How Do You Occupy Self during Evening/Downtime when Solo?

I hate setting up camp in the dark, so I usually arrive at camp and set up before sunset. Here in the drought-plagued southwest, you can hardly ever start a campfire, so I usually make dinner on my little stove, eat it, then–because I not only hate to set up camp in the dark, but I hate to walk around in the dark–I get into my sleeping bag. In the winter, that puts me in the tent shortly after 5. I read my kindle; I used to read paperbacks by flashlight, then discard them at some campground. I'm too scared to listen to my iPod at night–I want to hear the bear, mountain lions, etc. when they come for me! Of course, I could listen with just one earbud, but I prefer not to listen at all.

After a full day, I'm usually asleep by sevenish, and since I can't sleep twelve hours no matter how hard a day I've had, I'm awake a couple of hours before the sun's up. That's usually the time when I reflect and plan; it's the most relaxed part of the hiking day for me: I've got lots of time, no animals bothered me all night (they never do), I can think about how yesterday was and how today's gonna be.

You say you don't want to resort to a kindle? Why not? Do you think it dilutes the joys of being in the wilderness? More than an ultralight, large-carbon footprint backpack or tarp, a cell phone or a GPS (all tools I employ)? Looking at the stars is beautiful for a while, but then I get cold and turn in. Being tucked into a sleeping bag has an end-of-the-day finality and coziness that is very comforting, and reading is the perfect entertainment at such times–open-ended, private and quiet.

1. Campfire
2. I don't go winter camping by myself anymore.

In summer it doesn't matter, I hike and explore all day and by the time it gets dark, I'm tired anyways.
In winter those long nights really get to me. Try cooking something more complicated, like baking, to pass the time. Winter is a perfect time to do real cooking.

Common during winter.
We sleep. Very relaxing.
Having worked hard all day helps.

Cheers

…

Delmar,
I recommend that you take books audio gear GPS also a Kindle and more books more clothing to stay warm cell phone backup battery etc. If nothing else the extra weight will make you work harder and you'll be tired or in camp and probably go to sleep too early to use all these gadgets.
Billy

Actually, "Papillon".

I bring the lightest, interesting paperback I can find and make sure I have spare batteries for the headlamp and a warm down jacket.

LOL Billy Ray. Carry more gear so I'm more tired. LOL. Clearly my pack is waaaaay too light; I'm not working hard enough to need 12 hours of sleep.

Regards evening/morning: Like others have mentioned, when it's dark, the day's done for me. Since you never know what the night will bring, it makes sense to start it early. But then I'm ready to get up at 3 or 4 am, when it's cold and dark. That's probably the time to iPod — they are certainly small and light enough.

Typically I get to camp with quite a bit of daylight left- set up the tent, get the cook area ready. If it's dinner time, I'll cook, otherwise I often will hike around the immediate area to take in the views, get some photos, etc. After dinner I may do another short hike to warm my muscles before crawling into my bag. One of my luxury items to bring is my Nook tablet. It's loaded with pretty much all the entertainment I could want- games, books, even movies. Typically I read until I'm tired. It's worth the weight, to me.

Journal writing by flashlight mostly.
Maybe listen to a little music on a mp3 player as I fall asleep. Only on solo trips though, I never carry music when hiking with my wife.
I have carried a paperback now and then, especially on multi-week long trips.

Now that I'm older I have no trouble at all sleeping all night after a full days hike…
But, in my younger days I did suffer through some abominably long nights!
I remember one night camped high on an exposed ridge in a dome tent with a friend. My friend snored soundly away as a horrible storm lashed the tent, seemingly trying to toss us off the ridge. I shivered away in my crummy thin synthetic sleeping bag and waited for dawn…

When I could stand it no longer and figured it must surely be close to dawn I shook my friend awake to ask him the time ( I never have carried a watch ).

It was only 10 PM…

Self-pleasure. Twice if necessary. Just kidding, I never do that. I set up camp when I'm done walking, eat, then straight to bed. I get cold easily when I'm not moving so my options are limited. In the morning it takes me an hour or two to talk myself into braving the cold. I can sleep ten hours easy, and twelve if my bladder doesn't explode.

I eat, and then sleep.
If there are others nearby I will socialize for a bit

I hike until dusk. I like to eat on the trail, so when I roll into camp it is all about setting up before dark and not worrying about cooking. Once under my tarp I use an iPhone 5 and do a audio journal of the day. I study the map of the next day's hike. I have a few hits from my hooch bottle and some dark chocolate and cashews. Then, I play some Texas Hold'em on the iPhone and maybe listen to a bit of music. I usually get 9 plus hours of sleep.

Camp chores complete, I do some watercolor painting. I made a lightweight set using an altoids tin, cut down brush, tiny sponge, small paint cubes that I fill with my favorite colors. I may just limit myself to 3 colors and go from there.

You must live a carefree stress free mistake free life Delmar because when I'm hiking or sitting/laying around camp my mind is a problem solving flashback projector. My mind never stops enough for me to get bored nor do I try to turn it off like when I'm in the 'real' world. For me it's download and purge time.

Time of the year, type of trip, what I feel like doing and so on.

If I am hiking from dawn to sunset, I simply sleep.

On a trip with less daylight and some time in camp? Some tea is brewed up and I may read a book I packed in.

A trip with a friend or two? There has been known to be the occasional campfire and talking.

How often do you get to spend time alone? Enjoy it.

Boredom can be tough.

Still want to know if you sleep in or get going early.

I'm not truly solo so I talk to my dog. He's a good listener and doesn't interrupt much. We avoid politics and religion, of course.

I talk to a volleyball.

Read. I always have my Kindle. Nice to load it with different reading materials; books, fiction and non-fiction, magazines, newspapers. Only issue I've had is having the Kindle shut itself down at freezing temps.

I'm with those (I think Malto said it first) who tend to hike, eat, and then just sleep.

In shoulder season times or even winter (I don't tend to solo hike in winter), you could consider night hiking if conditions warrant. By "night hiking" here I just mean to get started in the morning while it's still dark, or keep hiking after darkness sets in. Obviously the latter works best if you already have some idea of where you can camp in areas where this is an issue.

I think this is part of overall hiking "style" and associated mindset. If camp is mostly just a place to eat and sleep, then this is only a problem in seasonal times when nights are long. But note that nights tend to be colder when they're longer, and as someone else mentioned, it's not comfortable to read and still stay really warm in the sleeping bag. An MP3 player with audio books and/or podcasts that interest you is the best solution I can think of then. Doing things "in your head" can certainly help, but note than when hiking solo I tend to have been doing that all day when hiking anyway (sometimes almost like a semi-directed dream state).

What I mostly do in the evenings going solo, however, is just eat, do whatever minimal chores there are (brush teeth, look at map/data for next day, write in blog, etc) and then sleep.

An unabridged copy of 'Ultralight Backpackin' Tips' and a hand-shandy.

Not.

What everyone else does pretty much – lots of iPlayer downloads for those 16 hour UK winter nights.

The only thing in my pack with a battery is the headlamp, but that's just me.

In cold weather, the tiny tealight candle lantern is enough light in the tent, and keeps my hands from getting too stiff to do things. I have a tiny deck of cards, under 2" long, for solitaire. I tear a couple of cryptic crossword puzzles out of a book. A few small blank pages for blue-skying design ideas (creativity peaks out there). I have a laminated card of knots (Outdoor Knots Duraguide by Waterford Press) to practice the ones I rarely use. With an aluminum hook and a ball of jute twine, I can crochet small baskets, strapping, or whatever. Usually I'll just take one or two of these, but all of them together weigh less than a paperback.

I know people who whittle and carve, but given my clumsiness, I avoid playing with knives on solo trips. :)

But often I end up using none of these things. Asleep by 8 pm, up at 3, build a fire if possible, otherwise just make the coffee, pack up, and walk into the blue.

I just got back yesterday from some Solo overnighters in Yosemite over the weekend. I got up to about 6500 with a foot of snow on the ground, the first day I got a late start and had to hike the last couple miles in the dark. It was amazingly quiet, first goal make a fire, second shelter, third food. I never feel the need to "occupy" myself, I absolutely crave the solitude and when I'm in it, I soak it up. When it gets dark, I'm only up a few more hours, I usually get out of my bag depending on when I went to bed, the first sign of daylight does it, early morning photography and coffee motivates me.

Perhaps it is a learned skill?

In my job I sometimes spend months on end in my home office building software applications, training manuals, and workshop materials. Days on end with no one to talk to until evening when my wife comes home. When I am not in my home office I am traveling all over the country, spending each night alone in a hotel room. I find it easy to keep occupied, and never watch TV in a hotel room.

Also, it seems that some people are task oriented (which is me) and others are more people oriented, which I suppose may mean the people oriented solo hiker may have difficulty occupying themselves at night. Work at it. Solo hiking has great rewards and is highly recommended over groups, IMO.

A few decades ago I took a few books on trips, but never found time to read them. I never take electronics for entertainment. To me these entertainment media separate me from the wilderness. Somehow I keep myself busy. I am extremely comfortable going solo — actually I prefer it and rarely, rarely backpack with others.

I often hike from dawn to dark, although I may stop for dinner before reaching my day’s destination. Sometimes I stop early to explore. I never use a shelter unless it is going to rain or snow or if extreme wind is forecasted. This way I am completely occupied with my surroundings.

From this post on my blog, I wrote

“People tell me they don’t like to hike alone; they get lonely with no one to talk to. They also tell me they get bored at night, needing reading material or music to keep them company. I don’t understand it. So here is my recipe for a wonderful evening and peaceful sleep…

Red Rock. Watch the setting sun play with your surroundings. Here the normally black mountains are bright red.

Sunset. Watch the sun set. Observe colors and shadows.

Moon. Learn of the night sky. My camp was oriented with the rising moon behind me. When nightfall arrived, I watched Venus and Jupiter play with the horizon. Once they set below the horizon, I observed a nearly full moon and at times looked at it with my binoculars. Soon I dozed off. Awakening in the early morning around 3 AM, the moon was setting and I watched the winter sky, especially the Orion constellation. Next thing I knew it was daylight and I was awakening from a glorious night’s sleep. Pretty simple stuff.”

Bring warm clothes for you night camp. Forget the spreadsheet base weight. Also you can wrap your quilt or sleeping bag around you most of the time.

Remember, intelligent people don’t get bored :)

Sit and stare at stars, planets and moon when available.