems to be all she needs.
As we drift slowly away from the remote shoreline, the clouds break briefly and sunlight shines upon the Remote Spot. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our journey into Delaware remoteness.
The worst thing that happened to us was…somehow, the camera sensor got sprayed with gunk…Love it when that happens when you need the camera the most.
Our trip to and from the Delaware Remote Spot, including documentation time, took approximately 3 hours to complete.
-The Remote Spotters
And one last video:
Project Remote Fundraiser: After reading this website, you might be surprised at just how hard it is to get away from a road or a town nowadays-and instantly understand that we must now as a nation speak out to protect remaining public roadless areas from further roads development. Project Remote is now over half-way done! Our goal is to raise enough funding simply to offset the cost of traveling frugally state by state, completing the documentary field work, and maintaining this website. This work depends on donations from people like you. If you like what we do, please Click here to make a donation to support Project Remote today. Thank you so very much for helping us to document and preserve Remote America…
