Nighthiking why or why not hike at night?

[darkage]

I've hiked in the dark a few times, like the time i wanted to cross cumberland valley in one shot ... 19 miles or so is it? ... I'm tall, and sometimes i walk pretty slow and just drift off too my surroundings .... On that day, i started at 9:40am and ended up missing the shelter, i forget its name ... the one at the end of the valley walk ... and ended up trying to find a flat spot for my and brother's tents in the dark ... and even with our headlamps it was rough finding a spot, but i would do it again np .... Your senses kick in and no matter the situation ... you'll have an answer for it if you're prepared. Sleeping on the trail, or off 200 yards from it ... In the course of a thru hike or long hike ... you'll do one of both atleast once .... i'd put money on it .. lol, i know it happens to me, cause i walk all day and sometimes the camp site i saw 3 miles back should of been my final walk of the day ... sometimes you should listen to yourself ... ha! see i'm rambling.

[nighthiker]

totally with you shutterbug, i think there are many misconceptions about nighthiking! for starters, one has to have a much greater awareness of the surroundings, thus, bringing a new element of being outdoors, this for me is when people sleep and miss out on a lot of living, night time it the right time....thanks

[leaftye]

I've really been loving my Fenix HP10 headlamp lately. It's bright and lasts forever, which has been appreciate since I tend to use it on medium (50 lumens) and high (120 lumens) when I'm on rough trail. Usually medium is enough for me to hike at a decent pace, but I switch to high when my ankle starts to hurt.

[ClassY]

Ive done it.

I would suggest it to beat the heat,
watch the beautiful sunrise,
get a jump on a day you plan to hike many miles,
or if you simply cannot sleep..why not break camp, and get going, then stop at sunrise for a cold breakfast!

2000+miles is the perfect way to experience everything and try out all angles.
Why not mix things up, and see what you are missing at night, and not be so concerned about the few sights that you missed due to the lack of sun.
Instead, enjoy all that you will see at night..you may be surprised.


~ClassY

[ocourse]

I do it/would do it to keep warm in cooler temps, keep cool in warmer temps, and to keep moving when it is raining and I would otherwise be in a hammock for longer than I would like. Things look different at night - my best hiking experience was hiking at night in a steady rain.

[mweinstone]

nightblindness causes other sences to turn way up. the bottoms of your feet feel the trail. your reflex speed to lift a foot placed in a hole becomes fanominal.the tecnique used to step, allows retraction just at the moment of weight bearing load shift back to safty. but thats just walking. seeing blazes nightblind dont work. lamps illuminate just so far for me. like one body length. cooking aint possible. even under close bright light, at night all ingredients become a mystery. and boiling water becomes hard to deal with as is fuel. night hiking is for the sighted. i did it 2 times. johnney thunder was there witch gave me confidence. but alone, no. i drop my light, loose my lighter, walk ten feet from a shelter, and bump into death. his breath is all i smell as his cycle swings and off with my head. but seeing spider eyes in your beam and stars, its wonderful. as is walking anytime. walk at night? no. but i want to sometimes. nightvision will be made smaller one day and fit in your eye like contacts. that will be the day i hike with nightwalker. hes way smart . in the heat of heats, he sleeps by day. and hikes every night. sooo cool. love ya dude.

[StormBird]

you don't night hike because you won't see these bad boys until it's already in your face.

[RockDoc]

Some night hikers came through in pouring rain after dark at the shelter below Standing Indian Mountain in NC. They had something to eat, and even though we told them we would make room for them, they pushed on up the wet soggy mtn trail.

The next morning we passed their tent at a creek over the mountain, nothing stirring at 11 am. Apparently they had crossed over the mountain in the dark.

We leap frogged with them a few more times, each time they passed us late, then we passed them early. I guess they just liked to sleep late, and then hike until midnight.

Personally I don't see the attraction...

[Dirty Nails]

Wow, lots of good info. I don't normally hike at night, but this thread has me thinking.
I don't see the benefit of making miles too much, but I don't hike to make miles necessarily.
In the dessert it sounds like it could be spectacular, but in the forest...I wonder.

Missing scenery?...so much of the trail is "green tunnel" anyway.

I see one real benefit is that in an emergency needing to move at night, I would want to have the experience and confidence of having done it before. That alone has me planning to try it soon.

When I was doing a lot of scuba diving we did night dives and they were awesome! After so many, it became my favorite thing to turn off my light and swim around in the dark. It was remarkable how much I could see after my eyes adjusted.

I expect, as some of you folks have explained, that I should rather enjoy it. But probably on an open-sky part of trail.

Thank you folks for giving me some food for thought!

[OutdoorsMan]

Those who have been in the infantry in the Army or Marine Corps probably have experience hiking at night. Expertise at operating at night is one thing that makes our Armed Forces superior. Of course hiking with a squad, platoon, etc. is different than hiking solo or in a small group. In either case, it is a confidence builder. Many hunters are also experienced at navigating in the dark. I have probably been much closer to many animals in the dark than I have in daylight. I have not really done it while hiking the AT but think that I will and can see it as a way to expand my hiking season as hiking in the heat of summer is not as appealing as when it is cooler.
I have a 15 year old son who is afraid to go outside to retrieve something from the truck in the dark. Yet this same boy who spends 60+ nights a year sleeping in a tent (Scouts and other excursions) does not care if he forgets his headlamp and is just fine in the woods in the dark. That is something that I don't understand.

[darkage]

You wouldn't miss scenary, you simply see it in a different scenario .... like i was pushing up the end of cumberland valley and hit a view on the way up that looked down upon a city and the lights from there was really awesome .... had it been daylight, i would of just seen another view looking down on urban concrete .... Night hiking should be tried atleast once ... prolly to be safe ... do it with a partner ... and not just for making miles, hell ... i'm an insomniac and often can't get too sleep till 3am ... and thats if i'm lucky ... so i sleep in, and i also suffer from severe heat exhaustion ... 90f+ kicks my ass quick! .... So on those days i plan on hiking purely at night on my thru .... good headlamp and steady walkin ... and good planing, there's some obvious places walking by moonlight are idea, nc/tn balds come to mind .... max patch ... missing them during the day can make argument too ... but do what ya gotta do ... hike your hike, i know i will. =]

[Skyline]

I night hike a lot, but prefer to do it on trail that isn't too rocky or rutted. Preferably trail I've been on before in daylight so I have a basic idea of the terrain, intersections with other trails, roads, campsites, etc.

If there is a decent moon out, all the better.

Always, always, carry more than one light source, with fresh batteries, when night hiking. Once I had an old-school Petzl with incandescent bulb burn out on me while hiking in total blackness (rain, fog, no moonlight at all). Heluva time that night. I always have a good backup light source with me now.

Best of both worlds: Hike starting about two hours before dusk on trails in SNP, eventually finishing a circuit well after dark by using Skyline Drive. Better night views from the overlooks, and bonus points for lightning in the distance!

[earlyriser26]

I never do it in the summer (light attracts bugs). The best time to hike the trail at night is in the winter with a full moon. If the ground is snow covered it is almost like daylight.

[RockDoc]

and the words of a NC lodge owner echo in my ears:

"Never hike at night. There are things out there that will eat you."

[CrumbSnatcher]

hiked with a big ole' black dog. we took alot of 11:00am til 4:00pm breaks to beat the heat of the day. hiked hundreds of miles at night. but without her it wasn't nearly as much fun. always felt safe with her knowing she could detect things i couldn't. we even took naps right on the trail for a couple hours at a time at 2-3 in the morning. my last night hike was a 40 mile slack from manchester center to bennington without my dog, i didn't start hiking til 9am or so, so it started getting dark just past goddard shelter. alot different at night! all the little critters sound like bears moving around

[CrumbSnatcher]

i remember being in camp at walnut mtn. shelter & 3 hikers came in for a break,bragging about moving on to the next shelter(deer park mtn.)right outside Hot Springs. they were a little cocky. thruhikers being cocky-it happens
Didn't take long for plans after i said that we could night hike and beat them to hot springs.
everyone(about 7 us us or so) loved the idea! so around 11pm or so we slowly trudge up the trail, with the sun just starting to come up as we hiked up to the deer park shelter turnoff.
you should of seen the look on the 3 hikers faces when they walked into the smoky mtn. diner and saw us all sitting at a table! it took them a second to grasp us being there before them. I have it on video somewhere they thought we hitched in

[Del Q]

A thru hiker I know gets up and going early, before the sunrise.........reason, its the ground that usually wakes me up, COLD! Early morning pee or .........., he just gets up and goes.

[Theo]

Did a lot of nite patrolling in the Marine Corp. Small Recon team. Hiked thru the Desert
At nite a few times out in Ca. In "69" I hiked the Bright Angle Trail up from the bottom
Of the canyon solo at nite, with no lite. Just wanted to get topside. I was only 18 and
Didn't know any better. Being out at nite is a hole different deal. All should give it a try.
I'd suggest with a partner though. Just for unforeseen situations. Have Fun.

[LoneRidgeRunner]

I won't ever nite hike if I can possibly help it.

why?

1) you can't see anything other than the limited space your headlamp lights up

2) should the batteries die in your headlamp and you don't have extra batteries you are screwed.

3) If I can't see anything (because it is dark) why would I want to be hiking in the first place?

4) the night is for sleeping.

You have some good points except for one. Always have spare bulbs and batteries. AND, always have a spare light.(small and in your pocket for easy access.) Why? If your light goes out and you don't have another within easy access you can't see to change the bulb or battery. I learned this lesson many years ago when I had shot a deer at dusk and got lost (shame on me, I was lacking experience at that time.) My flashlight batteries died after 2 hours of dragging that deer around and it was a moonless night so I spent another 3 hours walking into trees while still dragging that deer around in the dark before I found the road. I had no spare batteries or a spare light. Now I ALWAYS carry my main light AND a tiny one and I have a spare set of batteries and bulb for BOTH of em. But, like you said..."night is for sleeping."

[mcskinney]

I often night hike on friday nights after work to get a little deeper into the back country before the rest of the weekenders came out. I always love the feeling of making it to treeline near midnight and finding myself in a mountain cirque. When hiking with others at night we often wear a single led on our pack for others to see us and use headlamps or let our eyes adjust. I'm thinking of doing a nighttime snowshoe assent of a well known 14'er out here if there is good weather on any of the next full moons.