Long winter nights in the woods.

[Lyle]

I liked to search out PBS radio stations, they are usually quite frequent along the AT. Can find nightly radio dramas. I remember following a Star Wars series that was a prequel to the movies. Luke Skywalker was living on his uncle's farm while growing up. They were broadcast in the evenings. Not sure if they still do that or not.

[nsherry61]

Frequently hike, ski, or snowshoe until I'm ready to stop for the night, often well after dark, (sometime between sunset and 9PM).
I can sleep 10-12 hours if I'm in the back-country and have no good reason to get up earlier.
Read kindle books on my phone.
Depending on who I'm with (if anyone) talk, tell stories, make out.
Many of Tipi's suggestions.
Make sure my pee bottle is handy so I don't have to get out of bed to go pee in the middle of the night.
Get up and go for a walk around the area - I love walking through the snow at night.
Use that cat hole that was or wasn't pre-dug.
Campfires can be really nice too.

[Deadeye]

The trick can be finding it at 3AM.

even trickier to hit the bullseye!

If you're not into 7 pm bedtime, night hiking in winter can be great. There's usually plenty of ambient light, the trail can be easy to follow in the right conditions, and it's just plain a different experience.

[Tipi Walter]

Well, not killing me, but it sure is sad to see someone like Tipi; strong, smart, hugely experienced, big hearted yet so profoundly cynical and negative at times (the USA is dying thing). I suppose this has blossomed of late due to recent, er, events....

Please come to the East Coast wilderness areas and we'll talk about endless motorcycle tourism and harley roars 8 months out of the year on so-called "scenic motor loops" surrounding these wilderness areas---and the nonstop overhead jet airline traffic befouling the skies with noise from morning to midnight. We have postage stamp size wilderness areas surrounded more and more by sprawl and man's war on nature. Plus it's hard to believe that Colorado backcountry doesn't get the same amount and kind of jet traffic overhead from Denver etc. Or ATVs. Or pesky bicyclists.

even trickier to hit the bullseye!

If you're not into 7 pm bedtime, night hiking in winter can be great. There's usually plenty of ambient light, the trail can be easy to follow in the right conditions, and it's just plain a different experience.

"In the right conditions" are the operative words. Many Southeastern trails cannot be backpacked at night---heck they're hard to follow during the day.

[Dogwood]

If we practiced night hiking more maybe we'd get better at it?

[Sarcasm the elf]

How do you spend your long nights when you cant have a fire?

In the winter I bring Lots of insulation and good company. Maybe just a touch of Jack Daniels as well.

[MuddyWaters]

I night hike all the time.
Never tried in snow, dont plan to anytime soon.

Im always a little amazed at how well I can pick out faint trail by minimal headlight.
Treeless corridor in woods, subtle depression in leaves, flat areas on steep sidehill, flat dirt spots in between scattered rocks on whats otherwise steep scree or talus, rocks that appear not naturally placed. Grasses growing in a line bordering trail

Subtle visual cues.

That sense you develop of where a trail goes, works as well at night as daytime...mostly

[Tipi Walter]

I am very familiar with nighthiking and especially nighthiking in the snow. It's a vital and necessary component to stealth camping around towns and in forests adjacent to towns. You want to go in at night and come out before dawn. Or on trails such as the AT which are open boulevards compared to many other trails I can name.

Now do a nighthike in the Snowbirds like on Kings Meadow trail or in Citico wilderness or Slickrock wilderness like on Deep Creek or Haoe Lead or Horse Ridge or Jenkins Meadow or Slickrock Creek and see what happens. Or nighthike the Brushy Ridge trails---McNabb Creek, Long Branch, Hemlock Creek. Or pull a nighthike on the Conasauga River trail or Jacks River trail in the Cohutta. It's difficult to nighthike a creek trail which has 15 or 25 crossings because it's hard to see where the trail goes on the other side, hence where exactly to cross.

[Slo-go'en]

Having to do anything with your hands outside the sleeping bag when it's really cold is something you DON"T want to do for very long. Which kind of rules out reading. Best to load up with audio books or music for company. A nice, old fashion candle lantern provides a little mood lighting and heat inside a tent.

I wouldn't recommend night hiking an unfamiliar trail or one which wasn't already broken out and easy to follow. In the open woods with 3 feet of snow, every direction can look the same. A midnight snowshoe with the full moon lighting up the woods after a fresh snow is one of my favorite times. Hope we get one or two of those nights this year.

[Dogwood]

Piece o cake night hiking in those areas. There's this saint of a trail maintainer that combs those parts clearing trail with his stashed hand saws, loppers, and hand pruners. If you listen closely at night it's said that he visits lost hikers helping them to find their way. Or, so the legend goes.

[Tipi Walter]

Having to do anything with your hands outside the sleeping bag when it's really cold is something you DON"T want to do for very long. Which kind of rules out reading. Best to load up with audio books or music for company. A nice, old fashion candle lantern provides a little mood lighting and heat inside a tent.

I wouldn't recommend night hiking an unfamiliar trail or one which wasn't already broken out and easy to follow. In the open woods with 3 feet of snow, every direction can look the same. A midnight snowshoe with the full moon lighting up the woods after a fresh snow is one of my favorite times. Hope we get one or two of those nights this year.

The solution for in-tent hand comfort and reading or whatever else on a cold winter trip is to bring candles which supply heat for frozen fingers and hands. I always carry between 3 and 6 three-hour candles on my winter trips and the open flame warmth provides relief for the fingers.


Just be careful and use common sense and don't blow one out but instead pinch it out with wet fingers---avoiding a blown hot ash.

ATTENTION NEWB UPDATE: Never burn an open candle flame in your shelter. It works for me but no one else.

[saltysack]

The solution for in-tent hand comfort and reading or whatever else on a cold winter trip is to bring candles which supply heat for frozen fingers and hands. I always carry between 3 and 6 three-hour candles on my winter trips and the open flame warmth provides relief for the fingers.


Just be careful and use common sense and don't blow one out but instead pinch it out with wet fingers---avoiding a blown hot ash.

ATTENTION NEWB UPDATE: Never burn an open candle flame in your shelter. It works for me but no one else.

What's the black thing the candle is in? I've hit a candle lantern but never brought it..


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[saltysack]

Got


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[Tipi Walter]

It's the bottom of a Blistex container---

[Tipi Walter]

But the real secret is the type of candle you use. The best I have found are Manischewitz 3 hour candles from a grocery store---they burn clean and hot with a good flame.

[colorado_rob]

Having to do anything with your hands outside the sleeping bag when it's really cold is something you DON"T want to do for very long. Which kind of rules out reading. Best to load up with audio books or music for company.

Audio books are fantastic, we (my wife and I) have recently "discovered" the joys of audio books in the tent for the early bed times of winter. That being said, I can read just fine in frigid weather as well, simply wearing my glove liners to hold my phone just outside my bag, and the kindle app allows you to use the phone volume rocker to turn the e-pages. Or to turn actual paper pages, that works too with glove liners.

[Skyline]

I've been wondering about that myself. I plan on leaving Harper's Ferry WVA on a SOBO flip flop on March 1, 2017. So, I will likely be alone a good bit of the time and it will likely be cold for the first month. Given that the Shenandoah Park is going to be closed, I wonder how hard it will be to get into towns for resupply. And recharge of the battery in the phone. And a hot shower. And...

SNP will not be closed, but lodges, stores, etc. will be. The first start opening late March/early April.

When you get to US522, you could hitch west into Front Royal. When you get to US211, you could hitch west into Luray. Both offer almost anything a hiker needs, and Luray has the added bonus of a hiker hostel and outfitter. Also, Luray is almost exactly the halfway point between HF and Rockfish Gap (US250/Waynesboro).

Previous hikers have commented on the difficulty of the hitch into Luray. That's because they try to hitch right where the AT crosses US211. Cars are speeding by, and there is no place to safely pull over. Walk east (uphill) about 1/10 mile to just beyond the Skyline Drive overpass. Much better odds.

When you get to US33, you could hike west into Elkton. A couple mom/pop hotels and a Food Lion, but not as much for hikers as Luray or Front Royal.

[pilgrimskywheel]

I search the heavens for intelligent life - then White Blaze. Mostly I hatch elaborate revenge plots: "I'll be back - God as my witness I'll be back!" You know that sort of thing. After 20 miles and double dinner you'll know what to do.

[Venchka]

Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico don't have the noise nor the congestion problems that you mention. As a matter of fact, I lost cell phone coverage while still on paved highways before I drove 30-40 miles on dirt roads to get to the trailheads.
I can't speak for areas close to Denver and Boulder. I prefer not to go there for the same reasons that you mention regarding urban sprawl.
Relative to Colorado, New Mexico is sparsely populated and Wyoming is uninhabited. Come visit!
Wayne


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[Del Q]

To me being in a dry,, warm sleeping bag, bit of "hooch", good meal (SPAM, whatever kind of bread, tortilla, pita, mustard paks), etc..........check for cell signal, assuming none, finish up on final snacks and settle in. Warm, cozy, listen to the outdoors and cuddle in until day break or cat-hole calling.