Night Hiking Newbie

Noting that there is a distinct difference between carrying a light for camp chores and for the unexpected and unlikely night hike, (except midnight trip to water the bushes), contrasted with this being a primary portion of your trip.

In your case, I would carry a back-up light. Not a photon but a trail capable light. New batteries in both. Optimally, they use the same size batteries.

As to color, red lights are great for reading and chores, allowing you to look up from the task and not be blind but, for the trail, I would want all the bright white light I could get.

I would venture a guess that your speed is going to be directly propotional to the quality of your light.

Sounds like an interesting hike. Enjoy!

Hiking at night is such a treat. You will have the trail to yourself, like you have never seen it before. You hike cooler and can go just as fast if you are familiar with the trail. In aggreance with the previous post a couple ounces of light go a long way so pick up something nice, for its weight the tikka xp (you can even get it with different color filters) is hard to beat for spotting and trailfinding. Apart from that you shouldn't encounter anything different. I find more snakes in the trail at night if that helps, as well as all animals closer to the trail (due in part to the lack of human traffic I believe.) Not familiar with the NE but don't think predatory animals are ever a factorable risk. The moon also plays a large roll

For me, the amount of cloud cover, tree cover, combined with phase of the moon is the single biggest factor is the speed / quality of my night hikes.

When there is a decent amount of moonlight I find that I go nearly as fast at night as I do during the day on well maintained trails. I don't watch / see the trail as much as see where the edges of the trail are. Note: I have very sure-footed and recover easily so not seeing exactly what I am placing my foot on isn't normally a problem. When there is reasonable moonlight (maybe 1/3 without cover) I can more reliably follow the trail by moonlight than with any headlamp. I also found a bright light + GPS with preloaded route could keep me moving close to daylight speeds. I should note though, that I am not a speedy hiker.. 2-4mph depending on the terrain. If I am traveling somewhere at night were foot placement is really important then my speed drops to maybe 1/2 normal plus periodical "where did the trail go?" This is typically because the trail made a turn but there was "a path" which continued straight. In the daylight it's easily to see this sort of thing. Typically it does not take me long to figure out and backtrack.

When going off trail I found somewhat challenging without using a 30 lumen or brighter light for getting around, and brighter with a long throw when there was something tricky wayfinding required.

On the red vs. white debate… I have little to offer. I have never had a red light that was bright enough to be of much help.

I would generally suggest either a hand light or mounting your headlamp someplace down near your waist. Much more effective than the light source coming from the same location as your eyes.

I have come across more wildlife at night than during the day. As to the added danger… it would depend on what animals are in your area.

–Mark

Very timely topic for me.

I will be doing a short solo weekend and will be hiking a few miles on Friday night as well.

Anyone do any stream crossing at night? I have several streams to cross which are reported to not be more than knee to mid thigh deep.

Any suggestions or special techniques for doing this in the dark?

Thanks for all the input, everyone.

At night I now find a c. 2006 TakTikka Plus with fresh batteries doesn't have enough throw for true nighttime navigation (I thought it used to, I must be getting old…). I have a wide variety of lights, from EOS 1 thru Fenix P2D/L1D/L0D. I will try to narrow this down to two with experimentation prior to the trip. If I leave the EOS 1 home, I'll have the e+Lite as a backup and for in-camp use. Since I will be using trekking poles, I'll see if the P2D/L1D in a JakStrap is practical on the trail as it seems at home.

The narrow beam of the EOS 1 and Fenix lights seem to overlap rather than compliment each other, but I'm rigging a diffuser for the EOS 1 a la Jim Wood's, except I'm using the roughened part of a plastic gallon milk jug (looks good, so far).

I shouldn't run into anything larger than a racoon–if they stick around to see what's behind that bright bobbing light heading down the path!

As for stream crossings, your flashlight can shine through stream water just the same as sunlight can, so you'll be able to see the bottom, at least directly in front of you, the same as you would in the daylight. As long as the water is not like chocolate milk, that is.

I night hike quite frequently and have gotten used to what to expect.
Pereception of distances covered is altered for sure, and time gets sucked away from you as a result. Pitching your shelter can become a bit of a gamble as I tend to "Push on a bit further" hoping to find a better spot and have found myself on narrow rdges and summits many times.
Water crossings are an issue and I've found with LED headlamps the water is harder to judge that it was with our old halogen bulbs.
Saftey first, if you're not confident stop and pitch. A wee look at night hiking in Scotland earlier this year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7QbTAQkYDM

PS Hello all, my first post!

Awright ptc*, welcome to the light side. We get everywhere! :)

The following tactic seems unpopular, but I get much better depth perception at night holding or clipping my light as low as possible (rather that headlamp style). Originally I read this in Ray Jardine's "Beyond Backpacking" but have found the method vastly superior.

EDIT:Oops I missed that the esteemed Mr. Verber already covered this point.

Also, Welcome Peter! Watching your youtube night hike video reminded me how awesome it is to hike on the white sand, under a full moon in the magic sky at Joshua Tree National Park.

That's quite right. A headlamp around your neck gives better ground definition and also in cold weather it isn't as badly affected by your breathing out clouds of condensed breath into the beam.
Just not as good for looking from side to side.

EDIT Cheers!

I would generally suggest either a hand light or mounting your headlamp someplace down near your waist. Much more effective than the light source coming from the same location as your eyes.

Andrew Skurka's January 2007 Ultralight in the Nation's Icebox trek involved a couple hours of night hiking every day and he did exactly what Mark suggests (headlamp worn at waist level). I've tried holding one in my hand and liked the results.

I use a tikka xp with a green difuser. I have found the red and blue cause issues with depth perception on uneven ground and going up and down hill. Green gives me almost the depth perception of white light and doesn't cause me to lose nearly as much of my night vision. I find it nice to shut light off and look around while resting sometimes.

I try to keep my night vision as much as possible and use low light levels as much as possible.
It's a fine balance as much of my backpackinh is done on open terrain without clear tracks, if any at all.
It does concentrate the mind, and builds confidence.
I walked Scotlands West Highland Way over a weekend earlier this year (96 miles in 65hrs) and a good bit of that was at night.
It was great fun, clear cold air, dark silent forest and black hillsides stark against a star filled sky.
I had clear trails on that and found it very easy going with minimal light.

G'Day
I have worked in coal mines for about 15 years so walking on uneven, slippery ground or black water to your knees while looking at a little white dot is not that new. I have done a few night walks in areas I know just for something a little different. I use a tikka xp because it has a nice beam. A few things I have noticed are it’s more difficult to judge distance and relate to maps at night especially when there’s no moon because your world ends a few meters in front of you. I try to look behind allot because it is easy to miss small direction changes on the trail, I tried going off trail and taking a shortcut by pushing through scrub in an area I knew without any navigation aids to see how i went once, and without any frame of reference it is easy to see how things could go bad fast.
As for walking I probably lift my feet a little higher and feel my way with my feet with out even realising it because I’m used to it but I’m sure anyone would do the same in a short time.
Id say just do it. I love walking alone through the bush at night.
Darren

Great thread, but I was wondering on what recommendations people would have for which headlamp or flashlight to use for night hiking.

I have a Pezel tika plus with 4 leds, but I have been researching LED Flashlights like the Photon Pro or the Fenix line of AAA or AA flashlights.

So what do you you and why do you like it?

-Tony

I have a Zebralight Q5 headlamp. It’s a nice even flood. I’ve used it on my hike to the Gamsjoch last weekend.

Contrary to that, the Fenix lights aren’t flood but spot lights. I have a L2D but that one is not so lightweight.

Oh, and bring Lithium batteries instead of Alkalines :-)

I use an older Black Diamond Icon for a headlamp and a Surefire G2 for a flashlight.

The Icon has several brightness settings so I can use the least amount for the given condition. I get maybe three hours per 2xAA on the brightest setting and several hours on the lower settings. The G2 is for backup and in case I need some really bright additional lighting.

It really depends on the conditions. A known path in open terrain with good moonlight and you hardly need any artificial lighting. But in heavy cover, little moon, and a path with lots of little side trails or that is overgrown or covered in debris and it can be pitch black and disorienting.

One guy I know in search and rescue (usually hiking into back country at night) attached a bicycle headlamp to his helmet and it really throws a brilliant beam. I don't know the brand but it was fairly small.

Totally agree with the comment about looking around and behind frequently to get a different perspective to make sure you are on the right path, as well as checking compass bearing now and then. Things just look different in the dark so it is real easy to take a wrong turn or miss a turn.

Hello everyone, this is my 1st post.

Is there a particular way to hold the flashlight ? My concern is that i had read articles regarding animals in the jungle which attacks the light source at night. So if we were to strap our flashlights on our head or around our waist wouldn't it be very dangerous ??

Albert, don't hike in jungles? Where are you going to hike? (anybody else smelling spam)

Only special way I've ever seen to hold a flashlight involved holding a pistol at the same time.